Catalina Island Ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus)Hardiness

Hi All! Last week I was driving up the 101 through, I believe, Crescent City and I saw my very first Catalina Island Ironwood. Wow! It was everything I had hoped it to be and it wasn't even in bloom. It was the L.f. asplenifolius form. Is there anyone here who has experience with it's cold hardiness? I am in coastal Canada in Zone 8b where it rarely snows. If anyone here can get seed, I'd be very appreciative. It's a beautiful plant certainly worthy of attempting and it seemed quite happy with the cool-humid weather of Crescent City. Any advice and help is greatly appreciated. Mike.

Mike
where in Crescent City (CC) did you see it ?
i have seen it on Catalina but haven't noticed it in CC
but i am also looking at everything else :-)
i'm retiring just 10 miles north of CC later this year

Dick

Hi Dick, I may have gotten the town wrong but it is at a Chevron station near the air/water pump. I just bought a 58 Chevy 1/2 ton and I was booting it for the Canadian border. I know it was north of Eureka, either just north or just south of the Oregon/California border in a beach town on the east side of the 101. The gas station attendants probably thought I was nuts. Oh ya, in Oregon you can't pump your own gas so it must have been in California. I got out my camera and was taking a number of pictures. There is no mistaking what I saw. I've been looking into this shrub/tree for some time and have wondered if it would take our mild coastal winters. I really, really like it and seeing it in person makes me want to try it out even more. Beautiful, simply beautiful! Mike.

mike
post a pict you took & leave as much background as possible
maybe i can recognize the station, & try to get a small offshoot
i just read that these are almost always groves of clones
not too much reproduction from seed

Dick

Hi Dick,

The specimen I saw was a single trunk but I'm sure you could take a number of root cuttings. I still need to process my pictures as I just got back. I also read that seed is almost impossible. Check out this interesting article on the plant involving the Coast Guard http://www.nativeson.com/ironwo.html (It may require you to go through the front of the site). I drove to the coast on the 299 so it would be either Trinidad, McKinleyville, Klamath or Crescent City. It was probably the largest town in that stretch so chances are it was Crescent City. I'm also pretty sure it was a Chevron and the plant was located on the south end of the station which was located on the east side of the highway. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the plant. The article talks about root cuttings so that might be a better method. I would definitely like to get my hands on one of these so if you're willing, let me know. Mike.

Mike
Las Pilitas Nursery has it available
http://www.laspilitas.com/
http://www.laspilitas.com/plants/418.htm

Dick

hiya growin,

nice to meet you,

I did some of my undergrad studies at the Wrigley Botanical Gardens in Avalon, Catalina Island. L.floribundus has survived snow, and some pretty hard freezes over time in it's native range. So I don't think cold is as much an issue as lack of drought. NoCal is a lot wetter, but since you've seen one as far north as CC, I'd imagine that coastal influences and salt air are helping. Down here in the south it is grown deep into the interior. I've seen them in irrigated displays as far inland as Borrego Springs.

The species is no longer threatened, and as Strever has shared, nurseries have it in stock commonly these days. You should certainly give it a whirl and maybe it's even more variable than most think. A great experiment indeed.

best of luck,
don

Thanks Drdon!

From what you mention, should I treat it like Carpenteria - ie. sharp drainage, more acidic soil, raised planting? I've got my neighbour interested for a street planting and I really look forward to trying this one out here. I think it'll make it. Mike

I would think more alkaline soil would be more appropriate in that the plant (in situ) lives in an area with minimal to no summer moisture, warm to hot weather, and marine (salty) mist. Soils down here have an entirely different pH than northern CA. When we germinated seed from them we had to lime the potting medium in order to be sure the pH was up high enough to mimic native conditions sufficiently for germination.

As for its' hardiness. It's not a problem. Buchart Gardens in B.C. has one growing in a coastal native garden display.

best of luck with this. It should be a super foliage plant up that far north.

don