"Toyon, or as it's sometimes called, Christmas Berry, is an evergreen shrub to small tree that usually grows to 6-8 ft. high and 4-5 ft. wide. Toyon can go to 15-20' tall if it's old and happy and become a delightful evergreen multi-stemmed tree with white flowers in summer and red berries in winter.Toyon makes a good screen or specimen plant.
Toyon is native to much of California, with a few plants wandering over the Oregon border. Don't get excited it was on a mile or so. Heteromeles is drought tolerant after the first few years, but tolerates some water if drainage is good. Relatively fire resistant, (a non-watered Toyon is about the same as a watered apple tree). Toyon likes full sun, but tolerates full shade. Tolerates serpentine based adobe soils, but also lives in beach sand. The berries are kinda edible but awful and contain cyanide compounds that can kill you if you eat a few pounds. Better for the birds. I had one student make a cherry pie out of them that wasn't bad. (The same cyanide compounds volatilize off and leave the cherry flavor when cooked.)"
'via Blog this'
No comments:
Post a Comment