Thank you for the article on native plants for Thanksgiving. In
this otherwise excellent article, one statement is likely to give
the wrong impression about what is a California native.
Editor,
Thank you for the article on native plants for Thanksgiving. In this otherwise excellent article, one statement is likely to give the wrong impression about what is a California native. I quote: “Other California natives or drought-tolerant plants include everything from cistus (rock rose) to oleanders, photonia, pittisporum, plumbago, pyracantha, rosemary and xylosma.”
Not one of the above named plants is a California native. (Typos excepted, Photinia was the old genus name for Toyon, a California native, which is now known as Heteromeles arbutifolia, and the genus Photinia is entirely non-native to California.)
Articles such as this would benefit from the mention of local native plant resources, nurseries, etc. A great resource is the California Native Plant Society (www.cnps-scv.org) and Gardening With Natives (www.gardeningwithnatives.com).
Arvind Kumar, San Jose
