This month’s featured native: Coast silktassel (Garrya elliptica)
As the common name implies, this month’s featured plant is native to the Pacific coast (and the Coast Range); it is found primarily in SW Oregon and south through California. Coast silktassel is a tall shrub, typically growing to at least 2.5 m (8 ft) tall and equally wide, but potentially reaching as much as 9 m (30′) in height. The waxy, evergreen leaves are opposite, with distinctive, wavy margins (it is sometimes called “wavyleaf silktassel”); they are generally 4-6 cm (1.5 – 2.5 in) long, glossy green on top, and pale and slightly fuzzy on the underside. This plant is dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants); the green-grey male flowers appear in catkin-like dangling clusters (the eponymous “tassels”), 8-20 cm (3 – 8 in) long, while the lighter female flower clusters are somewhat shorter (5-9 cm, or 2 to 4 in). Both appear in winter, providing garden interest at a time when this is in short supply. The pale purple, pubescent fruits are roughly 6 mm (1/4 in) across, appearing in grape-like clusters that last through the summer (or until the birds eat them).
Coast silktassel will grow in sun or part shade; it demands well-drained soil, but is otherwise unfussy about soil type.
In addition to providing winter blooms to the garden, coast silktassel is deer-resistant, and offers shelter and food for a variety of bird species. It also has utility as a hedgerow plant, making it one of very few native evergreen plants in our area that can be planted en masse as a privacy screen.
