Red and shiny

Lovely coloured bark on the trunk / branch Stan

That would really be something to have in my garden Penney. Its probably as old as me.

You would need a bigger garden I think Stan lol.

Thats true. A garden of one plant.

lol Stan

since moving to a spot in the forest I've come to appreciate trees a lot more than I did before. love that bark colour does the municipality plant them in parks ...like they do with the pretty purple Jacarandas in San Diego? Every year, it seems, Andy posts pics of those beauties and I feel such envy! California has so many blossoming trees, you lucky people. How is the fire situation now? Is it near you?

Hi Lori, These are exceptional. I see a few Manzanita's planted- but some hate summer water..its their natural season to be root dry. Fungus gets them with water. These like many California plants if nursery then garden grown can acclimate to that strangely enough. I have yet to read the scientific reason why that can be done. Homes built around large century's old Oaks are death on the wild tree's. But plant an Oak acorn..and its fine with summer water. I have one that I water all the time in a pot.
The Manzanita's tend to be low growing,slow also.
Jacaranda's do fine here. They bloom around June.

The fires are about 60 miles north..but day after day a haze,a red sun evening and in the mornings the strong smell of smoke. Its become the largest wildfire ever recorded.
Nowadays..records seem to be every for everything but colder.

In about a month (to the day) I'll be posting our first snowfall... want some? Even this I can't guarantee because for the last decade...things have been very variable! ...but if precedence holds for anything..we usually get our first snow around the 17th of November.
I hope it holds off for a while because I have tulips to plant.
When does your rainy season start, Stan? I read online somewhere, that the fires burning in British Columbia will probably not be extinguished until the snow flies!