PlantFiles: Pacific Madrone, Arbutus
Arbutus menziesii

This plant is highly prized in Seattle - my hometown. People who have trees in their gardens actually ask visitors to refrain from walking around it's root zone, though in the wild, they are extremely trod upon in parks and such.

I think it is much more fussy about drainage than anything else. If you have a slope - this is the plant for that place. The Arbutus on the University of Washington Campus are dieing due to too much air pollution - they do seem to have a sensitivity, and they are along a very busy 15th Ave. NW!

The Arbutus menziesii offers beautiful shade, lush green leaves, and rich red and orange shedding bark and trunk. If you get a regular breeze you are treated to a crisp rustle when it is breezy. This is a native plant, so will need very little in the way of water in general, so once established - leave it be. It will send down deep tap roots.

As a side note, the Eucalyptus ficifolia looks somewhat like this tree in some strains. I almost stopped my car driving in Pasadena, CA the other day thinking I had seen a "Madrona" - as we call them in the Northwest!

The southern range for this plant is at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, CA, where the trees are shorter and low branching.

madrone is very difficult in cultivation, but totally worth the effort. everyone i know who lives near one or w/ one absolutely reveres this amazing tree. the bark is one of it's outstanding features. it varies from cinnamon red to bright orange and then it peels off, exposing brilliant chartreuse underneath. if you live in the hotter parts of it's natural range, grow it in mostly bright shade until it's a couple years old. water it at MOST, once per week during the driest part of the year. NEVER water it if the soil is moist 1" under the surface in hot weather. if it croaks, try another one. it's one of the only trees i know of which is totally worth the extra effort and expense. it prefers sandy soil where it's roots can eventually get to a moist spot - deep, deep, deep under the surface [like 30 ft or more!]. if it has excellent drainage, it can take more water and will grow very fast. in containers, it needs to be potted up regularly - quickly even. very difficult to keep happy in containers for more than a couple of years.

A beautiful tree that grows wild here in the pacific northwest and enjoys popularity among landscapers and gardeners.

An evergreen tree that grows wild in our area. Will come back from the roots if frozen or if cut down. Beautiful white bells in the spring. Bark peels off as tree grows with reddish colored wood underneath. Great firewood. Hardwood. Can be used for cabinets or furniture.

The Madrone is a close cousin to the oak, with its two biggest differences being twisted branches, and shockingly red flesh, just beneath the bark. This wood is very hard, and burns VERY hot, making it a favorite for wood heat in Northern CA, where it grows amongst the Redwoods.

Easily propagated by lightly covering ripe fruit and kept moist in a sheltered location over winter. Keep moist till mid spring and then reduce watering. Plants may grow only 1 to 3 inches the first year. After the second year the plants grow rapidly. A very fast draining soil is recommended. Allow to dry significantly between watering. Roots do not like to stay wet. I have Bonsai Arbutus that have been in shallow pots for more than ten years. Only one fatality has occured during that time. Over watering was the problem. Do not attempt transplanting an Arbutus from open ground that is more than one year old. The success rate is less than one percent.