Arctostaphylos wellsii 'Wells Manzanita'

A 6', gray foliage, red trunk and stems, a very clean and neat 'reserved' plant with red-brown bark. This manzanita grows in the Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo, and Avila area on sandstone, and sand on hardpan. Pismo Manzanita is very drought tolerant in its element and can grow in nearly straight sandstone. Our mother plant took a very heavy hit here at 0 deg. F., but survived everything but one of our extended droughts. It was just too hot and dry. A rare plant. Precipitation is about 30 inches where it grows with about half of it coming from fog drip and blowing fog. Summer temperatures commonly can break 90F and occasionally 100 (not our 110 though). Pismo manzanita hybridizes in the wild with A. crustacea, A. pechoensis, A. ososensis and possibly A. morroensis.. A few of the stands have a rainbow of new colored growth, shapes and sizes. Some of the natural hybrids with pechoensis are stunning.
Syn. Arctostaphylos pilosula ssp. pismoensis or Arctostaphylos pilosula)