Sugar Sumac or Sugarbush (Rhus ovata)

There are a number of views in the back-country towards the mountains and high deserts of southern California or even the mountains and high country of Arizona/New Mexico where you might see this often ignored and taken for granted beautiful chaparral community which when all other shrubs seem drought dormant and rangy looking, this one stands out as a rich shiny waxy green bush with taco shelled shaped leaves. Take a look at some common shots you may now recognize but have ignored in the past as you sped by down the road no doubt on your way to 'Party Hardy Marty' at 'Blow-Sand' in Ocotillo Wells, 'Glamis Sand Dunes' or onto 'Martinez Lake' at the Colorado River near Yuma, AZ. 

http://www.nazflora.org/Rhus_ovata.htm

photos: Lee Dittman

Here's it most common distribution

Like many natives, this one has interesting colours and ornamental value as far as variety of colours and growth as the year progresses. Here are what it looks like before bud break or bloom. 

Here it is in flowers which are finally in bloom.

And finally here it is with fruits or seeds. For those familiar with it, it should remind you of  the  Lemonade Berry Seeds which is a related cousin.

As another one of those important qualities, this is yet another shrub that will spring back from a brush fire. Many non-native ornamental plantings will not do this. You have to go purchase more planting stock and that will take more than twice as long to rebuild what has been lost in the landscape.

Photo by mjplagens

So exactly what can a gardener/Landscaper do with a Sugar Sumac (Rhus ovata) ? First let's take the formal shrub replacement ideas. Here's what Tree of Life Nursery suggests.

EXCELLENT SUBSTITUTE FOR:

Ligustrum

Myoporum

Oleander

Photinia

Pittosporum

Raphiolepis

Xylosma

For the moment I'll just deal with Oleander Bush and reasons for Rhus ovata as it's replacement. In Southern California these were very common along the Interstates as landscaping screens and most often it was easily viewed in the median as an oncoming head lights barrier screen. Unfortunately something happened to them in the way of a slow death cause by some blight. This shrub and many other chaparral species should be considered a good replacement for other non-natives for just such a common utility function because once established and especially with a mycorrhizal grid intact, such plantings should become drought resistant or at least tolerant with less water if any at all becoming unnecessary. This of course changes with regards to location. In the deserts southwest in the USA, you most likely will have to deeply water at least once a month or possibly every two weeks depending on the location and circumstances. Even where I have seen it on the desert floor in a wash around Anza Borrego State Park, there was permanent water under the sand. Nevertheless it's an important planning point in view of the high cost of water and even it's future availability to the southwest. Many folks will want a formal look, maybe even having one as a specimen shrub or small tree and that's fine.

However my personal choice is creating more natural settings or themes out in the landscape.  Today there are numerous newer housing or Condo developments which through structuring smaller landscapes has given themselves far more profit than those homes built in the 1950s with the large lots for large family backyard designing. Hence many small yards won't take large trees. In some cases the yards are just to narrow. Over here in Europe, small tiny cramped backyards are common, but worse than that is having towering apartment buildings and nosey neighbours seeing your every move in the garden, absolutely no privacy. Even when I was a landscaper in Southern California some of our properties were Mobile Home Parks with very little room for larger trees and shrubs.

My next post will detail my experiences growing up in coastal chaparral country and how this unique world and exploring it's dry washes and stream beds  or climbing rock knoll outcroppings on hill tops with trees as a kid gave miniature woodlands of dwarfed chaparral me later on in life some insight on the landscape possibilities of the chaparral which has inspired in me with creative ideas on replicating some of the tiny hidden world environments for small spaces called "Elfin Forests" or "Pigmy forests".

Texas Madrone (Arbutus xalapensis)

Guadalupe Mountains

For a further take or perspective on Sugar Sumac or Sugarbush Rhus ovata and it's uses, please see the blog entry by Landscape Professional David Cristiani of Albuquerque's Quercus Group at 

http://desertedge.blogspot.se/2011/02/deceptively-lush.html

Try New Mexico Locust in a Tough to Grow Landscape

New Mexico Locust (Robinia neomexicana)

Photo by Utah State University

I have already written a much deeper piece on it's ecology in the wild environment, but it has practical applications in the home garden or landscape where you may be in an area with challenging situations. My first encounter was in Ruidoso, New Mexico where our family went to a reunion and rented Cabins. My son Jared was about 4 years old at the time. I was actually pretty excited to find this tree as I had only seen it referenced occasionally in my monthly subscription to Arizona Highways magazine.It was a fun time because believe it or not it was 'monsoon season' for the southwest which is my favourite time of year when tropical moisture from Mexico works it's way north and creates those electrical billowing cloud thunderstorms you see across the wide open spaces. My son was excited and constantly pointing out all the Thunderstorm electrical flashes by saying to his cousin,  "Hey Rebecca, did you see that YightYing" He was only four years old and couldn't pronounce his "L"s. 

Needless to say I dug up a small inch high seedling which in actuality wasn't so much a seedling from seed as it was a tiny clone I cut out of some taller parent tree's rhizomatous root system. Yes they have a nasty habit of spreading underground and popping up with clones even 30' away from my own experience. Yet there is something kool about them. They look like they need to be kept in a lush environment, but can actually do well and be kept in check by an arid environment that is hot and dry. This was in summer of 1992 I believe and I'm thinking we drove over with my sister-in-law and her two kids. I remember because they were all including my wife bugged at me for pulling off and stopping at all these place I'd read in Marshall Timble's "Arizona Roadside History" & "Arizona Place Names". 

Whatever! 

 Anyway, I planted this tree in among some of the bush-like small trees native to our area called Redshank or Ribbonwood (Adenostoma sparsifolium) which I had thinned out as they tend to grow in dense stands. I found the right spot and almost immediately this little 4" high tree began taking off. So much so that it grew over 6 feet in height the rest of that year. Suddenly I wondered what I had gotten myself into, especially the following year when it spread and suckered producing more tree clones of itself. But it never really did get out of hand. I did maintain several trees in the area as that was actually my intention, but the vigorousness of the thing was a bit spooky at first. It has never grown taller than I'd say 12 or 15 feet as of last checking. I don't live there anymore but my wife and I flew back over there last year from Sweden to visit and we stopped by the place. Here is what it looks like today.

Photo by Kevin Franck

In the above photo, look to the left and up. In the foreground below this is a native Sugarbush (Rhus ovata) which is another one of those interesting almost maintenance free shrubs that takes care of itself once established. 

photo by Native Rival Nursery

 Next, once again, look to the left of the photograph and you'll get a better look of the original tree I planted along with a few of it's clones in the background.

Photo by Kevin Franck

If you knew the type of dry rocky decomposed granite soil that it's in and realized it doesn't get any water other than winter rainy season and maybe perhaps some summer monsoonal moisture now and again, then you'll appreciate what such trees can be a valuable addition to any landscape with similar challenging soil conditions. They also spread along the mycorrhizal networks under the ground connecting up to different species from their own like the Jeffrey, Coulter and Aleppo pines you see in the photo. In that scene below with the square rock wall layout is where I built up on a gradual slope a flat garden area with concrete mortar and granite river rock. The actually garden soil I trucked up from below. Seriously for gardens up there on that hill you need a lot of amendment if you want vegetables.

For a further deeper read on New Mexico Locust (Robinia neomexicana) please see my "Earth's Internet & Natural Networking"

Networking With New Mexico Locust