Roger's Tree Pick for April 2005: the Arbutus-Strawberry Tree

This month I present to you a tree that I am very fond of and needs to be used more in our gardens due to its many wonderful qualities.

Arbutus is a species of evergreen trees and shrubs from Ireland, Southern Europe, Eastern Mediterranean and right here in California. Arbutus is in the Ericaceae family, and there are species with the common name of Strawberry Tree with mature fruits a little like ripe red strawberries.

Arbutus (pronounced “ahr-BYOO-tuss”) has been part of California gardens for a number of years and is a drought-tolerant tree once established.

Arbutus unedo is native to southern Europe and has remarkably good performance in our gardens in a wide range of climates and soils, from the seaside with full sun to the deserts with dappled light. This species grows to about 25 feet in time with moderate growth rate.

As the tree matures it will flower with delicate pendulous racemes of white or greenish-white clusters of blossoms. These dainty flowers, which are bell-urn shaped, remind me of Lily of the Valley. The foliage is a dark green and sets off the flowers as a nice background.

After the plants go through their flowering cycle they will set fruit and another quality begins with small round, green fruits. In time these fruits will mature and turn yellow and then a fabulous strawberry red — hence its name, Strawberry Tree. You can have many color stages of the fruits all at one time, which is another highlight; green, yellow, orange and red and is very ornamental.

There are some compact varieties of Arbutus and some named clones as “Elfin King” and “Oktoberfest.” Neither of these exceeds 10 feet and both are slower growing. I use these for a hedge sometimes in my garden designs and have even espaliered them against a wooden fence.

Along the coastal belt of central California and all the way up to British Columbia grows another: Arbutus menziesii, (common name: “Madrone”). These trees can reach heights from 50-100 feet under ideal conditions and their bark is spectacular with its smooth mahogany-colored trunk. But they like it cool and moist and do not grow well in Southern California.

One of my favorites in the Arbutus clan is a cultivar named “Marina.” This tree was a selection that was made at the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation up near San Francisco. This cultivar had been growing in the Strybing Arboretum at Golden Gate Park and the original tree is thought to have come from the private gardens of Victor Reiter planted in the early 1940s.

Since that time it has been a slow journey to finally make it into the nursery trade, but once recognized for all its wonderful values it has become a wonderful specimen to have in a landscape setting.

Arbutus “Marina” is fairly pest- and disease-free but you must make sure that these trees have excellent soil drainage, and that goes for the entire Arbutus family. The cultivar “Marina” grows a bit more rapidly than other Arbutus, and I planted some of these trees in the Fallbrook area about 12 years ago and they are 14-16 feet in height now. You can find Arbutus as a tree grown in a standard traditional shape or sometimes as a multi-trunk tree, which in my opinion has a lot of character and interest with several trunks from the ground level.

So when looking for a unique and lovely tree for your garden that has so many interesting and ornamental qualities, consider Arbutus “Marina” and I am sure you will be happy.

Trees are like the bones of a good garden design.

“Plan before you plant… The right tree in the right place.”