Santa Cruz Island buckwheat

Eriogonum arborescens

Description

The Santa Cruz Island buckwheat grows into a mounding evergreen shrub reaching 3-4 ft. tall, 5-6 ft. wide. Pale gray-green leaves are narrow in width and attached in whorl-like clusters at the ends of branches. Soft pink to rose ﬂowers occur from early spring into summer and then age into attractive reddish-brown seed heads by fall. This species comes from slopes and canyon walls of several of the Channel islands of California.

The Santa Cruz Island buckwheat is a member of the coastal sage and chaparral plant communities on coastal islands where it grows in poor soils, sunny exposures and with summer drought stress. It has attractive foliage, flower and seed character that makes it well suited to native plantings in the Inland Empire around the perimeter of coast live oak trees, and with other natives. As plants age they can be lightly pruned to reveal interesting branching character and can serve as a small rock garden specimen. This species easily reseeds in garden settings.

Plant Type: Shrub, Native
Foliage Character: Evergreen
Habit: Mounding
Growth Rate: Moderate
Foliage Color: Pale green
Flower Color: Pink
Flower Season: Summer, Spring
Soil Adaptations: Calcareous soil
Exposure Adaptations: Heat, Fog, Drought, Coastal salt air, All day sun
Function: Attracts butterflies, Wildlife value, Slopes, Rock gardens, Flowering accent plant, Banks
Height: 3 ft. – 4 ft.
Width: 5 ft. – 6 ft.

Watering Schedule: Low 1

For most situations, we recommend watering deeply every 3-4 weeks after establishment.

Learn how to apply this watering schedule to your landscape on our How to water waterwise and California native plants page.

Important Notes

These are general guidelines. Always observe and adjust as necessary for your landscape.
If it rains over 1” you will likely not need to water for at least another 3-4 weeks. Before watering again, check the soil. It should be significantly dry at least 4” below the soil surface before watering.
If you have a “smart timer” or weather sensitive irrigation controller, it is best not to use the automatic weather adjusting features for plants in this category. While very useful for watering higher water demanding plants, those in this category have natural drought adaptations which mean they do not need to be watered more in warm weather. Using the weather adjusting features will result in either overwatering in summer or underwatering in fall and spring.
It is important to group plants with the same water needs together in the landscape to avoid needing to over or under water plants when running your irrigation system.

Generally, little maintenance is necessary. To control size, cut back as much of the new-ish growth as desired while not in flower (April-ish). Do not prune in late spring as you will remove forming buds which will form this season’s blooms. After flowering, leave spent flowers to dry into red / brown clusters. This is part of the desired look of native buckwheats. The seeds develop into valuable wildlife food and help shade the plant in the summer heat (1). “Deadheading” buckwheats would be tedious and time consuming and would take away much of what there is to love about this plant. Keep things easy and don’t worry about it (S). If desired, remove dried seed heads beginning in mid-September and into the fall (1). Older plants that look like they need refreshing can be cut back hard into older wood in November. Expect new growth to emerge within a few weeks (1) References