California natives sometimes get a bad rap for looking “weedy,” but Manzanitas (the common name for the genus Arctostaphylos) are some of the tidiest plants around. With evergreen leaves, gorgeous red bark and tiny bell-shaped flowers, they belong in every garden. The images below hint at the variety of forms manzanitas can take — small trees, mid-sized shrubs, and low groundcovers.
Many are flowering now, and their pink or white flowers are an important source of winter nectar for birds and butterflies in Southern California. Within a span of a few minutes, I saw an Anna’s Hummingbird, finches, native bees and a butterfly — all on one Eastman Manzanita pictured below!
Arctostaphylos glandulosa ssp. glandulosa / Eastwood Manzanita
Eastwood Manzanita’s smooth dark red bark. 
Anna’s Hummingbird waiting for me to leave.
A curbside manzanita (foreground) looking very sharp and tidy.
Arctostaphylos edmundsii ‘Danville’ 
Artostaphylos hookeri ‘Buxifolia’
