Manzanita bushes (@HB)

[choronr]

Harvey, I downloaded your 'Manzanita Bush' ...beautiful plant! Question: There are several that came with the download. Can you tell me what each version is; i.e., I expect they relate to size and/or maturity. It would be helpful to know which one is which. Thanks for your help.

[DeathTwister]

Hay guys,

  Where is the link to those bushes? I would love to check em out /smiles.... If I may? Smack a link here maybe?

DT

[old_blaggard]

http://www.ashundar.com/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item251

[Harvey Birdman]

Hi, choronr -

You assume a ... regimented approach?   

Seriously, manzanita is a pretty diverse plant. I guess all the models are meant to be in sort of an adult stage of growth, and reflect the diversity of the appearance one would expect in a clump. I can't remember who it was that really specifically stated it as such (here in these forums), but if you really want to get a realistic look for a population of plants, you need more than one model. Otherwise, you end up with variations of the 'christmas tree farm' effect (to quote said unknown critic).

Manzanita ranges in adult size from a ground-hugging shrub a foot or two high, to a small tree form 20 feet or so tall. The height and form depend largely on the elevation. In the Sierra foothills, it's a small tree. In the peaks, it's a shrub that ranges up to 12,000 feet or so.

[DeathTwister]

Actually they get up to 30-45 feet or there abouts, and yes they are like a scrub Oak family in some ways with very hard work with a wonderful red okre color to the flesh under the bark.  Very nice and you find then in the high desert, to along the coast and foothills of calif.  I know I grew up here /winks.
Thanks for the link, going to check it out /smiles.
DT

[Harvey Birdman]

Wow! I never saw one that tall! I was speaking from personal experience - I did a lot of climbing inthe Sierra, and used to own some property in Colfax.

<edit>
I grew up in Vermont. There weren't a whole lot of Manzanita around.   
</edit>

[choronr]

Thanks Harvey, I will probably use a few different varieties to naturalize the landscape. We also have the Manzanita here in Arizona along the Mogollon Rim in the high country. I also saw them in southeastern Utah while hiking in the area of the Natural Bridges State Park and nearby places. I love the smooth reddish trunk and branches. Some of the older plants develop a grayish bark. Their foliage is very beautiful as well.

[Oshyan]

As far as I know manzanitas don't really grow above 20 feet tall. However the relatively similar madrone species do grow very large indeed. In fact there is one on the property where I grew up that is about 100 feet tall, split in 2 by lightning all the way down to the ground and still growing in two halves, each of which is about 10 feet in circumference. Big tree. They average something more like 30-50 feet though, at least in my neck of the woods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbutus_menziesii

- Oshyan

[MooseDog]

...I grew up in Vermont. There weren't a whole lot of Manzanita around...

no, but we still do have fisher cats, an animal which neither hunts for fish nor is a cat  .  welcome to the north country.

thx for sharing.

[Harvey Birdman]

I tried to explain fisher cats to someone once. I received the distinct impression that he thought the state must be populated by idiots incapable of zoological categorization.

Oh, well...   

[SeerBlue]

 I grew up in NH, and the only place I saw a Fisher Cat was a zoo in Norway. The placard said it was from less than 15 miles from my home town. Small world.
And for the curious who wonder what a Fisher Cat is ...
http://home.mcn.net/~wtu/fisher.html

SeerBlue