Birds, Privacy and Erosion Control - Think Toyon!

Do you live in the following areas: Pebble Beach, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel Valley, or Big Sur? Do you want a garden that creates habitat and provides a food source and shelter for local and migratory birds? Do you need to stabilize a slope that is eroding? Do you want to create privacy around your home?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, consider the evergreen, native shrub or small tree commonly known as Toyon or Christmas berry.

Botanically speaking, Heteromeles arbutifolia (Rosaceae). Easy to grow in all of Monterey County.

Sun or shade, plus it tolerates a wide range of soil types – clay, silt, or sand. Toyons are pretty much growing everywhere – oak woodlands, chaparral, coastal sage scrub communities, and even mixed evergreen forests.

Would you like to attract robins, jays, woodpeckers, waxwings, and other beautiful birds and wildlife into your landscape?

Toyons produce an abundance of red-colored berries in the winter that birds love to eat. That’s not all; they also produce a mass of white flowers in the spring that smell sweet and good.

These white flowers attract beneficial organisms and pollinators, such as moths and butterflies. For those who love native plants and enjoy attracting birds and wildlife into your garden, Toyon is for you.

Do you live on a slope, and is your property eroding into the abyss?

Toyons are an excellent way to deal with this problem. Other than a retaining wall, bank stabilization is best done by using native plantings and jute netting.

Toyons are an excellent plant choice to solve your erosion problem and protect your home from sliding. The root systems rapidly expand and help to control erosion by holding soil together and slowing down the speed of water.

Beyond being an excellent plant for erosion control and wildlife value, Toyons can also be used for creating privacy.

They make a great formal hedge that can be pruned to the desired height, or they can be left natural, where they will grow up to 20 feet tall. Fast-growing, evergreen, and drought-tolerant Toyons are great for privacy plantings.

If wildlife and birds are your thing, or you need to deal with erosion, or you just want to be left alone and want some privacy, Toyons are a great plant for solving all of these problems.

Growing naturally throughout Monterey, Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove, Carmel, and Big Sur, Toyon is one of our best native plants for our local Monterey County area.