Vaccinium ovatum and V. parvifolium - Evergreen Huckleberry and Red Huckleberry Side by side are two of our most common huckleberries. The evergreen one has purplish berries while the red is – well, red! Both appreciate damp, organically rich soil but the evergreen flowers and fruits best in sunlight. On mountain slopes where it can [...]

 Corylus cornuta var. californica -Western hazelnut It’s hard to beat the squirrels to these tasty nuts. You know they’ve been around seeing the opened shells on the ground but being squirrels, they also ‘squirrel’ away some in the ground for later. Trouble is they can’t remember where they planted all of them so expect seedlings [...]

Sambucus racemosa - Red Elderberry You really need some elbow room to grow our native elderberries as they want to spread out to 20’ due to their rather weak wood. Red Elderberry fruits are not tasty raw but best cooked/boiled to use in jellies, pies, and the like. Some will add elderberry flowers to pancake batter. Better tasting [...]