Description

These are clones of a male plant. That means no seeds, and no carpet of volunteers in the spring. Coyote bush is widespread in all of California’s coastal counties, the Channel Islands, Sacramento Valley and central Sierra foothills.  It seems to prefer some coastal influence.  Once it makes a foothold, it quickly grows into a vase-shaped shrub in the case of the consanguinea subspecies, or a fairly tidy mound in the case of the pilularis subspecies.  A female plant produces copious amounts of aerial seeds which germinate readily.  If left unchecked, one can quickly have a little forest of coyote bush, each of which will fight removal tenaciously.  Planting a male plant is a good choice in a garden.  Coyote bush is underappreciated as a landscape plant.  The shiny leaves are holly-like in form and cover the plant densely.  These overlay gray-silver bark.  Quite tolerant of aggressive pruning, Coyote bush can be pruned up to make a little tree (though it may need to be supported if it becomes top heavy), or thinned to reveal the bark and branch structure.  This plant is also a great one for wildlife support.