Bush Anemone (Carpenteria californica 'Elizabeth') is a rare California native shrub that brings the wild beauty of the Sierra Nevada foothills into your garden. This evergreen reaches 4 to 6 feet tall with a dense, compact form and produces showy, fragrant white flowers from May through July that attract butterflies and other pollinators. Hardy in zones 8 to 10, it thrives in full sun to partial shade and tolerates drought once established, making it a low-maintenance addition that asks little but gives consistently year after year.
Partial Sun
Moderate
8-10
72in H x 36in W
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Low
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The fragrant flowers emerging from this densely branched evergreen are genuinely showy, with a delicate sweetness that fills the garden on warm days. Once established, it handles dry soil with remarkable ease, asking for water only during extended heat waves. Its natural resistance to deer means you can plant it without worry, and the low-maintenance growth habit means minimal pruning is needed unless you want to shape it into a hedge form.
Bush Anemone is typically grown as an ornamental shrub in garden borders and as a hedge plant. Its showy, fragrant flowers and evergreen foliage make it particularly valued in Mediterranean-style gardens and water-wise landscapes where drought tolerance matters.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Prune after flowering ends in July to shape the shrub into your desired form and remove long, leggy stems that can develop. This not only maintains a dense, attractive profile but also encourages bushier growth in the following season.
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“This shrub hails from the granite slopes of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, where it grows narrowly in the foothills of Fresno and Madera counties. Quite rare in the wild, Carpenteria californica has found a second life in cultivation, becoming far more familiar to gardeners than it ever was in its native habitat. The 'Elizabeth' selection represents efforts to bring this distinctive native into wider garden use.”