Native Plants for Your Garden: Silk Tassel
One of the most dramatic winter flowering shrubs in West Marin is coast silk tassel (Garrya eliptica). It is native to the coastal counties of California from Ventura County to southwestern Oregon. Locally, they can be found along Highway 1 near Marshall and along the beaches of Tomales Bay. A large and handsome silk tassel grows at water’s edge at Heart’s Desire Beach.
Although plants can grow to 24 feet with an equal spread in the wild, they are usually smaller in the garden. The oval, dark, evergreen leaves have a leathery texture and wavy margins. They have a bitter taste and were used by early settlers as a substitute for quinine (hence, its other common name, the quinine bush). It is dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants) and it is the male that is spectacular in bloom. Beginning in December and lasting into early spring, long, silvery-green catkins hang from the branches. The most commonly available cultivars at nurseries are ‘James Roof’, a prolific bloomer with foot-long catkins; and ‘Evie’, a more compact selection with slightly shorter catkins.
The coast silk tassel is very slow to start but once established, it will make up for lost time. It likes sun to part shade and infrequent watering, and works well as an informal hedge or screen. Some companion plants are Douglas iris, western columbine and meadow rue.