woops, url link here

Here is a link that might be useful: S eremostachya

Actually, there are a couple of creosote along Carrizo Rd., which is just above (in elevation) the place I sent you to. But you're right, the S. eremostachya are pretty much above the Larrea. My plants that I grew from seed are puny -- woody with small leaves. I hope they'll snap out of it by this time next year. I got cuttings to root, but then they'd die. If I try again, I'll stick with seed.

I must have had maybe a half dozen plants over the last several years all acquired from Rancho Santa Ana Botanical garden sales. I lost an old one this past fall and I still have one left that is in full bloom now and has been for about a month. This plant is right on the edge of a steep drop off to the road below which i think is key to it's tolerance to coastal conditions...no wet feet with excellent drainage. My rock here is all sandstone, nothing granitic in this area. It has alot of branch die off, sort of what happens to most clevelandi specimens here, but shoots up some stems on one side of the plant that look rather vigorous. It would be nice if the whole plant were to thrive. Those plants out in the carrizo zone are probably really old for the most part. I looked around for young plants and seedlings, saw none. I'm guessing eremo is very finnicky with germination and survival, requiring very specific conditions which is probably why its populations are so limited. I have only found seedlings one year, late fall 2008, from my eremos and none of them are the pure species, all hybrids.