Nandina domestica 'Sunset Boulevard'

Summary

UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.

This cultivar of N. domestica never reached its full potential in our trials. Though a striking red coloration was observed during the preceding winter, foliage was often discolored due to sun and stress in the deficit season. These plants also displayed a lack of vigor, with mean monthly scores of 3 or above occurring only 4 times for all treatments over the deficit season (Table 13a). Open House participants in the spring listed Sunset Boulevard as “too small to evaluate” while others were “still under-impressed with this plant” in the fall (Table 13b).  No difference was observed in growth measurements or aesthetic ratings between treatments. Based on its unacceptable Overall Appearance scores throughout the season on all treatments, we would not recommend planting Sunset Boulevard in the full sun in this region. Staff did install several plants in the 50% shade field to observe any differences that might occur. Although a full evaluation would be necessary for meaningful comparison, anecdotally plants in the shade were slightly larger, and possessed slightly higher foliage quality scores. It has been suggested and is possible that the small size of the stock we received may have been an indicator of weak plants, and a repeated trail with larger, sturdier stock might yield different results.

Growth and Quality Data

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