Rhaphiolepis indica 'sPge-3-003'

Summary

South Coast Research & Extension Center (South Coast REC/SCREC) is located in Irvine California, this site has a sandy loam soil and plants are irrigated with reclaimed water. 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.

Redbird™ gets its name from the variously hued new red foliage that emerges on this medium to large evergreen shrub. These ovate leaves mature into the bright green characteristic of the species. Because this is a larger shrub, we feel Redbird would have been better evaluated as larger material from the outset or in a longer trial than just two years. The stock we received was very young #1-sized material, and while a few plants were very good looking, many never achieved fullness or uniformity during the trial period at either site. Although foliage quality itself was not generally compromised by pests or disease, vigor and the form of plants were inconsistent and sometimes straggly (see the photo below from SCREC). This appearance is something that would normally even out with time and pruning on this genus, and we feel this plant would have scored higher in subsequent years with the normal horticultural practice of pruning to shape. Performance was not significantly affected by irrigation level. Since there were no significant differences in growth or aesthetics between treatments at either site, we recommend irrigation at the low level for Redbird in WUCOLS Regions 2 and 3.

Growth and Quality Data

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