Plant types

Plant styles

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Nurseries & Gardens

Photo by Stan Shebs

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Brickellia californica

Also Known As

Bricklebush

Plant type

shrub, perennial

size

H: 2'-4'
W: 2'-4'

planting zones

5b-11

Brickellia californica plant details

Brickellia californica is a broadleaf deciduous perennial shrub with blue and green foliage. In fall and summer green and yellow flowers emerge. Attracts birds. Grows well with sun and occasional - low water. Drought tolerant once established. Prefers to be dry in summer. Adapts to various soil conditions. Does well in average, clay, gritty, lean and well-drained soil.

CHARACTERISTICS OF Brickellia californica

Plant type: perennial shrub
Plant family: asteraceae
Foliage: deciduous blue and green
Mature size: 2 FT - 4 FT - wide, 2 FT - 4 FT - tall
Flowers: green and yellow blooms in fall and summer
Uses: fragrant, long-blooming, native plant

GROWING CONDITIONS for Brickellia californica

USDA Zones: 5b - 11
Sun exposure: sun
Watering frequency: occasional - low

Soil needs: average, clay, gritty, lean and well-drained

Nursery contributed plant descriptions

This California native shrub may not be the handsomest guy on the block - but when it blooms - beware! From a great distance, you will be drawn by the irresistible, powerful perfume! This wonderful fragrance lasts for two weeks & it’s one of those mysterious plant scents that can be smelled only at a distance - you get up close to the flowers & it’s barely noticeable (someone should write a paper on that). “Brickelbush” is a common shrub of dry, rocky slopes & washes in our chaparral & coastal-sage-scrub areas below 8000 ft. Base branching to 4’ tall & wide, with triangular gray-green leaves, it blooms Aug. thru Oct. The yellowish-green flowers are pendulous & held in little bunches. Quail like the seeds that follow. Deciduous. Water once a week or so the first year, very little thereafter. Tolerates sand & clay.