Feliz Navidad! I dolled up one of the coyote brush out front, and presto! A beautiful Christmas display for our soggy, 60-degree December holiday season. But Baccharis is perfectly happy with this weather, being largely a Pacific dune plant. It pops up and over the Coast Range, showing up on logging landings and other openings, before it spills into the Willamette Valley. The northernmost known locality for this species in the Valley is right here in Washington County, on Gales Peak, just above the farm. Dioecious, incredibly drought-tolerant, evergreen, and beloved by late-season pollinators, coyote brush is a highly variable species that is absolutely unique in our flora.
Have a great Christmas, Hanukah, or whatever you choose to celebrate.
-George
