Cold hardiness

Future

2050

2100

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Published baseline for this location from 1991-2020.

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Won't grow here

2050

Zone 7a

Plotwright

Projected zone for this same location in 2050 (2041-2070) using SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry).

Marginal

In plain terms: This location is in Zone 6b today. Its hardiness profile is cold winters, and coldest nights are typically around -3°F. By 2050, the projected hardiness zone is Zone 7a based on SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry). That is a +0.5-zone shift from Zone 6b to Zone 7a by 2050.

✕→⚠

Out of range today, but marginally possible by 2050.

Heat tolerance

Future

2050

2100

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 43 ecoregions — 40 climate-resilient through 2070 · 3 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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California coastal sage and chaparral

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Water

Low water

Spacing

72"

Habit

Large multi-stemmed evergreen chaparral shrub, occasionally tree-like

Care tips

•

Site it permanently in full sun with sharp drainage — it is long-lived and resents both root disturbance and rich, wet soil.

•

Water through the first summer or two to establish, then taper to little or no supplemental summer water.

•

Leave the berries for the birds: the November-to-February red pomes are critical late-season forage for waxwings, robins, and mockingbirds.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in fall or winter in full sun to part shade in poor, dry, well-drained soil — the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center notes it tolerates serpentine soil and exhibits allelopathic tendencies. Hardy to USDA Zone 7 per Oregon State Landscape Plants.

Transplanting

Move only young container plants; established chaparral shrubs resent root disturbance. Site permanently rather than relying on transplanting later.

Early growth

Water through the first one to two summers to establish, then taper off — it is long-lived and drought-tolerant and needs only infrequent summer water once established (Oregon State). Avoid rich, wet conditions.

Maturity

Mature plants reach roughly 6 to 20 feet with white flower clusters April through September and bright red pomes November through February. Susceptible to fire blight and black mildew, especially near the coast (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center).

Propagation

Grown from seed (cleaned from the ripe pomes) or from semi-hardwood cuttings; verify any named-selection restrictions before recommending.

Pollination

Self-fertile

Toyon carries small white perfect (bisexual) flowers in broad flat-topped clusters from spring into late summer; the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center records "Special Value to Native Bees" and that it "Supports Conservation Biological Control," and insect visitors include native bees and flower flies. A single shrub sets the heavy red-berry crop without a separate pollinizer.

Plants don't grow alone

Fruit forage

Bird

Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis)

Fruit forage

Bird

Downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

Fruit forage

Bird

American robin (Turdus migratorius)

Fruit forage

Bird

Cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

The bright red pomes persist from November into February and are eaten by cedar waxwings and many other songbirds; the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists "Birds eat berries" and "Attracts: Birds," and toyon is documented as winter forage for more than twenty bird species.

Fruit forage

Bird

Eastern songbirds (multi-species) (multiple species (Passeriformes))

A broad late-season fruit source — the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center records "Birds eat berries"; the slug is the catalog generic for the wider songbird guild (mockingbirds, robins, and other frugivores) that strip the winter berries.

For people

Edible with preparation

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center notes that Indigenous peoples cooked and ate the berries, but that "They are toxic in large amounts" — the pomes contain trace cyanogenic compounds that cooking drives off. Treat as edible only with traditional preparation, not as a raw nibble.

Native range

Native across 1 US state.

AHS heat range

6-12

Native ecoregions

Naturally belongs in 8 ecoregions — its native range crosses a state or province each one spans (not necessarily this exact habitat).

California coastal sage and chaparral

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Klamath-Siskiyou forests

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Mojave desert

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Northern California coastal forests

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Sierra Nevada forests

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Sonoran desert

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Climate notes

•

Oregon State Landscape Plants lists Heteromeles arbutifolia as hardy to USDA Zone 7, usually reaching 15-20 feet (4.5-6 m) high in full sun or very light shade, needing good drainage and infrequent summer water; horticultural sources put its comfortable upper range at the warm end (zone 11), so Plotwright records the published floor and the warm-climate ceiling as 7a-11b.

•

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents it as native only to California (CA) — semi-dry brushy slopes, foothills, and canyons below 4000 ft, extending into Baja California — and as adaptable, long-lived, and drought-tolerant on poor, dry, well-drained soil; it tolerates serpentine soil and exhibits allelopathic tendencies.

•

Tolerates warm to extreme summer heat — a Mediterranean-climate chaparral shrub adapted to hot, dry California summers with no supplemental water once established, while the Zone-7 hardiness floor lets it persist through cooler inland winters.

In the designer

Growth over time

72-240" tall · 60-180" spread

Mature multi-stemmed shrub with full white-flower clusters and heavy winter berry display.

Design roles: Structure · Focal point · Pollinator

Seasonal interest

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Filled = the plant has seasonal interest · ▾ now = your current season

Toyon

At a glance

Why it matters

Cold hardiness

Heat tolerance

Where this plant fits

What it needs

Lifecycle

Pollination

Plants don't grow alone

For people

Native range

Climate notes

In the designer

Seasonal interest

Sources & citations