WHAT THE FREAK IS MANZANITA?

I was visiting with a friend of mine this morning, and she asked an interesting question... She asked, "What is Manzanita?"

First of all, Manzanita is the name we have given to our cabin... When we talk about going to Manzanita for the weekend, that means we are going to work on the cabin.

But, manzanita is actually a plant that grows all over the property where our cabin is going to be... everywhere... and I mean, everywhere...  When we were purchasing the property, we saw this beautiful little shrub with tiny little flowers, dark shiny green leaves with a deep, dark red branch structure and we thought it was beautiful.  Little did we know that it had a root system like no other.  And, trying to dig that crap up is almost impossible.  The root system looks sort of like the circulatory system of the human body...1000's of little roots growing off a massive big central root - and I mean massive.  We have been digging these stupid roots up, and some of them are a foot across.  It's incredible.

I did a little research on this stuff this morning - Wikipedia says that it's used for decorating, especially for weddings, but not good for much else.  So, if you have an upcoming wedding, and want to cut down some manazanita and dry it, let us know... we have lots to share.

Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus Arctostaphylos. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from southern British Columbia and Washington to California, Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and throughout Mexico. They are characterized by smooth, orange or red bark and stiff, twisting branches. There are 105 species and subspecies of manzanita,^[1] 95 of which are found in the Mediterranean climate and colder mountainous regions of California, ranging from ground-hugging coastal and mountain species to small trees up to 20 feet (6m) tall. Manzanitas bloom in the winter to early spring and carry berries in spring and summer.^[2] The berries and flowers of most species are edible.

The word manzanita is the Spanish diminutive of manzana (apple). A literal translation would be little apple. The name manzanita is also sometimes used to refer to species in the related genus Arbutus, which is known by that name in the Canadian area of the tree's range, but is more usually known as madroño, or madrone in the United States.