‘Twin Peaks’ Coyote Brush

‘Twin Peaks’ is one plant that really took me by surprise in the Shooting Star display gardens. 

Coyote Brush is widely known as a sturdy, fast growing, drought tolerant, evergreen native plant. The straight species (Baccharis pilularis) tends to be a little rangy and weedy-looking, but the ‘Twin Peaks’ cultivar forms a dense, mounding shrub – generally reaching around 2′ tall by 6′ wide. These plants thrive in the hot sun and in a variety of soils; including clay soil if they are planted on a slope. In fact, they’re frequently used to help stabilize slopes and banked areas. As an extra bonus, deer tend to avoid them. ‘Twin Peaks’ is attractive enough to use up close to your house as an evergreen shrub, but is also a great choice for planting in extremely sunny areas, areas with poor soil, and out away from regular irrigation.

The thing that surprised me about ‘Twin Peaks’? While the flowers (shown above) are fairly modest and unassuming, these plants are one of the best pollinator plants we grow here at Shooting Star – and we grow a lot of pollinator-friendly plants! On a recent late fall afternoon, the ‘Twin Peaks’ in our display garden was not only covered in flowers, but hosted the most diverse assortment of pollinators I’ve seen on a single plant: honeybees, bumblebees, tiny solitary bees, skippers, butterflies – even a big bee fly! 

While ‘Twin Peaks’ is a truly low-maintenence plant, a light annual pruning in early spring will help keep the plants looking full and dense.