Pacific wax myrtle is more of a shrub for Eureka than Oakland. It will probably grow there, but will need extra water in the summer (even with your fog drip). Plant them away from your oaks (oaks and summer water don't mix).

Madrone will grow there, but they are difficult to establish. Plant three at a time and hope that one survives. They need full sun, excellent drainage, and no summer water.

If they qualify as "trees," you might want to consider some of the larger Ceanothus (such as Ray Hartman) or manzanitas (Austin Griffiths, Dr. Hurd, etc.). These will fit in well with the summer-dry conditions that your oaks strongly prefer, and the ones that I mentioned all grow pretty quickly.

This post was edited by OregonGrape on Sun, Apr 13, 14 at 22:49

Appreciate the suggestions -- never heard of ceanothus as a "tree" before. Concerned that we might be too shady for madrone, but could try them by the street south of the biggest oaks. Also need to get the ivy and poison oak(!) under control.

No problem. Ceanothi are not trees, but the larger ones can be pruned into tree form:

http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/ceanothus-ray-hartman

California wax-myrtle are large, multi-stemmed shrubs. If you're looking for something with a tree form, wax-myrtle may not be what you want. If you'd be fine with a large shrub, I'd think that Toyon would work better there.

There is a small form of California boxelder that might work for you. The downside is that I only know of one place that sells it, and you'd have to start from a one-gallon size.

Here is a link that might be useful: Acer negundo californicum 'Bert's Toy Box'

OregonGrape, the boxelder looks promising but the minimum planting size is 5 gallons. Don't know if that will also be an issue with the ceanothus? Perhaps I can try the boxelder anyway and if the other trees don't work out I can remove them in 3 years.

For the madrone, do you think there might be a better chance of survival with a larger specimen? The landscape contractor can get Arbutus marina in a 24" box.

Also, does anyone have recommendations for native landscaping consultants in the SF Bay Area? (If that is ok to ask on here)

I forgot that you're dealing with government micromanagers. I would strongly recommend NOT planting a 5 gallon Ceanothus or manzanita. Both have sensitive roots and will probably not establish well after transplanting at that size. Some may be OK, but it'll be an expensive gamble. Madrone will definitely not establish from a 5 gallon container. They have super-fussy roots and anything larger than 1 gallon is likely to fail.

Would it be possible to get something cheap in 5 gallon containers, plant them, let the local bureaucrat check the box, and then pull them out and replace with something that you actually want afterwards?

Oh my . . . well, that's an idea.

Hate to see plants go to waste but if we just put in fruit trees I could probably give them away later. If I had my druthers we would just put in shrubs and native plants once we get rid of the ivy, since I think with the oak crowding It would be difficult for anything large to do well? Some of the smaller oaks (the ones Thanks for the link -- love the Las Pilitas website and probably will end up spending hours on there . . .

We use to have 20 acres of natural, native Oak Savanna and I don't recall ever seeing anything growing under the Oaks.... not even shrubs. I would go with the Manzanitas only.

Ceanothus want sun.

Here Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) and Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia )are found mixed with Oak. They both support native bird populations. Not sure the Rhus will work for you up north, but Toyon is found up into Humboldt County.

What area of Oakland are you? If you are not in a hurry I can ask my sister for advice, she is a native plant manager and lives in Oakland so probably knows a lot more than I do. As OG said, madrone and manzanita don't like their roots messed with. It is almost impossible to transplant one.

Is your oak a live oak or a valley or black oak? Whether or not it is deciduous will dictate what can grow beneath it. Other natives that come to mind: toyon, flannel bush/tree, hoptree, coffeeberry, California nutmeg, big leaf maple... Historically Oakland was covered in coastal redwoods.

sf_rhino, thanks for the offer, and would love any advice but this new place actually is not in Oakland, it is about 30 min away. We have a few months before we need to plant but I thought we could increase the survival chances by planting now as opposed to mid-summer. There are 2 valley oaks and a dozen live oaks ranging between 12"-40" diameter, plus some bay laurels, bunch of pittosporum, ivy and some poison oak . . . Once the ivy and poison oak is gone I was thinking of putting in some ground cover to keep down the dust until we can accumulate leaf litter.

hoovb, we have ceanothus in our current place but it has been pretty sad because the previous owner planted a crape myrtle nearby and my husband wanted to try to keep it so we watered -- well, the crape myrtle didn't make it but now the ceanothus is perking up.

westelle, wow, I bet that 20 acres was magnificent!

Thank you all for the additional suggestions, will look into those.

Now would be a good time to stop watering the Ceanothus. They are highly susceptible to root rot, and this becomes more likely as the soil warms up.

In a really bad drought year, you can continue to help your established drought-tolerant plants survive by giving them light wash-offs with a hose every few days. This simulates a rain shower or fog. Do this early in the morning or near sunset, and make sure that you have a few inches of mulch under the plant. The goal is to wet the foliage and the mulch, but to keep the ground dry.

OregonGrape -- Thanks for the tip on the wash-offs. Yes, we stopped watering near the ceanothus last year once I convinced DH that the crape myrtle was dead and we took it out. The ceanothus looks less straggly now, but we have an outbreak of Jupiter's Beard this year where the myrtle used to be, no idea where that came from!