Plant in full sun to light shade and irrigate occasionally to not at all. Cold hardy to 5° F. A dependable tall ground cover selection with year-round interest.

Arctostaphylos 'John Dourley' is a volunteer seedling that was found by John Dourley, the former Superintendent of Horticulture at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (now California Botanic Garden) in an area having hybrid manzanitas at the botanic garden and is of unknown parentage, though some speculate it to be a hybrid between Arctostaphylos pajaroensis and A. bakeri. It was named for John Dourley by Mike Evans of Tree of Life Nursery. There seems to be discrepancies on the size description for this plant, perhaps due to climatic or cultural conditions, as Las Pilitas Nursery notes it growing much smaller in their hotter and drier conditions. We have grown this attractive plant since 2001.

The name Arctostaphylos was given to the genus by the French (of Scottish descent) naturalist Michel Adanson (1707-1778), who first named the circumboreal Arctostaphylos uva-ursi for plants found in Europe. The name comes from the Greek words 'arktos' meaning "bear" and 'staphyle' meaning "grapes" in reference to bears eating the fruit and the common name Bearberry also references this fact. 

The information about Arctostaphylos 'John Dourley' that is displayed on this web page is based on research conducted in our nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We will also include observations made about this plant as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens that we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We also incorporate comments that we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they share cultural information that aids others growing this plant.