The capital city of Chile, Santiago, sits about midway along the length of this long, thin country. From Santiago south to the Tierra del Fuego, three forest types occur, each with its own special plants. South of the Atacama Desert, which dominates northern Chile, lies the sclerophyllous forest known as matorral, an often shrubby landscape dominated by evergreens. These plants thrive in Santiago’s Mediterranean climate and include notable species such as Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis) and mayten (Maytenus boaria), plus cacti and bromeliads. While a few of these species survive here in Puget Sound, as garden plants they are best grown in California.

Photos top row: Araucaria araucana Female, Drimys winteri, Eucryphia glutinosa. Bottom row: Fitzroya cupressoides, Maytenus boaria, Nothofagus dombeyi.

South of Santiago and centered on the city of Valdivia lies the Valdivian temperate forest, dominated by evergreen trees, both flowering and coniferous, and with an understory of bamboos and ferns. Temperate rainforests are rare with the largest occurring in the Pacific Northwest, which explains why these Chilean plants thrive here in Washington. Across its range, Valdivian forest is dominated by different tree species. In the north, deciduous southern beeches (Nothofagus) hold sway, whilst in the Andean foothills, conifers such as monkey-puzzle (Araucaria araucana) and alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) dominate. In central regions, evergreen such as olivillo (Aextoxicon punctatum) and ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia) are common, whilst in southern regions, a mixture of southern beeches, canelo (Drimys winteri) and podocarps (Podocarpus nubigenus) take their place. Many native plant species in Valdivian forests occur here and only here, including the shrub Valdivia gayana and Chile’s national flower, copihue (Lapageria rosea).

Last but not least, the Magellanic subpolar forests extend south to Cape Horn and include forests dominated by southern beech and evergreens in the most sheltered areas. Along the coast, wind-sculpted moorlands predominate, whilst in the east in the foothills, deciduous forest is common. As conditions begin to dry out in the Andes rain shadow, grassland takes over, dominating many parts of Patagonia.

Heronswood’s Chilean landscape features plants from all three of these forest types, but the Valdivian species predominate as they are best adapted to our local climate.