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Mixed Evergreen

Summer shade between fog and sun. Many places in California experience summertime conditions that combine the dry heat of interior valleys and the foggy cool of the coast. Such sites are perfect for a mixed-evergreen forest, blending large evergreen trees such as Douglas-fir and madrone with a varied understory of shrubs, perennials, and ferns. The trees here have extensive thirsty roots, and their canopy creates a deep, dry summer shade; they thus challenge understory plants with a combination of low water and little light.