Ceanothus Issue?

Hello all

I hope you are Well.

I have a Ceanothus 'Concha' in the Corner of the Back Garden which Faces West.

Recently, I have noticed it has a fair few Yellow Leaves, however, it Flowered really Well in Spring.

This is how it looks at the moment:



New Leaf Growth looks to be Green so I do not know what could of caused the Yellow Leaves.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

Kevin

 

Hello Kevin, being an evergreen it does still lose it's leaves, but more gradually than deciduous shrubs. It could just be shedding naturally. Ceanothus do tend to get bare and twiggy in the centre if they're not trimmed over every year.
Was it a particularly wet winter and spring where you live? I'm finding a lot of trees and shrubs are a bit shocked, having got used to a plentiful supply of water, now that the hotter, drier weather has arrived.
If you want to have a go at rejuvenating it, snip out all the tiny, dead twigs and give it a liquid feed, preferably an ericaceous one.
They don't always take kindly to hard pruning into old wood.

 

Hello @noisette47

Thanks for the Reply.

We did have some Strong Winds and Heavy Rains in May, maybe that could be the issue.

Would you recommend that I leave it alone, for now, and see how it goes?

Thanks

Kevin

 

I can hardly see any! It's all perfectly normal though. They'll shed some if it's dry long term, simply because any mature shrub will try to preserve moisture for as much of theshrub as possible, so shedding some foliage helps with that.
I expect they do it when it's wetter, especially if the ground's heavier, but I never noticed any great problem when I had one, and I don't see it being a major problem around here in other gardens, and it's normal for us to have lots of rain in winter.

 

They definitely do not like cold wet winters particularly the wet. I have lost two including one about 8ft tall and have given up growing them despite them being so beautiful. The big one used to get painted lady butterflies on it in late summer.

 

Well, if you're going to follow a policy of trimming it lightly all over after flowering, now is the time to do it. Otherwise, yes, leave it but be prepared for it to to get bigger and bigger and sparse in the middle

 

They cope well enough with wet and cold if they're happy at their feet, so good drainage and the right growing medium is needed. Planting into unimproved soil and/or the wrong site won't be good @Baalmaiden, so that may have been the problem for yours

They can be short lived @Kevin Cowans , so just be prepared for that too. Trimming is needed, as @noisette47 says, as they can also get top heavy, and that's a problem during rough weather.

 

My Concha does that too, and I'm not too far away from you @Kevin Cowans . I think it's just the normal turnover of leaves.

 

I was looking at my concha today and it also has some yellow leaves behind the new greener ones that are forming.

 

Hello all

Thanks for the Replies.

It seems that the consensus is that it is Normal for Ceanothus so I will just keep an Eye on it.

I have given it a Light Pruning as it was Overhanging the Spirea Genpei in front of it and will give them, I have Two, One is Freestanding, this One and the Other is Fence Trained, a Light Pruning after Flowering.

Thanks

Kevin

 

I gave mine a light trim a couple of weeks ago, and took out one large branch that was heading over the top of the fence to next door. It's already showing signs of new growth from below where I took the branch out.

 

Hello @JennyJB

Hopefully I have similar success.

Thanks

Kevin

 

A large healthy mature ceanothus in full bloom is arguably one of the most spectacular sights in the garden.

I've had them for a few years at a time in the past and then all of a sudden a particularly cold wet winter will kill them off. I've given up bothering with them now. They are just to hit and miss for me in the UK climate.

It speaks volumes when you realise where they're from (California). No wonder they're hit and miss in the UK, but I'll always love ceanothus, possibly my favourite shrub.

 

There are some cold places in California I think they probably range up into Oregon and up the West coast strip.
But yes can be slightly tender and some varieties are hardier than others, maybe the ones with the bigger leaves are less hardy in general.

But I think concha is probably the darkest of the blues I've seen.