Ceanothus

Round here there are some beautiful Ceanothus out. They are very dark blue with masses of rounded clusters of flowers. Last year I bought 'Concha' but it isn't the right one. It is a lovely dark blue but the flower panicles are looser and less rounded.
There is another in my book with virtually the same descrition called 'Blue Mound', has anyone got this one? :rolleyes:
I've also got a very pretty low growing one called 'Dark Star'.

 

I didnt even know there were differences! I bought a nice specimen from the car boot last week, now I'll have to find out what it is, lol!

 

I have a Ceanothus in my garden, although not sure what type it is. It is very large and covered in masses of deep blue flowers. I was wondering if it would be ok to prune it back after flowering.

I noticed one for sale in my local garden centre, quite small, but over 30.00. I reckon mine must be worth at least 300.00 at that rate, but I need to reduce it by about 200.00. Any tips?

 

Hi summergardener, the most inportant thing about pruning Ceanothus is not to cut back to old wood, as it will not shoot again from the old wood. Prune it after it has finished flowering.

 

Agreed, except that to add to the confusion, there are a few varieties that you can cut back hard & have them sprouting from the old wood (Yankee Point is one & I think, some of the others with larger glossy leaves)

I've got a Skylark which comes into dark blue flower just as most other ceanothus are finishing.

 

I got puget blue - errr I think, they are supposed to be quite short lived, but there are some realy old ones round here. Mine grows on hot south facing wall and loves it.

 

I've got "Concha", and I think its about the darkest blue there is, its an upright shrub, tends to get tall and doesn't take kindly to heavy pruning.
I've already killed one by trying to keep it shorter than it wanted. :(

 

Mmmm I think I'd better move the two I put at the back of my rose garden. If they stay, I will have to prune to keep a reasonable size - ah well, it won't be the first time I put something in the wrong place.

 

I gave my neighbour a Puget Blue a few years ago & persuaded her to plant it by the fence, now it billows over our side so we get the advantage of the show without it taking over our limited planting space.

I don't feel at all guilty, does this mean that I'm a bad person?

 

Liz, C. Blue Mound is a beauty but it's a gound hugger. It normally grows no more than 24" tall (sometimes only 12") but will spread to 6 feet or more in time. Gives very dense ground cover and not much in the way of weeds will grow under it. Develops very stiff woody branches and has dark green small leaved glossy foliage. Can be prone to frost and wind damge on exposed sites, otherwise hardy.

 

Hi Frogesque, Thanks, can't be that one then. The ones I've seen are quite tall, 2 as climbers.
Tortuosa, Have you a photo of yours,please? :rolleyes:

 

summergardener, I also needed to prune mine back by about �£200 last year (like it :D ) in early spring as it was growing over next doors fence and becoming quite unruly.

Out came the tree saw, and as you can see in the pic. I cut it off at the main branch just above ground. There was almost as much bush next door as my side! This Ceanothus was planted 12 years ago.
(sorry don't know what type)

After removing all that as you can imagine it looked a real mess, big gaps in it and very unbalanced! So I pruned it without worrying about deadwood, and it flowered a couple of months later and with only a light prune in autumn, this is it now:



Not quite in full flower yet (bit late this year) so I think they are almost indistuctible. Although from comments above, depends very much on type. Perhaps, like you know who, they like to be treated a bit rough! :D

Liz, didn't know they came in dark blue, so I had a look at Google Images and I am rather taken with this one, but do hope you don't have to go all the way to Australia to get it?

gardenpics.tripod.com/g/ceanothus.jpg

Could email him and ask what type it is though?

Tortuosa: :D Yes you are a really bad person, almost as bad as me! :D

 

Sorry just tested link and don't work!

For me it was about 20th image down on the search for Ceanothus in Google Images called Gardenpics.tripod.com

 

I found it, and it does look like the one I want. I trolled through all the pictures and found several that look like it, but [sods' law] none with the variety on! Blue mound is still the closest.
DAG, yours is spectacular! I did some more digging around about pruning and found conflicting advice. Apparently some can be pruned hard, seems to be the deciduous ones which I haven't had. Which is yours?

 

DAG: That ceanothus in your pic is superb!. Never seen one as a tree before - do you happen to know what variety it is?