Ceanothus - Put it out of its misery?

Hi all,

We moved into our current house three years ago. In the back garden, there was a beautiful ceanothus. Judging by its size, form, and the thickness of its trunk/stem, I assume it is old (for a ceanothus).

For the first two years of our time with it, every spring, it flowered spectacularly, especially last year. However, this year, I noticed that after winter, it lost half of its leaves, and they never grew back. This spring, we got a few sad looking blooms, but nothing compared to previous years.

I can't see any disease. This year, I pruned it because it clearly needed it. I removed the dead, diseased, and damaged parts, but if anything, it looks even more sorry for itself. Is it dead or slowly dying? Was last year’s flowering its final hurrah? Has it likely reached the natural end of its life, or could I do something to bring it back to its best?

My hunch is that it's dying, and I should probably put it out of its misery, but I wanted to get a second opinion before doing so. It was a beautiful specimen, and I'd be sad to see it go. There is fresh growth from shoots at the bottom, fully leaved and looking healthy. It's just the other 95% of it that is the problem.

Thanks, Al

 

I agree, it does look very sorry for itself. Ceanothus are normally considered to be a short lived tree so that is certainly a very old specimen judging by the size. I expect last year's heat wave finally did for it. I'm surprised though that there are new healthy looking shoots at the base which may be a hopeful sign.

Perhaps some other posters may have some ideas for you.

 

I think I would go for "kill or cure" and cut it back leaving just the fresh new shoots. See how it does next spring and then decide whether to get rid completely.

 

Try a few semi ripe cuttings.
Then give it the chop next year.
I dont think they recover well from that stage.

 

It’s probably too straggly to ever be decent now. Worth trying cutting down to leave the bottom growth rather than cull completely if you aren’t sure.

I have a very old one which wasn’t pruned much before inheriting it so it has been pruned by a quarter for the last few years and has filled out in response but I’m sure many others would retire it. As you say - they are lovely in bloom. Is it worth it for 6 weeks of the year? That’s my question to myself too.

 

Thanks for your responses all. I might start cutting back and see if what i'm left with is worth saving, perhaps it won't be. When in bloom is was very very nice and tbh, even when not, its form made it a bit of a favourite. It just seems a bit sad now.