Soil mix for ceanothus

Hi everyone...at the weekend I'll be buying a couple of Ceanothus, which will be going into 2 very large terracotta pots, I have read that they need very free draining soil, so I had planned on mixing sharp sand with some Jack's Magic compost ( I have 3 bags lying about ) so can anyone please tell me a good ratio of sand to compost that will work well with the above plants?

Thanks

Sheps...

 

Ah
Sheps!
Yes, free draining soil but not mpc. I would use john innes number 3 and mix in perlite. I would use 10 to 20 % perlite
Why not mpc? It dries out too quickly, has no "body" and is too light. Ceanothus is a fast grower and will soon be top heavy.....JI will help address this. I know you have 3 bags of compost you are itching to use but resist. Use them for something else. Or, you could mix it with JI and perlite!
Variety is important too....the mound formers, prostrate types are better in containers.
Not sure ceanothus make good pot plants though Sheps and are usually far from long term.
Why ceanothus Sheps?

 

Hi Verdun...the main reason why Ceanothus is that I like it, plus it's an evergreen, which is what I want, I'm just hoping it will make it through winter without much leaf loss, unlike my evergreen Honeysuckles which dropped loads of leaves.

It will be fastened to a trellis for support, so once tied in I'm hoping it will stay put.

Point taken re it's longevity, I was told the same over on GWF, but if it lasts a few years I will be more than happy.

Thanks for the advice re the soil ratio/type, I will get some JI3 and pertile and mix as above.

 

You are welcome Sheps