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California Gardening

Keeping ceanothus alive and thriving

bluekitobsessed

15 years ago

I love ceanothus. My perfect plant is an unthirsty, deeprooted, California native shrub or groundcover with blue flowers that looks good all year round. I have a south facing slope that gets minimal irrigation (I usually water 1x/week in the summer) and huge critter problems (rabbits are the worst). I've never had any luck with Ceanothus. I believe the varieties were horizontalis and Ray Hartman. Locally (Thousand Oaks/Agoura) it grows in the wild on north facing slopes, which led me to believe that it's not going to work for my south facing slope. I'm able to support echium, rhus, creeping acacia, toyon, Matilija poppies, and a variety of trees; summer temperatures rarely top 90-95 degrees, we have moderate June gloom/coastal fog and some winter frost. On a large slope I can choose full sun or part shade areas, and can locate the plants at the base or middle of the slope (county owns the top half). I'd like to try again this fall. Any suggestions?

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Comments (4)

jakkom
15 years ago
Even minimal summer irrigation may be too much for ceanothus.

That said, full sun, middle slope would work. Frost occasionally kills them up here in coastal Northern CA.
User
15 years ago
My guess would be that ceanothus in your area prefer the northern slopes because they're cooler. Even up here in the Bay Area, less than two miles from the coast, ceanothus hates my south-facing slope, while anything native to the Channel Islands thinks it's in heaven.

Suggestion: plant it just upslope from one of your trees. This way the tree will cool things off just at the very hottest point of the day, while not blocking the sun the rest of the time, and you'll be able to enjoy it as a foreground for the tree.
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I also had the comment about making sure they aren't a dwarf variety. There are climbing types, which can look like a typical vining plant, as well as potted types that aren't very tall. Other than that, you probably already got the right idea from others, that you also may need to plant them earlier. Even as small seedlings, they don't mind some of the cooler temperatures that we normally think we want to protect seedlings and plants from. That was the thinking I had to overcome to get some good growth before the temperatures got too warm for them.
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wanda
15 years ago
Watering once a week isn't really minimal watering, esp. for Ceanothus.

Give them a good start by planting in late fall-early winter, soak them really well and let the rains take over. Deep water them about once a month the first summer, avoiding the trunk of the plant, and no summer water after the first year.

It's also important to choose varieties that work in your zone. C. horizontalis is more coastal I believe and thrives in cooler summer temps. I've found that many ceanothus need some afternoon shade in the more inland areas

Type your zip code into Las Pilitas web site and they should give you a listing of what will work in your area. Also check out the "Design" link at the top of the page for useful info on watering and other subjects
http://www.laspilitas.com/easy/easywatering.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: zip code plant communities
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
15 years ago
I have quite a lot of ceanothus here which does OK even in the heat and is never watered. I have noticed that it is very sensitive to herbicides of any kind, and if you get blackberries, poison oak or other shrubby weeds usually best controlled with sprays, among your ceanothus,DON'T USE IT. No matter how careful you are you will damage your ceanothus. Al

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