For those of you planting Ceanothus, DO NOT amend the soil with compost or any other nutrient. Ceanothus are genetically-designed to live in nutrient-poor soil. They get their nutrients by forming symbiotic relationships with frankia bacteria in the soil. Frankia attach to the roots and provide the lilac with nutrients, water, and protection from pathogens. The bacteria get carbohydrates in return. Adding nutrients causes the Ceanothus to drop the fankia from its roots and leaves the plant open to attack from pathogens. You can establish a good frankia population in your soil by mulching heavily with pine, fir, redwood, or oak bark (chips or shredded). If you have poorly-draining soil, amending the soil with rocks or sand will usually create a mess. Keep in mind that water will drain via the path of least resistance. If you have thick clay surrounding a heavily-amended spot, water will drain into your amended area and your plant will end up living in a bathtub. (Also, mixing sand and clay will form a concrete-like substance that won't drain.) At minimum, you would have to amend a very large area (like 6' x 6' x 2' deep), as plant roots tend not to travel from one type of soil into another. And even then, getting it to drain well will be tough. If you have clay soil, select a Ceanothus that will tolerate clay and plant in a sunny spot with the crown of the Ceanothus 1/2" above ground level. If you mulch a couple of times a year, the mulch will naturally break up the clay and improve drainage. Water lavishly upon planting and perhaps once a month for during the first summer (water around the perimeter of the root ball, try to keep the crown dry). They'll do best on natural rainfall afterwards. If you're in a bad drought year, give the Ceanothus a couple of extra waterings in the late winter/early spring.

They look the same and the Timber Press book CEANOTHUS says it is suspected that 'Victoria' and 'Skylark' are the same introduction. Without more information nobody may ever be able to establish with certainty that they are not two separate introductions that look alike. However, based on how it is put in CEANOTHUS and what I have seen sold under both names I'm inclined to use the name 'Skylark', the assumption being that 'Victoria' is a re-naming of a plant first grown as 'Skylark'. Some cultivars have acquired multiple synonyms over the years, as though myriad attempts have been made by commercial interests to appropriate them for their own use. In other cases it will not have been known that a plant already had a cultivar name.

I hope you didn't use amendments again this time. It's not recommended anymore, especially with native plants. Better to use it for a mulch after planting. As for how much, it's hard to give advice on exactly how often. Things such as soil and air temperature, humidity and soil drainage all factor in. Best thing to do, imo, is to go out there about twice a week and push a wooden dowel down into the soil at least as far down as the root ball.This would include both the root ball soil and the surrounding soil. The moisture on the dowel should tell you how damp it is below the surface. Then water accordingly. Some weeks it will be 3x or so, some once. Depends. This is assuming you are hand watering. Auto irrigation is something else, and shouldn't be used on natives anyway. Sometimes a root ball will dry out quicker than the surrounding soil, before the plant has a chance to grow roots out further. The soil in the root ball can then shrink away from the surrounding soil and a gap between them will develop. If that happens the irrigation water will just go down and around the root ball and never get it wet. Plus the soil in most root balls is high in peat and/or organic matter which becomes very hard to re-wet again, like a super dry sponge which just pushes water around rather than soaking it up. If that happens, you have to super soak the root ball several times over a couple days to get it wet again. Then back to normal watering (normal for what ever plant it is). Usually you want to give supplemental water for one year for a native plant, tapering off the frequency towards the end of fall of that year, if planted in spring. The best time to plant natives actually is late fall, then one can let the winter rains supplement also. But that's advice for you for next time.

.But it sure is true that I couldn't get any real "rootball" type of thing on these. I call it with this vague name, because for moving roses, people often seem so hung up on the "rootball" concept, excessively so, IMO. ==>>> when i moved to this property of all glacial sand ... i learned.. that there is no such thing as moving a root BALL ... no matter how carefully i tried to dig a ball of soil ... it frankly... just fell off ... so i learned how to move things bare root .. lol ... frankly ... it does matter .. period ... BUT ... and there is usually a big but around somewhere ... i learned that timing of moves.. as well as aftercare is really the solution ... a few of much much used cliches: move in dormancy.. so there is reduced water stress .. trying to hold active leaves ... do it in the right season ... for me in my z5 MI ... fall or spring.. when dormant.. and so they are set.. and the roots working.. 6 to 8 weeks before the heat of the next hot season ... and finally.. move nothing after about 6/1 .... unless i can personally care for it. and thats not easy on 5 acres ... some times you have to do.. what you have to do.... say a building project .... but then.. i have to be checking it every few days.. inserting finger.. etc ... so.. back to your premise.... the BALL ... is basically irrelevant .... so dont fixate on it ... but hey ... if you can get a good chunk of roots.. with the soil ... all the better... all the easier ... but again... its not requisite ... ken ps: back when i was a rose collector ... i mail ordered hundreds of them.. all bare root ... with barely a couple stringy roots ... off some larger woody ones ... never lost a single one for that ... so there is no real reason .. not to bare root a rose ... in the right season.. etc ... the dirt is not the important part .... [here in MI.. winter killed most of the foo foo roses i tried to collect ...but thats a different show]