Ceanothus ‘Concha’

Ceanothus, also known as ‘Californian lilac’, produces masses of typically blue flowers in late spring on evergreen foliage. There are some very attractive variegated varieties such as the gold and green variegated ‘Zanzibar’ and the green and cream of ‘Silver surprise’.

Ceanothus grows best in full sun and well drained sites, they can be grown against a wall in which they can be trained tight to the wall or as a freestanding bush. Carry out any pruning after it finishes flowering and tie the stems onto trellis to keep it very dense and neat.

Although this winter has been particularly harsh on the ceanothus causing some loss of leaves and other winter damage, in normal winters it is quite hardy and suffers from very few pests.

Ceanothus makes an excellent backdrop as it can easily be trained so its evergreen foliage can cover the wall or fence whilst other smaller shrubs and perennials add interest when the ceanothus has finished flowering. Consider choisya ‘Sundance’ with its golden foliage to contrast with the dark green ceanothus foliage.

Ceanothus ‘Zanzibar’	Ceanothus ‘Yankee Point’	Ceanothus ‘Silver Surprise’	Ceanothus ‘Skylark’