Ceanothus Care and Pruning

Caring For Ceanothus
Ceanothus are strong quick growing shrubs but they do appreciate some care. Our easy to follow Ceanothus care calendar highlights the care dates in the year. The dates are adjusted for your home town if you have previously set it, if not click here to go and set all GardenAction dates for your area.

From mid March to late April	Feed your Ceanothus. Scatter a couple of handfuls of bonemeal around (but not touching) the base of the plant and cover with a mulch of well-rotted compost.
mid April	Prune summer and autumn flowering ceanothus
early June	Prune spring flowering ceanothus after they have flowered.
mid August	Take semi-ripe cuttings. See below for more detailed information on cuttings
mid October	Plant your new Ceanothus. Container grown examples can be planted at any time of the year but the soil warmth and moisture at this time of year gives the best start.

How to Plant a Ceanothus
Bought online or from a nursery, your Lilac Tree will probably come in a largish pot. Dig a hole about the depth of the pot and about twice as wide. Mix a handful of bonemeal into the dug up soil.

Remove the Ceanothus from the pot. The way to do this is to place a hand over the soil in the pot with fingers either side of the main stem. Turn the plant upside down and ease it out of the pot. If the plant has become root bound, gently tease out some of the roots from the base of the root ball. Place the forsythia in the hole.

The top of the soil of the root ball should be level with the garden soil. Adjust the height of the plant by adding soil under it if needed. Fill in the hole around the plant with the dug soil. Firm the soil down as you fill in the hole to ensure the Ceanothus isn't blown over in strong wind. Water well to consolidate the soil

How to Prune a Ceanothus
Most Ceanothus are evergreen and only require pruning to keep them to shape. The best time to prune them is soon after flowering. Ceanothus will not produce shoots from old wood so never prune back to old wood.

How to Propagate a Ceanothus
Ceanothus are propagated from semi-ripe cuttings taken in mid August. The procedure for semi-ripe cuttings is common to many shrubs. This is covered in great detail in another of our articles, click here to go there now. With Ceanothus cuttings there is a medium chance of success.

CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS CEANOTHUS PAGE

BACK TO PLANTS INDEX

Links to Other Garden Sites || Privacy Policy

GardenAction recommend CROCUS as your online supplier of Hellebores. We have personally tested many online gardening suppliers and have found out from personal experience that CROCUS offer excellent value for money, reliability and security. When you visit the CROCUS site for your Hellebore, enter 'hellebore' in their search box (shown as 'or find me info on') to see the full range of hellebores or enter the specific name of the Hellebore your are searching for. Good luck with your new Hellebore!