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.

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Gardening Advice Center

Share with us your gardening experience!

Name: Vivienne
E-mail: jamesglass100@btinternet.com
Date posted: August 18, 2011 - 05:17 am
Message: I planted a Ceonothus Tree early in the year. I was told I could begin to shape after flowering, which I understood to be in Spring. It is flowering now in August so should I prune after this flowering or wait until Spring when perhaps it will flower then.

Name: Helen Haines
E-mail: d-haines@fsmail.net
Date posted: May 17, 2011 - 11:49 am
Message: I need to cut my ceonosis back as it is out of control ( about 15 foot high and the same wide).
Any advice on how far I can cut it back ... My preference is as far as I can .... The wife's not so sure about that idea !!!!

Name: Mark
E-mail: mark.neale46@hotmail.co.uk
Date posted: May 15, 2011 - 03:48 pm
Message: What causes a fine green powdery dust on a Ceanothus shrub.

Thank you

Name: Ann
E-mail: berryma_99@yahoo.com
Date posted: May 08, 2011 - 02:03 pm
Message: I have a ceanothus tree not sure what strain but it is about 3m high and has been covered in flowers previous years a big blue ball. I have never really pruned it just cut anything sticking out, but this year it is very sparce not a lot of flowers. How would you recomend I prune it, we did think of cutting it down and replacing or maybe cutting to top of trunk about 1.5 m.
ps do they have a life span ?

Name: Jan
E-mail: Private
Date posted: January 08, 2011 - 05:41 am
Message: I need to move my Ceanothus within the next month from the front garden, it had only been there a year. What are it's chances. Should we put in in a pot for a while as the ground would be too cold to replant it? Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks

Name: Neil
E-mail: neilcampbel@yahoo.co.uk
Date posted: September 09, 2010 - 06:00 am
Message: The fact that you have nmade about the Ceanothus not producing shoots from old wood is incorrect. At the start of this year, 2010, my Ceanothus Dentatus fell over in the winds and I had to prune away about 90% of the bush which I was reluctant to do after reading your incorrect information on pruning. My Ceanothus bush has grown back to about a third of what it was at the start of the year by producing a vast amount of new shoots from old wood that was about 4-5 years old.

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