Goldlexus wrote:
My cal. lilac is turning brownish. I have never had to water it during
the summer and it has always been very green a lovely all season long.
This year it is starting to turn a brownish color and looks like it has
lost a lot of leaves. Our neighbors sprinkler system has a leak and was
leaking well over a week before they turned it off. The didn't even know
it was leaking, duh, I had to go over and tell them. The neighbor still
hasn't fixed their leak, they just turn their sprinkler system on/off
manually but have forgotten it last week for 2 days. Our property got
the run off from the leak right where my lilac is. Would too much water
cause this? Well it rebound?

This link says they grow for 25-30 years. There may be someone you can
consult through that site that could be of help to you.

http://www.laspilitas.com/groups/cea...ceanothus.html

Oh my, what a gorgeous thing. I suppose they don't grow in zone 5.
Maybe a small one would grow in a large pot like my plumbago.

If you click on the concha link (they say it isn't very tall so I don't
know why the huge, gorgeous photo), well, you can see the huge, gorgeous
photo. Never saw a lilac like that in my life.