"Martin Brown" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Sep 10, 2:24 pm, Steve Wolstenholme
wrote:
On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:56:04 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"

wrote:
Ceanothus do just die when they reach a certain age and
although the cause may well be fungal it is not necessaraly going to
affect
anything else, clear the ground revitilise the soil and if replacing
with
another evergreen wait till spring.

Any idea what the "certain age" is?

I've had one for about 15 years.

Dunno exactly. This one was more than 20 years old, maybe 25 years.

According to some websites there is a slow burning fungal infection
that kills them all eventually. I was a bit concerned at the rapidity
of its demise and was worried that it might infect other things in the
border.

There is a lovely daphne odora not too far away and I would hate to
lose that the same way.

Regards,
Martin Brown

When they go they tend to go quickly, sometimes a branch at a time and
usually in summer not winter, you may well be correct about the fungus, I
have never had problems even replanting ceanothus in the same spot. The only
reason I have stopped growing them is I found it hard to deal with the large
gaps left!

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars