On 15/07/2013 09:45, wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:
On 14/07/2013 15:40, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:07:12 +0200, Contessa
wrote:

About a month ago I planted two of these. Both now seem dead as the
leaves are brown. Any hope or treatment for them?

IME ceanothus are not long-lived,

Not IME. They may not make 100, but 30 years shouldn't be beyond them.
I had C.'Zanzibar' going for 14 years, through some of the hottest
summers and coldest winters, and it also survived being pulled over and
half out of the ground by wet snow. As it's variegated, it might
possibly be considered weaker than a normal ceanothus. When I moved and
left it behind it was about 4 metres high and 3 across.

And it is not unusual to see 5 - 6m or even higher bushes is some of the
bigger NGS (and other) gardens. Although, of course, it would depend
where you are. I don't know how well they'd get on in the colder areas
of the UK.

It isn't just the cold, but the wet, and the local fungi. A lot
of such plants die from root-rot, and that can happen in a few
years or after many decades. I had to get rid of mine because it
got too big for the location, and they don't respond well to hard
pruning, but I wouldn't have expected a long life.

This is because, despite my soil being 60% sand and being in one
of the drier parts of the country, thyme, rosemary, sage etc. are
all short-lived. I have also lost quite a few unrelated plants
after a few years, for the same reason, including buddleia.

So the fact that it's short-lived for some people and long-lived
for others, with no apparent reason, doesn't surprise me.

I'd have thought ceanothus would have more trouble where mine was
growing (Sussex wealden clay), than the sandy soil where you are. Other
than a couple of days each year, wealden clay has two states - sopping,
claggy wet and concrete, bone dry. But, as you say, there's no
accounting why some plants succeed and others don't.

--

Jeff

In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

It isn't just the cold, but the wet, and the local fungi. A lot
of such plants die from root-rot, and that can happen in a few
years or after many decades. I had to get rid of mine because it
got too big for the location, and they don't respond well to hard
pruning, but I wouldn't have expected a long life.

This is because, despite my soil being 60% sand and being in one
of the drier parts of the country, thyme, rosemary, sage etc. are
all short-lived. I have also lost quite a few unrelated plants
after a few years, for the same reason, including buddleia.

I'd have thought ceanothus would have more trouble where mine was
growing (Sussex wealden clay), than the sandy soil where you are. Other
than a couple of days each year, wealden clay has two states - sopping,
claggy wet and concrete, bone dry. But, as you say, there's no
accounting why some plants succeed and others don't.

Yes, I agree. In my case, such plants die because there is some
fungus in the soil that is not present in some other places. Why?
Not a clue.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.