Ceanothus cyaneus x Sierra Blue Ceanothus

Identification

Description

A very fast and showy Ceanothus cyaneus hybrid Mountain Lilac that makes an evergreen shrub to 15 ft., sun , garden tolerant but drought tolerant, 3" blue flower spikes, good life span, deer will disfigure in bad years, but will grow back, fine in sand or adobe, no cold damage to the mature plants at 5 degrees F. but young plants are not hardy below 20 degrees F. Plants in the ground defoliated at 0 but recovered better than most. In our 15-20" rainfall area (with a 4" and 11" year in there) no water after established and they look fine. Very tolerant of garden conditions. Our original plant came from a cutting off of a bush in Edna in 1975. Ceanothus cyaneus x Sierra Blue was growing in adobe soil below an overwatered lawn. The bushes were 12 ft. tall and 15 ft. wide. At the nursery site the plants are hanging on. They freeze to nothing every 5 years or so, and crawl back to a kinda bush, only to fry in our summers, grow a little in fall,then freeze again. I would not recommend Sierra Blue for an interior site, unless you like the mangy look. (If that is the case we have some other winners for you.) In coastal gardens it is fast, easy and stable for decades.