Monthly Tips

May - Plant of the Month

Ceanothus - California Lilacs

It never fails. Every year the ceanothus come into bloom, and I nearly drive off the road goggling at them. I see the same shrubs, year after year, and you'd think they would lose their show-shopping impact over time, but they don't. What makes them so special?

A ceanothus in bloom blazes - with blue flowers. You wouldn't think that blue flowers could blaze but these do. The flowers themselves are tiny and are held in groups like little bottle-brushes all over the plant. The bees love them, which you should keep this in mind when you choose a site for one. There are a number of species and cultivars, and the shade of blue varies from a light blue (not my favorite, it doesn't blaze) to a deep, luscious violet-blue.

[Ceanothus in bloom]

Ceanothus (unknown cultivar) just coming into bloom.

They only bloom for a few weeks to a month but what a show! Even before the bloom they display attractive, deep pink buds and the rest of the year they provide a nice, evergreen backdrop for other plants. They have small to truly tiny dark green leaves that are evergreen. They tend to be wide-spreading shrubs. Plan on giving them 6-10'+ depending on the cultivar you choose; expect a similar height. Dan Hinkley (gardening guru) says that 'Dark Star' has the deepest, most saturated color. The Great Plants Picks people vote for 'Victoria'. Go look at the nursery when they are in bloom and pick one you like.

Ceanothus need sun and well-drained soils. They are drought tolerant once established. (Water them for a year or two.) They are reputed to be short-lived, 10 years or so, but that may be due to over-watering and over-fertilizing - benign neglect is best. If desired, you can prune back new growth after flowering for a tidier, more compact appearance. I've read that they can be pruned into a hedge. I wouldn't. Let them take their natural shape, and they will form a great, drought-tolerant, evergreen backdrop for other plants that once a year will leave you standing, mouth agape, astonished yet again by their incandescent blue beauty.

May - Tip of the Month

How to Plant a Plant

Last month you went out and bought a fine, healthy plant. This month, you plant it.

You get your beauty home and naturally you have a good spot picked out in which you can promptly plant it. (This is definitely "do as I say and not as I do" since I've been known to leave plants sitting in the pots they came in all winter.)

Dig a hole about twice as wide as the plant and no deeper than the rootball. You do NOT amend the soil with anything. You can amend the entire garden bed with some organic material, but never just the hole. If you make the soil in the hole all cushy and the surrounding soil is the usual old garden dirt, the roots may just decide to stay in the cushy soil and not spread out into the surroundings. You want a big, extensive root system on a plant both to promote growth and cut down on your water bill.

[tree too deep]

The trunk flare of this freshly planted tree was not visible.
A simple excavation revealed the trunk flare about four inches below the surface.
From (http://www.tlcfortrees.info/planting%20depth.htm)

Take the plant out of the pot. At times this can be difficult. (When I have had badly root bound plants I confess to stomping on the pot to loosen it from the plant.) Don't yank on the top of the plant, you don't want to sever the stem from the roots. If a little stomping doesn't work, you can cut the pot off.

Now, the plant is out of the pot. Rough up the outside of the root ball so some roots are sticking out beyond the potting soil. Again, you are putting a plant with one type of soil into a hole in the ground with different soil. You want to try and get the roots to grow out into the soil and not just stay within the confines of the now gone pot. You may need to score the sides of the root ball and/or cut any circling roots.

For trees and shrubs, make sure that the root flare (the area where the trunk starts to widen out into the roots) is at or above the soil surface. Many trees and other plants are planted too deeply in the pots, or in their burlap. Several inches of soil may need to be removed from the top of the root ball to reach the root flare.

Root washing may make sense. You place the plant in a container of water and wash the soil off, then you can see what is really going on with the roots. You can locate the root flare and cut off any roots that may be circling and potentially girdling the plant. This practice is advocated by Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott of the Washington State Extension Service and is catching on among gardening professionals. If your plant is guaranteed by the nursery, you might want to ask them if they will honor the guarantee if you do this.

Place the plant in the hole. Backfill with the soil you took out of the hole. Water well. Build a little berm to form a basin around the plant. Water when the top inch or so of soil dries out for all plants for the first year or two, even if they are drought tolerant.

Add a mulch to conserve soil moisture. Do not allow the mulch to touch the trunk as it may cause rotting.

Enjoy.