Hardiest Evergreen Ceanothus suggestions please.

I'm in the process of totally redoing a shrub bed (South facing BUT I live in Scotland!). This bed did have an evergreen small leafed Ceanothus in it. It was enormous and looked more like a tree with trunk girth of at least 2 ft! It was on it's last legs when we moved here and no point in trying to rejuvenate as Ceanothus I know do not respond well to hard pruning. I have grown Ceanothus up a wall before with reasonable success for a time anyway but would like to get another for the bed I'm redoing. Knowing Ceanothus to be notoriously on the tender side anybody got suggestions as to the best variety to go for. I don't want the low growing 1 which is meant to be pretty hardy. If only I'd known what variety the old 1 was, it must have been here and happy for many years. All I know was the leaves were small very dark shiny green and the flowers were quite dark blue in comparison to other Ceanothus I've seen.Any suggestions would be welcome as I'm very fond of this shrub. Thanks.

 

Not sure on hardiness but the description could be "concha", its the one I have, very dark blue flowers and gets tall fairly quickly.

 

I think Concha is the best. Rich blue flowers, smallish....so less tender....leaves and nice compact upright habit. I like ceanothus....they grow like weeds down here in cornwall but they are short lived. Don't like the variegated ones....the blue flowers are not so true blue....but have grown a number of different varieties.

 

Just Googled Concha and from the photos that does look like the variety I had. Thanks both, now off to find where I can source 1 thanks very much pete and Verun.

 

I find Stephen smiths garden centres.....online....a good source of Shrubs like ceanothus. They deliver good size, quality plants. Concha is not rare but garden centres often have shrubs like this in late in the season whereas on-line you can have yours planted and growing well by then

 

Oh great Verdun, always good to get recommendations.Hope they deliver to Scotland without breaking the bank! On line shopping can be somewhat hit or miss I've found but usually the only way to get anything out of the ordinary. When I lived in the Clyde Valley near Lanark we had loads of garden centres (supermarkets!) all selling pretty much the same thing. We'd regularly see huge lorries from Holland dropping of supplies to all of them. The owners/staff were mostly clueless too.

 

The most common Ceanothus around here is Ceanothus arboreus, which have large leaves and grow into a tree. I'm not sure how it would fare in Scotland though

 

Stephen, that's not the hardiest ceanothus though. Silu, had a new hellebore delivered today totally intact, perfectly packed and full of flowers and buds. Many on line suppliers are producing and delivering to a very high standard now. It's just a question of being able to distinguish between the good and the bad

 

If you are just buying one plant I rarely find buying online worth the hassle, usually the delivery well outstrips any saving you might make.
Lets face it, its a very common plant.
In a couple of months or so the gardencentres will be full of all varieties of Ceonothus just coming into flower.
I know that's when they cost the most, but you could see what you are buying.

I cant see you gaining much by planting now, root growth wont actually start till things warm up.

 

Ok, just check out the costs for yourself silu. I buy one at a time so think it worth it. Check your GC and whether they have plant you want...check it's size and cost. See what online provides and choose. Get best deal you can whichever way you choose. We agree though that concha is what you're after

 

Thanks Verdun and Pete. I have been gardening for a very long time and usually manage to find good deals wherever I buy. If I do decide to buy from south of here as I have many times in the past, plants never get planted out straight away as at this time of the year south of the border is a fair bit ahead of us and often plants have been forced under cover and certainly wouldn't appreciate being subjected to the temperatures we've had over the last couple of days brrrrrrrrrr. Tried Stephen Smith and out of stock of Concha...typical!

 

Silu at least you know what you want and where to put it.

 

Dunno if it would be tall enough, but I have a Ceanothus Victoria. Its in a fairly open spot (not against hedge or wall) and has been unphased by the last few Winters where we have had nights of -10C - -16C :(

Just looked on BBC site and it says 120CM tall. Mine's been in since March 2008 and ain't that tall ... yet!


Ceanothus Victoria - June 2012 - Planted March 2008