Problems with my chocolate vine & ceanothus

Hello - I am a totally new gardener, have just planted out a new garden which has mostly worked apart from 2 problems, can anyone advise please?
Firstly my chocolate vine: planted about 3 months ago on a south-facing wall, it initially did well but now the bottom 3rd of its leaves are going brown, and watering and bug-spraying don't help. I rip off the brown bits but they come back again.
Also my Ceanothus (Tilden Park), next to the chocolate vine, has not died but refuses to grow, and I get lots of little dead brown twiggy bits on it. Again, I spray and water carefully.
The spray I use if Westland Earth Matters Nature Works insect killer - maybe I need something a little less organic and a little more brutal?
Thanks for any advice....

 

Ceanothus are very temperamental, IME. I have known them have significant shoot dieback but then recover the following year.

Insect killer will not help unless it actually is infested with insects - there might be another reason for the damage.

It sounds like they have not gone short of water so I would say give them more time, after all, they are still very new and will not have got their roots down properly yet. Also, they will have had a lot of sun, being on a S facing wall, which is harder for a young plant to cope with. If we have any more scorching weather then some sort of temporary shade might help, at least in the middle of the day.

 

Hi Dickie It could just be that the roots haven't yet escaped from their peat-based rootball. Keep up the careful watering through the summer and you should see a big improvement next Spring, when they're properly established. Did the ceanothus flower? I find that the old flower stalks stay on the shrub, so when they're young it looks a bit tatty.

 

Thanks - no I don't think the Ceanothus did flower. But I will pull off all the browny bits and give it another year. I thought they were a bit more vigorous, whereas mine hasn't done anything really. Anyway, mustn't grumble, I've had more successes than failures!

 

Thanks - advice noted. BTW I inherited a mature damson tree, which last year did nothing and this year has given literally 1000s of lovely sweet damsons. Sweet!

 

My Ceanothus has been almost the same this year. I gave it a good feed and a talking to and it has picked up. I think the late spring really knocked a few things out of their usual patterns this year.

 

"Firstly my chocolate vine: planted about 3 months ago on a south-facing wall, it initially did well but now the bottom 3rd of its leaves are going brown, and watering and bug-spraying don't help. I rip off the brown bits but they come back again"

I have 3 Chocolate Vines and they all have brown leaves (which haven't shrivelled and died) I assumed that was normal as all 3 did the same, and the colour is chocolatey ? I know this is an old thread, my vines kept all their foliage throughout the winter and they are now developing lots of new growth.