How & when to put fleece round my ceanothus?

SpikyHedgehog

I'm probably being dim here... I've never done more to protect my garden for winter before than take out summer bedding & bring in tender pots, but I made a new border this year & got a cheap ceanothus which is in the border to grow big.

Mum warned me to protect it as she lost some of her ceanothus (ceanothi? ceanothuses?) last year, so I have fleece, & it's starting to get chilly now. There was some frost on the shed roof this morning but the grass was just wet, so I'm sure it's ok at the moment.

The plant is about 18 inches high & 18 inches across & quite spindly at the moment - how do I wrap it up? Drape the fleece over & peg it down/weight it with stones to stop it blowing away? Put some canes round it & fix the fleece over them? And when should I do it? Is it ok to wait till the bad weather comes or should I be snuggling it up now? The border is at the west end of the garden, so gets whatever morning sun creeps over the house if that makes any difference.

The ceanothus is at the front of the border in the middle so can't leach off any heat that might radiate from the fence or shed (wouldn't have thought it would get much anyway, though I know my camellia benefits from the radiated heat form the house being next to the back door).

All advice gladly welcomed!

Queen_Latifah

How strange. I have inherited one of these shrubs when i moved into my property over4 years ago. Never protected it for winter and it is fine...

tanith

I've never known my Ceanothus to be damaged in the winter, but I guess last winter was an exception, unless we get prolonged below zero temps I'm sure it'll be fine..

sirbrainy

They are not fully hardy but most people don't protect them. I guess you could try some protection if you fear the worst ie worse than -5C for a prolonged period.

peter_the_piper

Don't know the variety ceanothus you have but is the front of the border the right place? A lot of ceanothus grow to 3mx3m.

[Deleted User]

SpikyHedgehog wrote: »

I'm probably being dim here... I've never done more to protect my garden for winter before than take out summer bedding & bring in tender pots, but I made a new border this year & got a cheap ceanothus which is in the border to grow big.

Mum warned me to protect it as she lost some of her ceanothus (ceanothi? ceanothuses?) last year, so I have fleece, & it's starting to get chilly now. There was some frost on the shed roof this morning but the grass was just wet, so I'm sure it's ok at the moment.

The plant is about 18 inches high & 18 inches across & quite spindly at the moment - how do I wrap it up? Drape the fleece over & peg it down/weight it with stones to stop it blowing away? Put some canes round it & fix the fleece over them? And when should I do it? Is it ok to wait till the bad weather comes or should I be snuggling it up now? The border is at the west end of the garden, so gets whatever morning sun creeps over the house if that makes any difference.

The ceanothus is at the front of the border in the middle so can't leach off any heat that might radiate from the fence or shed (wouldn't have thought it would get much anyway, though I know my camellia benefits from the radiated heat form the house being next to the back door).

All advice gladly welcomed!

The other name for Ceanothus is Californian Lilac - which gives you a clue where it originates from and so they're not always fully hardy.

My friend lost a lovely ceanothus last winter (I lost mine years ago). As yours is still quite small, like you - I'd protect it, just in case.

What I would do is wrap it up in either sacking or fleece, and tie into position with string - do this when the temperature really drops. BUT IN MILDER PERIODS - take it off, to give the plant a chance to breathe (otherwise it might rot).

If that all sounds like too much trouble, then do something that's easier to take off/put back on - but may not be quite as effective (but may be okay). Sorry to sound so vague but gardening is more of an art than a science sometimes - there really are too many variables to give a definitive answer. At least the plant was cheap - so if you do lose it, it's not too much of a loss, financially (although, personally, I hate losing ANY plant).

Good luck.

SpikyHedgehog

Corona wrote: »

The other name for Ceanothus is Californian Lilac - which gives you a clue where it originates from and so they're not always fully hardy.

My friend lost a lovely ceanothus last winter (I lost mine years ago). As yours is still quite small, like you - I'd protect it, just in case.

What I would do is wrap it up in either sacking or fleece, and tie into position with string - do this when the temperature really drops. BUT IN MILDER PERIODS - take it off, to give the plant a chance to breathe (otherwise it might rot).

If that all sounds like too much trouble, then do something that's easier to take off/put back on - but may not be quite as effective (but may be okay). Sorry to sound so vague but gardening is more of an art than a science sometimes - there really are too many variables to give a definitive answer. At least the plant was cheap - so if you do lose it, it's not too much of a loss, financially (although, personally, I hate losing ANY plant).

Good luck.

Thank you, Corona, I'll do that. I checked my fleece & it's a flat sheet, so I'll wrap it up & tie round when temps less than 0° are expected, but leave it for now & unwrap it when the days are warmer, or when I'm at home as the day gets warmer.

peter_the_piper Don't know the variety ceanothus you have but is the front of the border the right place? A lot of ceanothus grow to 3mx3m.

According to the tag, it should grow about that tall eventually, but when I picked it up at the supermarket, I'd already planted most of the border, so it was a matter of popping it in the front where I had a space . It has more than doubled in size already... I will move it further back next year before I put the summer bedding in.

What my mum did with hers in her old garden (with nice high Victorian walls round it to keep everything warm) was plant it about the middle but as it grew, trim off the lower branches so the plants underneath could get light & air.