Ceanothus - dead?

HappyG1rl

My ceanothus appears to have died but I'm hoping that a miracle will happen and it will suddenly spring into life. Has this happened to anyone else this year? It is about 10 years old.

Mojisola

To test if it is dead, scrape a tiny piece of bark away from a branch - a fingernail is good for this. If the wood under the bark is green, the plant is still alive and the leaves have been caught by one of the cold snaps. If it is brown, the branch is dead but try further back down the plant before you condemn it.

Jack's_mummy

Mine usually looks quite healthy but this year is decidedly brown in places - mostly where I think new flowers shoots started to appear and then the very cold and snowy weather appeared.

Buggins

Hi there - just thought I would put my twopenny worth in. I was told some time ago that Ceanothus has a short time span - something like 7 - 10 years. Anyway, I had one that died and I replaced it with another in the same position which has survived very well. Somewhere else I read that you can successfully take 'cuttings' so perhaps this is worth googling.
Sorry to be a Cassandra...
Buggins

Mojisola

Toots wrote: »

Mojisola - I have been and scraped some of the bark and it seems dead inside but I haven't done this on any main branches but just on the twiggy branches (IFSWIM).
What I have noticed though now is a crack on the main trunk - a bit line a hairline crack on a wall going down the length of the trunk. Could this have happened and some disease got into it?

Doesn't sound too good - but don't give up! Try a scrape on the main branches. If they've still got life in them, do a drastic pruning job.