Goodbye Ceanothus God Save The Bees

[Jungle Jane]

Our Ceanothus was humming with bees every summer,I noticed it slanting yesterday,leaning against the house,I cut it away from the house,then it fell more,leaning on the patio glass door,my nephew helped me saw it so it’s safe out there,here’s photos every year from 2017,it was a beauty.

[Jungle Jane]

Then 2021 in the first photo the rest of the photos from yesterday ☹️

[Jungle Jane]

Looks like it fell because it might be lacking roots the other side of the fence because it hasn’t been that windy here

[Snoop Puss]

Sympathy like, there, Jungle Jane. That's a sad loss for you and the bees.

[Jungle Jane]

Thanks Snoop bees used to visit the ceanothus after the flowering currant had finished flowering,I will probably buy another plant,this one was twenty years of growth,had so many flowers it was amazing.

[Bren In Pots]

It really will be missed by the bees and everyone who viewed those flowers.

[mothhawk]

That's a huge loss for your garden, JJ, and the bees. They say one flowering tree can be equivalent to an acre of flowering meadow.

On the bright side, you've got loads of cutting material there, so shove some bits in pots, I've found it takes very easily, though I've not tried it at this time of year.

[Jungle Jane]

Our cat really misses climbing it too,it was his pathway up to the fence top,I think he's annoyed with me you should see the looks I’m getting,like a hate stare I’ll tidy up more tomorrow,at the moment our garden looks like a right mess

[Jungle Jane]

I was wondering about cuttings & if you could do that. I could try with a few bits good idea

[mothhawk]

Thanks Snoop bees used to visit the ceanothus after the flowering currant had finished flowering, I will probably buy another plant,this one was twenty years of growth,had so many flowers it was amazing.

You've done well. It seems to be a short lived shrub, 10 - 15 years seems to be its span and it's one of those California shrubs that needs fire to regenerate.

Maybe if there is enough root still in the ground it could regrow from the stump as it does after fire.

[Jungle Jane]

Can it regrow like that because it produces its own nitrogen? I’ll leave a stump & maybe natures magic will help it grow a shoot

[Plot70]

Heel cuttings are likely to be easiest.
Just chop a window into the side of a large milk bottle and add gravel up to the window and a thin layer of soil above.
Once the cutting grows out of the top put it in the sun to make the plastic brittle enough for cracking away to reveal a ready to plant specimen.

[Babru]

I had a lovely standard ceanothus, just died suddenly after about 10 years. It was a decent size, but I found the roots weren't very extensive. Came out very easily (which was a relief to me as digging out roots is hard work).

[Nicos]

I hadn’t realised they weren’t long lived.
Yours looked fantastic JJ. Such a shame.

I lost one about that size in our uk garden years ago - I thought the frost had got it. It got the full blast of a -8C, but maybe it was a combination of that and that it too must have been about 15 years old.
I planted one here when we first arrived 14 years ago and over the last couple of years it’s been dying back. I guess it’s end is nigh too

Beautiful shrub though isn’t it? I hadn’t realised it comes in several choices of colour too.

Plot- good call!…I’ll try and take some cuttings