{"id":12485,"date":"2022-03-18T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/?p=12485"},"modified":"2022-03-18T08:05:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T15:05:07","slug":"ceanothus-wild-lilac-the-blue-bushes-on-the-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregalder.com\/yardposts\/ceanothus-wild-lilac-the-blue-bushes-on-the-hills\/","title":{"rendered":"Ceanothus, wild lilac: the blue bushes on the hills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Take a drive out of town here in early spring and you can\u2019t miss the blue bushes glowing on the California hillsides. There\u2019s nothing else like them. What are they? Ceanothus some people call them, or wild lilac they\u2019re called by others, and some refer to them as California lilacs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you drive around enough, or hike around to get a closer look, you\u2019ll notice that the ceanothus bushes vary. Some are very thorny while others are less so. Some have flowers that are a rich blue, like this ceanothus ‘South Coast Blue’<\/a> in my yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ceanothus ‘South Coast Blue’ in my yard.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Others have flowers that are only tinged blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ceanothus leucodermis in my neighborhood.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In fact, there are types whose flowers have no blue — they\u2019re totally white — such as Ceanothus crassifolius<\/a>, which start blooming in the winter long before the blue types in my part of San Diego County open up. But it\u2019s the blue blooms of ceanothus which catch our eyes because of their uniqueness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where do they grow?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceanothus bushes grow wild throughout much of California, especially on the hillsides in the southern half of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hills with wild ceanothus in San Diego County.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Do ceanothus grow in your neighborhood? Look it up on Calscape<\/a> or Calflora<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wild and cultivated<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But since they are so beautiful, people have been growing them deliberately in their gardens for a long time too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can grow the wild types in your yard. A few years back I transplanted into my yard a sapling of Ceanothus leucodermis<\/a> that was growing wild in a neighbor\u2019s yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also grow types of ceanothus that have been found in gardens or nurseries or elsewhere and have been propagated by professionals specifically to sell to gardeners. Ceanothus ‘Joyce Coulter’<\/a> is one such variety that I have in my yard, seen in this video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n