My cal. lilac is turning brownish. I have never had to water it during the summer and it has always been very green a lovely all season long. This year it is starting to turn a brownish color and looks like it has lost a lot of leaves. Our neighbors sprinkler system has a leak and was leaking well over a week before they turned it off. The didn't even know it was leaking, duh, I had to go over and tell them. The neighbor still hasn't fixed their leak, they just turn their sprinkler system on/off manually but have forgotten it last week for 2 days. Our property got the run off from the leak right where my lilac is. Would too much water cause this? Well it rebound?
Yes, it could very well be the problem. Calif. Lilac, Ceannothus species, needs to have perfect drainage and dry soil in the summer. If it has been soaking wet for several days/weeks it has probably developed root rot. If you can keep it dry from now on, it may recover, but maybe not. Some cultivars and more tolerant of water than others, but that sounds like a lot of water for a long time............not good. I hope it recovers; there is no blue like that of a ceanothus. Emilie NorCal
mleblanca's reply might be correct. However, two other issues should be considered.
First of all, Ceanothus is generally not a long-lived shrub. Sunset indicates 5-10 years is typical. It might be dying of old age.
Then there is the fact that we are having a record-breaking drought affecting much of Caliofrnia. Although Ceanothus generally survives quite well on only the moisture from winter rains, there was not enough rain this past winter. Thus, some supplemental watering could have been beneficial -- but in the winter, not now.
This link says they grow for 25-30 years. There may be someone you can consult through that site that could be of help to you.
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my, what a gorgeous thing. I suppose they don't grow in zone 5. Maybe a small one would grow in a large pot like my plumbago.
If you click on the concha link (they say it isn't very tall so I don't know why the huge, gorgeous photo), well, you can see the huge, gorgeous photo. Never saw a lilac like that in my life.
I am not in California, sorry for not mentioning that in my op, I am in Oregon we have had below average rains but it did rain considerably during the winter. The plant is about 8 or 9 years old but I have also read they can live up to 25-30 years so not sure that is it.
TOTB: They are beautiful plants! When they bloom they are glorious! A huge purple (our is purple) curtain of flowers (and bees the bush literally hums with bees) Right now it is very sad looking and I am quite upset about it. It is my favorite plant. They can grow very tall, ours is at least 9 feet tall, maybe taller.
They sure look beautiful in the pictures I saw, lived near Santa Rosa for a couple of years, and don't recall having seen one. I think it is not a true lilac as I know them even though the blooms look similar, those are so much more splendid than any lilac I know, including Beauty of Moscow which I covet but have no room for, did a little googling and hard to find zone info, but concluded the pretty ones do not grow in my zone or anywhere near, the west and south. There is a plant in the family that does, but it is not at all like those.
Glad to hear about the bees, means CCD must not be rampant in your region. Now I'm glad when I see a honeybee around my flowers.
"California lilac" is not a true lilac. It's Ceanothus, which is native to California and grows wild on the walls of Malibu Canyon near my home. The flowers are either blue or white. As a California native, Ceanothus needs well-draining soil that is not constantly moist.
True lilac is Syringa. It needs regular watering, which would kill Ceanothus. It generally will not thrive in southern California because it prefers a good winter chill. (Although Descanso Gardens have developed mild-winter hybrids, those often fail to flower as profusely or grow as vigorously as Syringa grown where snow is common in the winter.) Syringa may have pink, magneta, yellow, white, purple, violet, lavender, or blue flowers. 'Beauty of Moscow' is Syringa vulgaris (common lilac).
I rather guessed that from the name, and always forget ours are syringa. They look a lot like them except for an explosion of blooms on the Carlifornia ones we will never see on ours. If I saw a closeup, there would probably be a difference in the blooms, leaves or both. Thanks, just wanted to acknowledge your response.
They are indeed beautiful. Concha is one of the older cultivers, grows to about 7-9 feet sometimes taller. Concha is hardy to about 15 degrees. For information re: Ceanothus, locate a copy of Sunset Western Garden Book. Your library should have a copy. Sunset lists
32 species/cultivars of Ceanothus that are planted in gardens. Some are low and spreading, some are tall and upright, some are vase shaped. Average age ( as David R notes) is 5-10 years. Ceanothus is in the Buckthorn Family.Rhamnaceae All need excellent drainage. Coastal types can stand a little more water
Another thing that Ceanothus does not like is to be pruned. Was this plant pruned by anyone? Tips of small branches can be pruned, but not larger branches. My friend had a tall, spectacular Concha planted on a vacant lot next to his house, where it would not get summer water. It was a beauty and in full bloom one summer. I drove past and a woman had been cutting off the flowers; she had cut long stems/branches and had a big bouquet. The plant was dead by winter. (I still think it was the soaking your plant got; a sprinkle would probably not make any differnce, but not all that water) Emilie
Oh no! I absolutely adore this shrub, from its small evergreen leaves to its tiny bloom of blue flowers. i have bought a few of these and had to leave a couple of them behind due to moving. However, I have just bought myself 2 new ones, but when I transplanted them most of the leaves on the bottom of the shrubs turned brown and fell off. I think this was because I forgot to water them before taking them out of the pots and putting them in the ground. They have recovered now though, although I did think i was going to lose them. These are surprisingly sensitive plants. I also, think that if they are given the opportunity to dry out, they just might recover. Fingers crossed for you!!
replying to tinytee, Pipper wrote: Our Victoria California Lilac?s leaves turned brown just recently. It was very windy and we had two feet of snow in February. Freezing temperatures in February. We live in Washington near the border of Canada. It is about five years old. We have enjoyed it so much. Any ideas about what we should do?
I see this stated many times, but I wonder if it is how most general gardening information is disseminated - simply by repeating it without checking the facts.
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"Ceanothus is often said to be short lived, but that may be mostly in garden that insist on drip irrigation, summer water and soil amendments. California native plants are generally intolerant of all of these. In their wild conditions Ceanothus plants have a natural life cycle of
10-15 years, with some even longer, though fire sometimes shortens that span."
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"In general, if you water mature Ceanothus in the summer, they will usually be short-lived. Best to choose a Ceanothus native to your location, and stop direct watering after 1-2 years."
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"Some ceanothus, for example ?Centennial?, do seem to be short-lived, but most of them seem to be quite long-lived shrubs, given the correct environment"
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"The myth of Ceanothus being short lived is primarily spread by incompetent gardeners that insist on drip irrigation, summer water and soil amendments. California native plants hate all three. Expect a 20-25 year life from your Ceanothus in most gardens. We have many Mountain Lilacs in the ground here that still look good after thirty years."
That last one is particularly interesting, as it concerns personal experience.
All the above were from just the first couple of pages of an internet search on "Ceanothus" and "short-lived".
My guess is that this "fact", started when Ceanothus were introduced to the UK, and they could not deal with our wet summer climate. It then became known throughout the UK gardening world that they were short-lived, and this even found its way back to the land they came from.
My source is Sunset's "Western Garden Book", copyright 2001. West of the Rocky Mountains from Alaska to San Diego, this is often considered the gardener's bible.
replying to Pipper, Dilly wrote: Pipper, I also live just south of the Canada border in northwest Washington. I have three Victoria California Lilacs that turned totally brown. Yes, we had terrible weather in February too. However, these plants have done this before, and then completely recovered! The last time was a couple years ago and I almost dug them up they stayed brown so long. Same thing this year! Two of the three are already starting to sprout out new green growth right out of the brown brush. One is still all brown but I am not going to give up on it either! Wish I could send you a picture! P.S., these plants are 30 years old and are hedges that get pruned regularly, and they get watered every other day from the lawn sprinklers starting this time of year through fall. They all get hit by the northeaster dead-on, which was bad this year. Maybe it sends them into some kind of dormancy, I don?t know.
replying to Dilly, Lee wrote: Hello Dilly, This is Lee in England. I have a 25 year old tree and now and again it looks as dead as a Dodo! But by the mirical of nature it just keeps coming back. Have a little faith, just leave it alone with a light prune after flowering, (when it does) and it may yet shine! Best of luck darling x
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