California Gardening: What's happening in your spring garden #2, 1 by weatherguesser

weatherguesser wrote:
KaperC,

As nearly as I can tell from looking at lots of pictures and descriptions, the Ceanothus is probably variety "Frosty Blue", a hybrid of C. impressus and (someone speculated) C. thyrsiflorus griseus. The leaves and flowers don't look quite right for either C. impressus impressus or C. nipomoensis. Here's a closeup showing the leaves, flowers, and buds. To make matters even more confusing, the name "Frosty Blue" is applied to at least two very different varieties, mine and one closer to my C. thyrsiflorus hedge.

I didn't train it into a tree -- it was here when we bought the house. I have continued to prune it (minimally) and remove dead wood under the canopy after each blooming season.

One thing I find a little curious in looking at the various Ceanothus varieties is that few if any of the writeups mention the fragrance. Ours is quite fragrant while in bloom. The only downside of this tree it the flower detritus (I call it pixie dust) that accumulates in drifts at the edges of my driveway. Right now it's mostly pink (from the buds) but as the flowers begin to depart it will make blue drifts.