Re: soil mix for ceanothus

Angela,
I would agree with David King in that most california
natives do not require  babying, but ceanothus in
particular do prefer to have excellent drainage, and
tend to be longer lived if planted on a slope or in a
soil condition that drains well.  I'd suggest that you
dig a pit and do the standard , 'see if the pit drains
within an hour or two if filled with water', and if it
doesn't drain that quickly, it must have drained
within 8 hours, or you will need to improve the
drainage.
The other general thing to remember with ceanothus is
that they live longer if grown lean, meaning no
fertilizer or regular garden irrigation during our dry
season, but only just enough to keep them going the
first year or two.  They will respond to regular
garden irrigation by growing tremendously fast and
lush, but then are prone to dying young.  Even in the
wild, they are not a particularly long lived shrub,
figure maybe 8 to 15 years.  Also, make sure you have
the room for C. Ray Hartman, as this shrub can become
small tree size, and will need lots of pruning to keep
confined.  Most ceanothus will also not take pruning
back to hard wood, as they generally will not sprout
new growth from old woody branches.  





- David King <greenman@ucla.edu> wrote:
> Angela, hi!
> 
> I don't think you need to baby natives.  Any old mix
> on sale would do fine -
> although I would probably "amend" it with a lot of
> the CA native soil - even
> if it's lousy native soil.There is, by the way, a
> California Native Plant list
> just as informational as this list available at
> CA-NATIVES@CALYPTEANNA.COM -
> I'll find the URL for you, if you want?
> 
> On a different note, knowing you have Bay Area
> connections I need Bay area
> info very soon Deborah is in the Bay Area right now
> looking at leasing studio
> space.  I'm teaching botany through December, but my
> next tomato plant
> "adoption" party might be a trifle up the coast.
> 
> David King,
> I THINK I'm in Zone 23 but it might be 17 in a
> twinkling...
> 
> 
> "LEE,ANGELA IUE-CHIH" wrote:
> 
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I am planning to put in a ceanothus ray hartmann
> in a raised bed.  What
> > type of soil mix would be appropriate for this
> california native?
> >
> > the raised bed will probably only be 1.5 ft (about
> 50cm) high so I
> > suppose I should break up/amend my heavy clay soil
> as well.  Or should I
> > plaster the area with newspapers and dump soil mix
> on top to fill the
> > raised bed-kind of a massive no till project?
> >
> > I am also thinking of eventually planting bird
> attracting and drought
> > tolerant california natives (e.g. manzanita,
> sumac, toyon) in my heavy
> > clay soil.  I also have cuttings of coastal sage
> and prickly poppy from
> > the santa monica mountains that are rooting
> nicely.  Do you think I can
> > plug the plants into the ground and
> > do the no till maneuvers or should I prepare the
> ground prior to planting?
> >
> > Any advice would be helpful.  This is the first
> time I am planting a
> > California native.
> >
> > Thanks in advance
> >
> > Angela Lee
> > gardening in coastal southern california (sunset
> 24)
> > los angeles (mar vista/marina del rey)
> 


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