How and when to prune an established Ceanothus shrub

louise.whittington100 · July 2023

Hello, we have an established Ceanothus shrub/small tree at the front of our house, beside a wall, West facing so it gets late afternoon and evening sun. We don't know how old it is as we have only been here 2 years but as in the photo it has a lot of dead wood. It has flowered but not as well as it could I am sure. Can anyone advise me how best to prune it to get the best out of it in the future, and when to do so please?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/12/3bauzpoefbs2.jpg

Redwing · July 2023

Ceanothus, even big ones like in your picture are not long lived shrubs, maybe 10-15 years. This one looks like it's coming to the end but not just yet. I had one like this which staggered on for a few years and then gave up. I suggest you cut one of the main trunks down low now to a strongly shooting point, could be close to the ground about a foot or two above. You could do it with another one of the three but not all three at once. Doing it now will spur it on to make some new growth over this summer, which will flower next year, hopefully well. With the one or two you don't cut down low, trim it/them back to strong growth, maybe 2-3M from ground level. They don't like being cut back hard all over at once. Then next summer, give the same cutting back treatment to the one you haven't done this year if that makes sense and leave the cut ones this year alone. Hopefully you will get a few years more pleasure from this ceanothus.

GardenerSuze · July 2023

Great advice from @Redwing Your Ceonothus does look like it is heading towards the end of it's days sad to say. However as always with gardening when it does happen it will be a new opportunity.

Redwing · July 2023

How and when to prune an established Ceanothus shrub

Posts