Other Names:  Santa Barbara Ceanothus

Description:

A dense lower growing shrub with tiny, dimpled, deep green leaves; beautiful bright blue flower clusters add color in the spring; best suited for coastal gardens, requiring little to no water in summer; a great hedge, screen, or border plant

Ornamental Features

Vandenberg California Lilac is bathed in stunning cymes of lightly-scented sky blue star-shaped flowers along the branches from early to late spring. It has attractive dark green evergreen foliage. The tiny recurved oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Vandenberg California Lilac is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Vandenberg California Lilac is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Planting & Growing

Vandenberg California Lilac will grow to be about 5 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 8 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers dry to average moisture levels with very well-drained soil, and will often die in standing water. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for xeriscaping or the moisture-conserving landscape. This plant does not require much in the way of fertilizing once established. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selection of a native North American species.