anyone expert about ceanothuses/Californian lilac? or should that plural be ceanothus?

[ceonothussearching]

I want to buy a ceonothus as a memorial tree for a friend who lost a child (we have discussed it). I've done a lot of research and I came up with

Ceonothus Ray Hartman as perfect but it looks like you can't buy it in the UK

https://www.gardenia.net/plant/ceanothus-ray-hartman-california-lilac

I am looking for one that is:
-evergreen
-can be trained into a tree
-will be tall (the taller species can grown to 3m or so)
-has good colour blue flowers (the deeper more purply blue rather than the pale blue)
-one of the longer living species (15 years +)
-suitable for climate in England (Hereford/Shropshire)

Can anyone suggest anything that would be an alternative to Ceonothus Ray Hartman? I can't face doing all that research again. :(

I think I had this one in my last garden
https://www.ornamental-trees.co.uk/ceanothus-trewithan-blue-tree-p856

It was beautiful and grew into a lovely tree.

did it die? @TheSweetestHalleluja if you say ' you had it last year'?

I'm looking for one with longevity as its for a memorial.

how tall did it get?

I bought this one 4 years ago. It grows fast - was 1m when arrived and now just over 2m. Blooms twice per year and is gorgeous. I planted it in the ground:

https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/pair-of-evergreen-california-lilac-trees-patio-standard-ceanothus

I have 2 Californian lilac trees I bought from a website in the UK. They're beautiful but they've not reacted very well to the hot son so I don't think they're particularly hardy.
They are evergreen though

www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/pair-of-evergreen-californian-lilac-trees-patio-tree-ceanothus-victoria?fee=7&fep=15462&gclid=CjwKCAjws7WkBhBFEiwAIi16808GSb8U-U3L8KxxnvulTwKFSbBzSuiuD6BN27aIKhCyM3qr7JL84hoCgikQAvD_BwE

@AlfietheSchnauzer that's the same one as @roses2 has!

They are out of stock anyway but it doesn't say what variety of ceonothus it is - so I don't know if it is a longer living one.

We bought ours in a random garden centre it was very small but is quite large now flowers beautifully every year we dont really do anything with it . It's also in a windy exposed spot

I had a Puget Blue in my previous garden - beautiful profuse deep blue flowers, hardy, vigorous. We had it as a shrub but looking online it can be grown as a tree of up to 10ft.

In fact I had two - I bought a second one for the front garden because the one in the back was so lovely.

The RHS reckons there is one supplier of Ray Hartman

My mum has the same variety and has had it years and years.

I actually bought mine from yougarden but it's also out of stock. However they have a bit of info on it www.yougarden.com/item-p-510200/californian-lilac-ceanothus-standards

Ray Hartman Lilac UK supplier

I have a Trewithen Blue, which I've had for about 8 years. It's about 3m tall and the same wide, growing on a single trunk, like this photo. It's beautiful.

@AlfietheSchnauzer

I know you are trying to be helpful but I can use google! I'd tried them. That nursery has closed it's mail order business which isn't operating and they don't have Ray Hartman in stock. I couldn't find anywhere else in the UK that had it at all - at least on first 5 or so pages of google.

I think I'm tossing up between a Puget blue and and Trewithen Blue now. The Trewithn blue seems to be more prevalent trellised up a wall rather than as a tree but I see @DigbyTheDigger that you can get it to be a single trunk.

Anyone know which has deeper blue flowers? It's hard to tell from photographs as some look lighter than others.

No ours survived all sorts of weather, frost,snow, heatwaves.... We moved house a couple of years ago but it was still thriving when we left. It was huge, probably 15ft at least. It was in full sun, heavy clay soil so whether that caused it to grow so much bigger that 3m I'm not sure. It was obviously happy there! We had it at least ten years before we then moved home.

It's a lovely idea for your friend, hope you find the one you want and it creates a lovely memorial.

A pic of the flowers from our one.

Wow! Do you have any tips for taking care of them please? Mine aren't doing too well after the heatwave :(

Wow there's no need to be so obnoxious! When you ask on a forum but don't mention what methods you've tried - specifically the fact that the ONE & ONLY supplier listed - you've already tried and you just say "there seems to be no suppliers in the UK" then what exactly do you expect people to do? They'll try to help ffs 🤦🏼‍♀️

The absolute arrogance 🤨

OP apologies if you've already tried this but below (hopefully) is a link to a garden that has a National Collection of Ceanothus. Perhaps not much use for getting a specimen but they be willing to advise you on another variety that matches your criteria? There are contacts details on the page in the link, I hope they're still current.

https://www.plantheritage.org.uk/national-plant-collections/search-the-national-plant-collections/collection/2340/ceanothus

Best of luck.

Mine is also very unhappy and going yellow despite plenty of watering. It has not enjoyed the heat despite saying it would grow in full sun.
Sorry OP no help but just have your friend think of that when placing.

Or (appreciate blue might be the colour required) I am currently obsessed with pineapple trees they are stunning.

When you ask on a forum but don't mention what methods you've tried - specifically the fact that the ONE & ONLY supplier listed - you've already tried and you just say "there seems to be no suppliers in the UK" then what exactly do you expect people to do?

Answer the question actually asked maybe?
You can't buy it in the UK as far as I can see. No one offers it for sale or has it in stock. I wasn't asking for advice about suppliers.

The absolute arrogance

This is just unnecessarily rude. If anyone is arrogant it is posters who patronisingly assume that a person writing a post hasn't actually bothered to look it up for themselves.

There is no point in posting I did google for suppliers/ I found this one recommended by RHS/ checked it out but they no longer deliver and don't have it in stock anyway - it is unnecessary words, makes a post longer and is pointless because my history of searching is neither here nor there. It wasn't my question. I have established you can't buy the one I want in the UK and was asking for other advice.

It is very arrogant to assume that I must be unable to google but you in your wisdom can correct me.

It is truly patronising to do a cursory google and post a link that anyone can find without actually checking whether the link worked or what it said or whether the product was available. If you had bothered to do that you would have seen that I was correct.

This happens a lot round here it seems and I've seen other people making the same observation.

It is worse to just then go on to be gratuitiously insulting. I acknowledged that you were trying to help directly.

@IcakethereforeIam Thank you very much that is very helpful.

Well, that escalated! I'm only here for the pictures (and because I'm mourning my ceanothus Concha which we just had to put out of its misery after maybe ten years. So don't get that one, OP).

thank you @Crikeyisthatthetime I'm leaning towards a Puget blue but need to decide fast I think

Goodness, I thought this would be a lovely thread, but blimey, OP, you owe @AlfietheSchnauzer an apology. You made it clear in your OP you were using MN as a shortcut because you couldn't face doing your own research, so why get so cross and rude when someone is only trying to help?

Wow. I've never seen an unpleasant thread on the gardening pages before, I thought that was restricted to AIBU. These threads are usually gentle, helpful, amusing, educational, friendly and supportive. Gardening tends to bring out the best in people.

Agree.