Blue Ray Ceanothus
What do you get when you cross two of our favorite ceanothus varieties? The gorgeous tree forming Ceanothus thrysiflorus ‘Ray Hartman’ and the crowd favorite, deep blue flowered Dark Star made a love child and that shrub is buck wild! Growing about 10′ tall by 15′ wide. This is a big mama! Excellent for naturalized plantings and covering large areas. A true gift to the pollinators and an absolutely gorgeous shrub if you’re trying to cover a lot of space.
A very useful and beautiful genus of shrubs native to the West Coast, mostly in the California and Southern Oregon Coast Range, Ceanothus boast evergreen foliage, gorgeous purple to blue, sometimes white, flowers and can tolerate the worst soil conditions so long as they are well draining. As nitrogen fixing shrubs they also fix nitrogen in the soil and are excellent companion plants for other woody plants.
Latin Name: Ceanothus hybrid ‘Blue Ray’
Site and Soil: Prefers well draining soils in full sun and as a nitrogen fixing shrub can tolerate nutrient poor soils
Hardiness: 0º Fahrenheit
Size at Maturity: 10 feet high by 10-15 feet wide
Bloom Time: March through May
Pests & Diseases: None
USDA Zone: 7b