Variegated Carmel creeper (Ceanothus griseus horizontalis ‘Diamond Heights’ as lawn substitute
Question from Ann:
I live in Rancho Penasquitos and would like to grow Ceanthus Diamond Heights as a replacement for lawn in the front yard (no foot traffic)). Will it do well?
I also have a question regarding Tecoma Gold Star and Orange Jubilee. would they become invasive in our area and would Jubilee be a better choice as I’ve read it fewer seed pods?
Answer from Pat:
Variegated Carmel creeper (Ceanothus griseus horizontalis ‘Diamond Heights) is a uniquely colorful and somewhat newer selection among the low-growing ground-cover types of California lilac (Ceanothus). I have seen it growing on sunny banks. In spring the small light blue flowers are effective against the variegated chartreuse and dark green foliage. It is drought resistant once established and usually does well in full sun along the coast, part shade inland but it requires excellent drainage. A bank is an ideal location for this plant, but I see no reason why it should not survive on flat ground as long as the drainage is good. If I were you I would go ahead and try it if you can provide sharp drainage. If drainage is not good, think again.
Tecoma stans ‘Gold Star’ is a tropical plant that does have seeds but I have not noticed it being invasive in coastal California though it may be in Texas where it is far more frequently grown. One really should cut off the seed capsules anyway to keep it blooming and sheer the plant once a year after the first wave of bloom. I wouldn’t worry too much about the invasive factor. Tecoma stans x ‘Orange Jubilee’ has fewer seed capsules so you don’t have to cut them off but the main difference between these plants is color and size. So consider color and size when you choose between them. ‘Gold Star’ grows to be about 3 to 6 feet tall in the US and has abundant yellow blossoms during the warm months. ‘Orange Jubilee’ grows to approximately 8 feet wide and 12 feet tall so it makes a fine screen plant and it has orange blossoms. It is a dense shrub and though not invasive from seeds it spreads from suckers coming up from the ground. You can cut it to the ground and it will come back. It needs a hot spot. Won’t do well in cold wind.
I want to thank you so much for your prompt and informative reply. You are so kind and generous to do so. I’ve seen you on TV a few times and found your love and passion for gardening to be quite contagious!
I have a follow up question regarding Tecoma Orange Jubille. I wanted to use it as a screen next to my fence from my neighbor’s view (12 feet is perfect). Will the suckers be a problem growing on their side of the fence if I plant in only 3-4 ft from the fence, assuming an 8 ft spread? How far away do the suckers come up? Will it do ok in filtered light all day? I have a large ficus with very few leaves (not doing so well) that’s providing minimal screening that I will cut down as soon as the Tecoma fills in. I’m anxious to plant it as I’ve read it can grow several feet in 1 year and I wanted a screen yesterday! I also live on top of a hill with a canyon behind hence the concern over the seed pods.
In addition, when researching drought tolerant ground covers, I ran across the Perennial Peanut which is being widely used as ground cover in Florida. Do you think if would do well here if I could provide a gentle slope with decent drainage and if so, where do you think I can find it? Would this be superior to the ceanothus diamond heights as a tough drought tolerant ground cover?
Again, I truly appreciate your generosity and kindness in answering my many questions. You are a true lady in every sense of the word. Thank you!
Thanks so much for your kind comments. I am delighted to know you enjoy my TV shows and feel the contagion of the passion for plants, for gardening, and for all the wonders of our magnificent home-planet Earth.
Regarding the Tecoma ‘Orange Jubilee’, not having grown it myself or observed the growth of a specimen I cannot guarantee that suckers might not be an eventual problem. Hearing more of the situation, I was wondering why you would not want to choose a screen plant more commonly used here. I first thought of one of the compact screening types of bottle brush. There are several good ones, but now hearing that this plant is to be located in dappled shade I am thinking why don’t you plant star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)? I have a fence on my property on the top of a bank that edges the road and I have grown a thick screen of star jasmine on it with excellent results. You can purchase star jasmine now in June on large trellises because now is when it is in bloom. You will have a degree of privacy right away. Planted now it covers a fence quickly to give you all the screening you need for many years. I would purchase 15 gallon size plants and get them into the ground with trellises touching for quick cover. If you cannot find 15-gallon specimens in a local nursery, try a tree farm such as Briggs in Vista. They should have it. The best thing is that it grows in sun or shade.
My only concern is that the star jasmine may not give you the height you require. Could you nail a trellis to the fence to give the jasmine some higher support? Another idea is to install posts with wires connecting them so that it could grow taller on this structure. Given strong support it could grow to at least 15 feet in height, more than you require.
Perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata) is appropriate for the moist tropical climate of Florida and is not adapted to our climate. A similar plant but one that is drought-resistant and well adapted to our climate is Lippia (Phila nodiflora). It bears little pink flowers at this time of year. You can even walk on it, and being drought-resistant makes it one of the best lawn substitutes. Another is woolley yarrow (Achillea tomentosa.) It is better to stick to plants well adapted to Southern California like there than to try to find and plant something better adapted to the hot muggy climate of Florida. Florida has most rain in summer and much hotter and wetter climate than ours. We have a dry Mediterranean climate with most rain confined to fall winter and spring with a long summer drought, so plant something adapted to our climate not Florida’s. One of the best ways to choose something you like is to drive around your neighborhood or other neighborhoods in similar climates and view plants and gardens you like. A trip to the the Cuyamaca College Water Conservation Demonstration Garden can be worthwhile for gathering ideas. Why not go there and see demonstration plots of ground covers growing in a similar climate to your own before plunging into a big planting scheme while you still have doubts?
I also live near Rancho Penasquitos and have experienced a very difficult time cultivating Diamond Heights. We’ve gone through at least three purchases where half or more die within the first weeks or months. This is for a large bank.
Do you have any suggestions for alternative ground covers that would work on a large bank? Thanks so much!
I am sorry if I gave you a wrong steer. My experience with Ceanothus is that it only does well in California on slopes and with excellent drainage. It is not suitable as a lawn substitute on flat areas in full sun in Southern California and I really should have said that when you wrote previously. I did say it does well on slopes and with superior drainage only. I now think only in northern California or right along the coast will if work. As a lawn substitute, I recommend Achillea millefolium planted from seeds in fall. See what I have said about it elsewhere on this blog. LIppia (Phylla nodiflora) is another good possibility and can take the interior heat. https://patwelsh.com/wpmu/blog/california-natives/drought-resistant-lawn-substitute-for-people-and-dogs/. Ceanothus often languishes in Southern California unless planted in November and straight into soil where no exotic plant previously grew. If there was once lawn where you are planting it there are doubtless many fungi in the soil that are anathema to ceanothus. I also find that variegated ones are harder to grow than those with solid leaf colors. According to the recent book “Ceanothus” by David Fross and Dieter Wilken, C. thyrsiflorus var. griseus ‘Diamond Heights’ was first found in San Francisco and they say on page 105 “‘Diamond Heights’ is suited to mild coastal climates and requires some shading to prevent burning, especially in warmer, interior gardens.” My guess is what they are really saying is that ‘Diamond Heights’ loves the cool temperatures and fog along the coast and is not much good inland except under ideal circumstances. I have been to David’s nursery and it’s in central California which is cool along the coast. ‘Diamond Heights’ was thriving in several gardens I visited in which the plants came from his nursery, but most of these gardens were right next to the fog bank with a cooling breeze. It has always been a comment in my brain on natives that ceanothus and also flannel bush (Fremontedendron) are far more popular in gardens in England than here, no doubt because the pathogens in English garden soil are not as antithetical to ceanothus and many other lovely California natives as are those we have in gardens here.
Here is a P. S. to what I wrote you earlier today. All that I wrote about Ceanothus ‘Diamond Heights’ and lawn substitutes holds true, but I failed to suggest some alternate plants for your bank as you asked me to do. You did not state if you want California natives or not. I have written several suggestions to other questioners on various bank plantings, including native plants, on this site already. You might find something you want by consulting those ideas, including the more tropical plants, but my immediate instinct is to suggest you replace each ‘Diamond Heights’ ceanothus that dies with another easier-to-grow garden variety of ceanothus, such as C. ‘Concha’, to name only one. Ceanothus ‘Concha’ is taller—6 -7 feet tall and 6-8 feet wide—than the ground cover type you have but it looks good on banks. When ceanothus are growing on a bank the height of the plant grows straight up, not out sideways and the width cascades downwards in a graceful way. ‘Concha’ is one of the best selections to grow in gardens since it tolerates summer water. And by the way have you looked at the instructions for planting native plants in the catalogue of Tree of Life Nursery?http://www.californianativeplants.com/index.php/plants/planning_tools/planting_guide. People have the greatest success with natives when they dig a hole, water the hole a couple of times and let the water sink in, then pull a plant carefully out of the nursery pot and stick it into unimproved native soil, fill in with native soil, no soil amendments added (and I would not add fertilizer either) and make a watering basin. All this should be done in November, not in summer. Water a little for the first few months and then don’t water at all in summer. Here is my special tip for watering native plants in summer which I got from Greg Rubin and I put it in my book. In summer DON’T WATER native plants at all. However, in the early morning or evening of hot days you can go out there with the hose and spritz the tops of native plants to wash them off just as if a light rain had fallen that is not enough to wet the ground but only enough to dampen the leaves and settle the dust. Native plants can take in water through their leaves and this is sufficient moisture to keep them alive through the hot dry days of summer and fall before the rains. Think of the edge of the monsoon rains that sometimes wet chaparral plants in summer. It is never enough to sink in and wet their roots, but it is enough to cool them off and refresh the landscape. Of course no water at all is needed in winter. Basically after the first year, you never need water your California native plant again. (I am not talking here about riparian plants like California sycamore or plants native to ravines with underground water, like Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri). These plants can be watered in summer. No summer water applies only to chaparral plants.) But now to discuss non-native plants for your bank, one option I’ve discussed here before is to plant the bank solidly with Lantana montevidensis or a mix of several colors of trailing lantanas. This makes one of the most satisfying bank covers I know of and it lasts many years. Or, if you want to make a special design feature of your bank, you could install a dry stream bed wandering sideways from the top to the bottom of the bank using rocks and boulders to create a natural look (discussed on page 341 of my organic book) and plant around that with a variety of succulent plants including ice plants, agaves, and statuesque aloes. There are photographs of many such plantings in Debra Baldwin’s book, “Designing with Succulents.” http://www.debraleebaldwin.com/SucculentBooks.htm. This scheme will only work in frost-free zones but most banks in your area are frost free because frost slides off banks onto lower ground. Another good bank planting idea is to plant solidly with various varieties of Protea, such as nodding pincushion protea (Leucospermum reflexum.) These can be difficult plants to grow, but once established, they need little or no irrigation. If irrigation is used, drip is best, with a single dripper installed just above each plant so the water percolates downhill. An easier shrub to grow that is very drought resistant once established and is colorful with a long winter bloom season and good on banks is New Zealand tea tree. Books on ground covers seldom mention tea trees but there are several excellent ground cover varieties, including ‘Horizontalis’ (fast growing white, spreads 12 feet), ‘Nanum Tui’ (pink, 3-feet wide), and ‘Pink Cascade’ (1 foot tall, 2 to 3 feet wide.) These plants are long lived if not over watered or badly pruned. As ground cover they seldom need pruning. One can mix them on a bank with Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans) for a stunning effect and lovely pink, blue, and white color scheme.
I live in Northern California and we grow Diamond Heights easily in part shade. My neighbor uses as lawn substitute under Japanese Maple, on flat area, and it is flourishing.
Thank you so much for this helpful comment.
My wife and I recently bought our first house and we’re ready to do some landscaping now that some of the bigger interior renovations are behind us. Our front yard is a ~600 square foot, partially shaded, sloping, dried out dirt heap with some patches of grass here and there.
We like the look of carmel creeper (Ceanothus griseus horizontalis) and we’re wondering if you can give us some advice on how to (or whether to) prep the soil before we start planting. Also, any tips on how to make sure it stays happy. Neither of us are particularly adept at gardening (yet).
You neglected to tell me where you live, also what trees are shading your property. Nonetheless, I will suggest that if you live in a coastal zone of Southern California and shade is not too dense you could succeed at growing Carmel creeper (Ceonothus griseus horizontals) on your property. First, to answer your main question: No do not prepare the soil. If the ground is mostly bare and if no exotic plants have been planted there before, this is good news for native plants. The only soil prep to do would be to scrape off that straggly grass, roots too if you can. Native plants do best when planted straight into bare bulldozed ground with no plants having lived there before. What they don’t like is the various fungi and other biological organisms that live and thrive in normal garden soil. If you want to prove this to yourself just look at an untouched, natural landscape of chaparral. The plants thrive in bare-looking ground with mighty little organic matter in it and basically low nitrogen, in fact, low anything except whatever phosphorus or potassium or minerals, such as iron for example, that might be there naturally in the rock or earth itself. But this is hands off gardening. Don’t try to add anything!
Whatever you do, wait until November to plant, then go to a nursery specializing in California Native plants, such as Tree of Life nursery on the Ortega Highway leading east out of San Juan Capistrano. Phone first to make sure they will be there and that they have enough one gallon plants that you need. Meanwhile measure the space to be planted and draw a plan of it to show them. The reason is you need to space the plants the recommended distance apart. When you get to the nursery ask all the questions you can think of and make a note of the answers. You can print out what I am writing you, if you want, and ask them any questions that arise from my advice. They used to know me but may have forgotten me now. After all I am getting pretty ancient. 88 now! Not long to 90.
Basically the planting system is this: first dig the holes. Then fill the holes with water and let the water drain out. Do this twice or three times. (This is to prevent dry surrounding soil from sucking moisture out of the planting hole and thus away from roots. Next slide the plants out of the cans making sure you support the roots so they don’t break off at ground level, then plant the plants straight into the natural soil and re-fill the holes with the earth you dug out of the hole pressing down gently with your hands, not feet! and make a watering basin. Next apply organic mulch on top of the ground surrounding the plants. Gorilla hair is supposed to be a good clean mulch for natives. If too expensive, use shredded wood from a pruning company if you can find one working in your area. You can use bagged or chipped mulch if it’s clean and not filled with a lot of biological gunk listed on the label. You don’t need any of those additives. Never dig any of this mulch into the ground, just let it lie on top to keep weeds down and moisture in. Your mulch layer should be three or four inches thick.
After planting, water the plants again slowly letting a hose dribble water in each hole you have planted. The next day check the plants to make sure they are not drying out. In dry weather you may need to water three times a week the first week, once a week for the next month, then twice a month and once a month after that. Once the rains begin let them take over but in winter you can water when the weather is dry and plants seem to need it. When the tips of leaves bend down that means a plant needs water. In summer do NOT water, but if plants are stressed in hot weather, spritz the foliage in the evening after the sun is low in the sky. Native plants can take in water through their leaves.