Blue Jeans Mountain Lilac (Ceanothus) – 2 Gallon Pot

Other Common Names:  Wild Lilac, California Lilac, Mountain Lilac, Holly Leaved Mountain Lilac

A shockingly showy and cold hardy hybrid relative of our native American Ceanothus, ‘Blue Jeans’ is one of the toughest, lowest maintenance and prettiest of all Mountain Lilac cultivars. In mid spring the evergreen foliage is literally smothered in delightful, pom-pom like clusters of bluish purple flowers with continued blooming to mid summer. A site to behold in bloom, and something the butterflies, hummingbirds and beneficial pollinators will certainly appreciate. When not in flower its shiny, holly-like deep green leaves provide nice attraction in the landscape. With an upright mounding form 6 to 8 feet tall and equally as wide, Blue Jeans is a fine specimen in the sunny garden and flowering shrub and landscape borders and makes a wonderful informal hedge for natural areas but is just as at home as a clipped hedge in urban landscapes. Long-lived and very easy to grow and low maintenance, it is cold hardy to 0ºF and can handle heat, drought and every type of soil, including clay, provided the site is well-drained. This one doesn’t like wet feet! You might also be happy to know the deer turn their nose up to it.

Blue Jeans Mountain Lilac is a hybrid cross of C. gloriosus and C. masonii from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.

Ceanothus is a larval host plant and highly attractive to various species of butterflies, moths and other beneficial pollinators. Hummingbirds will also visit the flowers. It provides seeds eaten by bushtits, mockingbirds, quail and finches, as well as cover for birds.

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