Ceanothus 'Dark Star'

This is a hybrid with one of the parents being Ceanothus impressus. 6' high and 8' wide, evergreen, small curled leaves, deep blue flowers (almost deep purple). I've seen these covered with sooty mold in February in interior climates. The plants were very black and unattractive. They grew out of it in about two months. I've rarely seen this condition on other Ceanothus species and hybrids. In this particular case, the factors contributing to the sooty mold may have been lack of ground moisture coupled with fog and winter chill. I don't think there is a problem in coastal areas or in watered beds. I'd use C. 'Concha' in the interior instead of C. 'Dark Star'. C. Dark Star' is cold tolerant to 5 degrees F. Deer will not bother these until they get into where they start eating all things. When this plant is happy it is spectacular! The three showiest Ceanothus are 'Dark Star', 'Julia Phelps' and 'Concha'. C. 'Dark Star' was introduced to the trade by Ken Taylor in 1971. Contrary to a popular gardening book, time and time again, in many gardens, we have observed that C. Julia Phelps' is much more drought tolerant, lives longer and performs better in the interior portion of the coast ranges, at least in the central California area, than C. Dark Star' . Click here for more about Mountain Lilacs.