Ceanothus gloriosus 'Hearts Desire'

Ceanothus gloriosus Hearts Desire was introduced by Cal Flora Nursery in Fulton. C. Heart's Desire is a Mountain Lilac that was found in the wild along the northern California coast in the area of Point Reyes. One of our customers had it growing in red clay and full sun in Templeton's 100 degree weather. Heart's Desire will tolerate the heat and sun, but needs some water to do it. We could not push it at all in our un-watered planting experiments. In coastal gardens Heart's Desire looks very good in those small streetside planting strips into which nothing fits. They tolerate parking lot conditions well. Flood irrigation once a week, people walking through them. Dogs watering them, garbage amongst them. Excellent sidewalk border, as long as they are watered about once a week. In most of California, if water rationing took place, these plants should live as long as they've had a year or two to establish or they still get once a week water. In larger gardens use as the interface with a lawn, in front of Arctostaphylos 'Sunset', Arctostaphylos  franciscana, Ceanothus 'Yankee Point', Ceanothus maritmus or Salvia 'Gracias' to make a varied low ground cover. Tolerates gardens conditions better than most of the other Mountain Lilacs.

In the wild such these plants can be found near each other,  Arctostaphylos 'Pt. Reyes', Armeria maritima var. californica, Artemisia pycnocephala, Ceanothus gloriosus, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus repens, Erigeron glaucus, Eriogonum latifolium, Eriophyllum staechadifolium, Grindelia hirsutula, Lupinus arboreus, and Solidago spathulata.

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