HiI have a tree in my garden
Germany 
Hi
I have a tree in my garden, Worcester UK, I'm unsure what its called but it has blue flowers in early summer and, though it doesn't look like an evergreen, it held its leaves through the winter. Last year the tree was lovely and had masses of green leaves and blue flowers, this year however, it is looking very ill. Most of the leaves have turned brown and fallen off though right at the ends of the branches there are signs of new leaves and they are looking ok. Does anybody know what is wrong and how I fix this? Thanks for your help.
14 Jul, 2010
Answers
Hi, thanks Bamboo. I've looked into this a little more and it is a Ceanothus. I thought the winter may have had an effect. There are still some leaves on at the ends of the branches and these are doing ok. Should I cut the tree back or just hold fire and hope it recovers?
14 Jul, 2010
If it was one that flowered in May, should have been cut back immediately after flowering, in June - you can give a light trim now, but any harder cutting back will have to wait till end of May/early June now. And give it a good soak by leaving the hose running at the base for a few hours on a gentle trickle.
14 Jul, 2010
Thanks Bamboo. It is the one that flowers in May and so it looks like I'll have to wait until next year and keep my fingers crossed it makes it! We have had loads of rain here over the last few days and all night and so hopefully that will do the job, I'll hose it anyway though.
Thanks again!
15 Jul, 2010
Loads of rain, how delightful - we've had what looks like a fair bit here in London, but I've just checked, and its only slightly damp on the top inch of soil out there, bone dry underneath... I reckon we'll need a week of solid rain to be of any use to plant roots here.
15 Jul, 2010
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If its not over about 15 feet, its probably a Ceanothus, and some of those are evergreen. Sounds like yours has suffered severely, first the harsh winter we had, and now drought, though by the sound of it, it did produce leaves this year which then all fell off, so the most likely explanation is, in fact, drought.
14 Jul, 2010