i know it is a ceanothus but as to the variety no idea.

Yes it is,mine is a "concha"and a deep blue not yet in flower...but soon.Lots of varieties,mine looked very dead after the bad 2010/2011winter a man(irish accent) knocked my door and told me it wanted cutting down,told him I'd give it another year and its now looking just fine.You can never be sure in the garden (:0)

Thanks, that's a sort of Buckthorn then, isn't it?

not that i am aware of ad44. but i will have a mooch around my classification books.

mine looked dead too. left it another year and now it looks....... well dead :o( I have a clematis trained up and over it now.

in the same order then different family and genus. so related a bit.

Thats a shame Seaburn,they are not in flower very long I have 3 clematis growing up through mine.

yes I had 'Edinburgh' a really deep blue too. but I could replace it I suppose.