Ceanothus x pallidus 'Marie Simon'
Marie Simon ceanothus with Echinacea and Verbena in a garden setting. Photo: SK Reid.
Summary
UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.
Marie Simon is a hybrid ceanothus that is semi-deciduous with spearmint green leaves and large panicles of fluffy pink blooms from April to June. In 2 years the average height and width grew from 20” X 13” to 36” x 53”. The significant difference in performance between irrigation treatments was that the 80% treatment performed worse than all the others. We can confidently say that they will perform well on any level at or below 60% ETo. There was 83% mortality at 80% ETo; 0% at 60%; 16.7%(1 plant out of 6) at 40% and 20%.
Plants can be quite unattractive late in the winter, but recover quickly in early spring. There was some edge burn on leaves as summer progressed that may be due to boron build-up from irrigation water. Spring bloom was abundant, and the remaining wine-colored seed heads lasted for another couple of weeks, contrasting nicely with the dark red stems. A very attractive feature. While the overall average quality of plants on 20% and 40% of ETo was comparable, there was a surprise repeat bloom late in the summer and into fall at the 40% level. The excellent performance of this plant at the lower levels makes it a candidate for no more than monthly summer watering, and perhaps less in heavy soils.
Basic Info
| Submitted by: | UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars |
| Site(s): | UC Davis |
| Trial Exposure: | Sun |
| Year evaluated: | 2009 |
| Height & Width after 2 years: | 3.7' x 4.4' |
| Reported Height & Width at maturity: | 1-2' x 1-2' |
| WUCOLS plant type: | S A |
| Water Needs & WUCOLS Region: | Medium - Region 2 |
Mean Overall Appearance rating: (1-5 Scale, 5 is highest) | 4.4 |
| Flowering Months: | April-June |
Growth and Quality Data