Hi all, I did not have my camera when I noticed these but there are 2 shrubs that I saw in boulevards that are great and I'd love to know what they are. I saw them along Finlayson. One has orange flowers. The other has blue. I have seen this one A LOT around the city in peoples yards so it obviously has quite a history in the area. The blue flowered one has small blue flowers and I have seen kept trimmed like a very large boxwood but also left to grow into a medium sized shrub (about 8 feet). I realize this is not much to go on but I hope since they are in such high visibility locations, someone may have driven past and could tell me! Thanks Jon
California lilac shouldn't be blooming now [late August - June is their month here]... I wonder if Jeanmullet is referring to hydrangea? Jeanmullet, are the orange ones small round blooms like buttercup flowers, with small leaves? If so, it may be the shrubby cinquefoil or what used to be called, and may still be called, potentilla [comes in yellow and pink and white, too]. The blue ones might by hydrangea if the blooms are either quite large and round and poufy with many small florets making up a flower head -- or, another type of hydrangea which has a flat flowerhead with different-sized florets in it, called a lacecap hydrangea. Both have quite large leaves. But I don't notice people trimming them much, maybe the poufy ones are kept shaped round... Maybe the Lavatera and Rock Rose plants are coloured like that -- a lot of people grow them in Victoria. If you search on "rock rose" in Google you get a row of photos about 5 entries from the top... both blue and yellow show up there! I have noticed the wonderful gardens and boulevards along Finlayson, in the residential sections away from downtown... wonderful looking street. I wonder if the residents are together doing something to beautify the area -- it is really a pleasure to drive along there, would be even more of a pleasure to walk. It is rivalling the most luxurious areas in the city in beauty at the moment...
That's interesting, Ron B. I found the following in a Google search, from a Californian nursery: " 'Skylark' is a compact dome-shaped shrub to 5' high and wide. It has abundant blue flower clusters in spring for a longer period and later than most ceanothus"... I do wonder if that is the same as 'Victoria' as the latter seems to be the one sold in abundance around here [Victoria BC] and none of them are in bloom now, especially my 'Victoria'. I'd love to have one that was blooming. Also one that stayed at 5 feet or so -- the one that I have is going to get bigger than that, I think. An interesting bit from an Amazon peek-inside-a-book-for-sale is http://books.google.ca/books?id=3S1_EpwYRqAC&pg=PA98&lpg=PA98&dq=ceonothus+'skylark'+and+'victoria'&source=bl&ots=Sq4vDFaiUP&sig=1I6S9kK7Otyu5JuhcG3JtXL_Kuo&hl=en&ei=gFWVStSFDoe4M8iJ2fkH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false which confirms what Ron B is saying ... But I have never seen one blooming around here now, maybe I'll have to go down Finlayson again soon! This surprised me, I never thought they'd be blooming now. Why doesn't mine [if it was labelled correctly]?
I read your above comment as referring to June flowering, as though you thought the original post was referring to that time. Jeanmullet did not, in fact state that the blue shrubs are in bloom now. Timing of post implies that, but the reference may actually be to something seen earlier.
Sorry, I assumed he/she meant now, as Finlayson St. is really spectacular for gardens and flowering boulevard plantings, truly exceptional, right now! I am not sure if this street is in Victoria or Saanich, as the borders are not clear to me, but it is certainly being turned into a showcase by residents just east of Blanshard and onwards easterly. It is one of those many-travelled streets connecting various parts of the city, and the way the residents there have added attractive fences, fence-plantings, shrubbery, gardens, and borders is amazing.
