My personal notes: (be aware that this are my experiences in Victoria Garden. In other places in and around Redding, this plant can behave differently)

Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman' (California Lilac) is a hybrid between the natives Ceanothus arboreus and Ceanothus griseus. I bought it two years ago as 4" pot plants and now they are about 12' high. A very fast growing plant which I needed in my garden to attach to the fence in order to keep it upright. The rain and snow in winter made it top-heavy and the branches started to weep and when it stormed one of them threatened to fall sideways.
It is a tough shrub. Can handle frost in my garden and the summer heat as well. I have been reading that it hates overwatering, so I was afraid, that the shrubs that were planted in the bottom garden, would suffer in winter, like the arbutus staying in between them. But they still look great and flower endlessly.
In the years of summer drought and the nearby fires, they were a bit confused. As soon as it started raining in November and the sky was clear again, they began to flower and flowered the whole winter till May the next season. This year the first flowers appeared in April. Maybe so late, because of the harsh frost in December and the amount of rain in the following months.
I planted one in the woodland area, in undisturbed soil. Unfortunately that one was eaten by the deer in no time. So I can't compare the plants in different conditions.     

What are your experiences?

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