Full sun, good drainage. I may have lost a few this year as well, perhaps due to the situation being damper than they can tolerate.

So far, I am zero for three on Caryopteris. I keep trying different places in the garden, hoping to get more than two or three winters out of them. Well drained, but protected, yadayadayada. Nope.

Just bought my fourth and planted it this week in another spot. You know the definition of insanity, right? You keep doing the same thing and expect different results ;). Guess I'm insane...

My caryopteris lasted 5 years but doens't appear to have made it through the last winter. I took cuttings last year, wanting to have more plants elsewhere and luckily I have 5 very small new ones. If you can, this might be a good route to go if you have a "nursery" space to grow replacement stock.

I've always thought Caryopteris was really easy to grow. Maybe I'm just lucky! I have mine in full sun in a raised bed of sandy loam, and I cut them back to about 6" in Feb. or Mar.

Well, I don't know if I'm insane enough to try them again unless I can get cheaper starts. I would try better drainage next time. And such a pretty blue! Sigh....

My caryopteris "Dark Knight" survived the winter with no trouble at all and has all of its leaves. I will also say that a huge percentage of the seeds I collected from the plant last year and winter sowed earlier this year germinated. I lost a lot of them to the sudden heat we had this past week, but with better care I don't think that would have been a problem. Mine is in a spot that has full sun and good drainage so I might have just gotten lucky
:-).

The trick to overwintering them is to leave the old branches through winter and not prune them away until new growth appears at the base of the shrub. Treated this way, I've never lost a plant of Caryopteris, even one in moist soil and partial shade.

Oh, I've done all that. I get all of them thru the first winter, some of them through their second and none of them through their third! This year I didn't cut it back for ages, hoping it would show new growth. Nada. Another casualty.

But at $8, if I get two years, the blue is worth having as an annual!

"The trick to overwintering them is to leave the old branches through winter and not prune them away until new growth appears at the base of the shrub. Treated this way, I've never lost a plant of Caryopteris, even one in moist soil and partial shade."

Me too, exactly. I do my hardy fuchsias and Russian sage the same way. My Caryopteris are from five to three years old and we had a very severe winter in 2003 in Portland. I never protect anything.

My Caryopteris were not pruned at all and were in full sun, but I have heavy clay and I guess none were in a sharp drainage area. I also have lost some of the Daphnes- Brigg's Moonlight, bholua, Ruby Glow, and collina, probably because of drainage problems, but have success with odora, Lawrence Crocker, tanguica, and Summer Icicle.

Well if you can keep all those Daphnes then you're doing something right. None of them are easy. Strange that they would survive where Caryopteris doesn't, but then plants have a way of behaving differently from how we would expect.

Caryopteris comes pretty easily from softwood cuttings taken with a heel, and can bloom the same year if started early enough. Might be a good way to keep them going without having to buy new ones every year or every other year.

I've had two caryopteris for several years (and now a third is doing fine, a cutting from the first) and I totally neglect them! Just prune in the spring, when I can see new growth, and forget about them! But our soil is sandy and fast-draining, so that may be part of it. Sun or shade doesn't seem to matter .... I think mine is called "Blue night" .... maybe it is a hardier variety.

My Daphne odora is on the north side of my house, in an elevated bed held up by railroad ties, so it has sharp drainage. The others are in fairly level ground with a slight slope. Summer Icicle was blooming last year all summer and at frost. I covered it with a garbage can and it kept on.

We planted caryopteris last fall. We pruned it to approximately 12 inches and have yet to have leaves. Should we continue to be patient or are they dead?

Thank you

Andrea

Might be dead. Mine are almost fully leafed out. Should be pruned after they start leafing out, not in fall.

My soil is heavy clay but we've been amending with compost for twelve years. The house had no flower beds at all when we bought it, just lawn. We did rototill in compost before planting but have just been top dressing since. I'm not in to heavy manual labor such as double digging or even amending planting holes. I'm bad. Good thing I didn't have kids. I'm just not a nurturer. If it doesn't thrive with minimal care, I yank it out.

Don't give up yet. Mine are just beginning to bud out. I also agree with this recommendation:
"The trick to overwintering them is to leave the old branches through winter and not prune them away until new growth appears at the base of the shrub. Treated this way, I've never lost a plant of Caryopteris, even one in moist soil and partial shade."

I have some that are at least 6 years old. The only one I've ever lost was the cultivar with the bright yellowgreen leaf. It never really took hold.

I wonder, did you plant it early enough in the fall to get some root growth before we had that early dry cold? jwww

My Caryopteris "Worcester Gold" are planted in a raised composted bed, full sun and get lots of abuse all winter. They get the harshest weather of the garden. I do not prune until spring when I can see where the new growth is coming. Cuttings root at ridiculous rates and the parent plants layer new cuttings as well. They look rather dead for quite a while in the spring but always grow out beautifully.
Amy