I suspect that this is the same problem as for your other plants.

One question you haven't yet answered is when you planted them.

But no matter when that was, they all look like they are running short of water.

See my suggestions in your other post
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/nwest/msg0823445616303.html?30651

Here is a link that might be useful: your original post.

It may be suffering from overwatering if you water regularly. Mine came with instructions to plant it in well-drained soil and not water even during the summer. So far (5 years now) it is doing beautifully. It probably gets a little water from what's given to neighboring plants, but I don't water it directly at all. There are several different varieties so you might want to look yours up on the internet and see what its requirements are.

Here is a link that might be useful: ceanothus

Thank you very much for all your help. I planted all, except Akebia about a month ago. 6/19/08/

I looked up my Ceanothus which is a Victoria. It does say needs little water, but it is once it's established after two seasons. So I will go check my root balls.

Thanks so much!!

Looks fine except for dieback of twigs that flowered earlier. I had some of the inflorescences of a Ceanothus thrysiflorus repens go bad when somewhat punky weather occurred at flowering time this year, perhaps this same kind of thing happened to your shrub. It's probably a pathogen spoiling the flowers and working its way down the twigs a little ways. Maybe with different weather next year it won't happen. Otherwise search likely terms ("ceanothus flower blight", whatever) to see if anything comes up, particularly on sites (or in books) about garden plant diseases.

I planted four ceanothus between 18 and 20 years ago. Two were the white thrysiflorus (or however it is correctly spelled) and two of the 'Ray Hartman' variety. Both of the Ray's are gone now--they were never watered after the first year or so, but as I pruned they started to die back, the more I pruned the more they died back.

One of the white flowered ones did not make it through a bad frost we had the first year or so, but the other has been doing fine until a couple years ago when the die back started with that one, too.

As awful as it looks, I am reluctant to cut the dead branch ends off, except that it does seem to stimulate growth from farther down the trunk/limbs.

My thought was that I must be spreading some dread virus by not cleaning my cutting tools well enough after cutting another infected plant. My wax myrtles are doing the same thing, although the problem does not appear to be terminal with those. (well, the die back is "terminal"as in at the ends of the branches, but not fatal.)