Wonky Ceanothus!

Hi,

I bought this Ceanothus earlier in the year, but only got to plant it late summer. It was a little bit 'on the wonk' then but since it has started to grow, it's got worse, so looking for advice please.

Should I tie it to strong stick OR prune it to below when it starts to bend please?

Also I would like it to bush out more, not sure how to go about that, if someone could point me in the right direction for some guidance.

Many thanks in advance.

 

Maybe a short stake would help just to stop the roots rocking.

After flowering next year I'd cut the top out, but I get the impression its how that particular type grows, some are bushy some are more narrow in habit and tend to go upwards.

Its going to need planting out or a much bigger container in a year.

 

Arh... @pete many thanks, that is really helpful. Never had one before, so was flummoxed with knowing how to care for it with it's jaunty angle!!

I wanted a bushy one, I saw one in my neighbours garden and just bought one, without researching them, lesson learned

I will find a more suitable place for it in the garden for next year and stake it in the meantime. Many thanks again

 

Not saying it wont get more bushy with age but I have one called "concha" and it kind of grows branches like your plant, so if you could imagine eventually a shrub with four, five or more branches like you plant.

 

Thanks @pete I will be interested to see what it does now

 

I grow quite a few Ceanothus. Unlike some genre they are very varied as to habit hardiness, evergreen or otherwise, therefore bit of a minefield trying to buy the variety that suits your location. Yours looks to be an evergreen variety with small leaves ( hardier than those with bigger leaves).
In my experience Ceanothus does not respond well to being heavily pruned but will accept light pruning. Once yours has flowered next late spring maybe give it a bit of a hair cut taking the top 6 inches ish off and hopefully that will straighten the plant up a bit and make it branch out more.

 

Thank you so much @hailbopp that is really useful. I will give it a trim in late Spring and will find a better place for it

 

I'd agree with @hailbopp re the hardiness of Ceanothus @Barders, as well as being careful with the pruning/trimming. Many of them are also quite short lived in terms of shrubs.
I used to have one or two, but I really don't like the colour - too wishy washy for me, especially as we have a lot of grey skies over on this side of the country. They prefer decent sun, and good drainage, but will also take some light shade, and it would definitely be best in the ground.
If you know what variety it is, that will help with any research, and also with advice people can offer.

 

Many thanks @fairygirl that's really helpful. I have the label at home so will have a look when I get back. Attending a workshop at RHS. Wisley today so will have a look at the ones they have for sale as well. I bought it because pollinators like them, but I don’t think mine will have that many flowers so probably won’t be very popular

 

I'm pretty sure yours will be totally covered in flower next may.

There are some with pale blue flowers and there are some varieties with fairly dark blue flowers, I prefer the deeper blue ones.
Also some have more sparce flowers, it's all about getting the variety that you prefer.
I see your plant has a few flowers now so the colour is pretty evident.

 

When I had them, there wasn't the choice available that there is nowadays, and of course - no online provision -as it didn't exist!
The dark ones look better @pete, but I don't recall any dark ones being easily available back then, or I'd have probably picked one of those. I don't really like blue anyway though, which I know is quite unusual.
I can see yours has a few pale blue flowers too @Barders. Shrubs of any kind can take a while to flower well because they spend about 6 months to a year getting established first, so the flowers are delayed.
In the right site, I agree with pete that it should flower well for you in future.

 

Thank you @fairygirl that is encouraging