Try to take a picture of this shrub. It's hard to say if pruning will help since these types of shrubs are not easy to prune. If the branch areas are quite mature, they sometimes don't recover.
Thanks for taking the photos. It's making more sense now. There are two main issues. It does sound like you may have an east aspect, so it's very likely your shrub naturally wants to grow towards the side where there is light. The other issue is your shrub has grown beyond the border fence height, which is a common thing in most gardens, and most shrubs and plants will flop to the neighbours' side.
Your Ceanothus is now very unstable because the weight is now distributed into your side which is why I see a stake in place. It has also grown to such a height that it is very hard to hack back and rejuvenate it and create a more mult-branched shrub.
If you want to keep this shrub, I think you may have to somehow insert a trellis behind the shrub and extend the height of the fence from your side. That may hopefully allow your shrub to carry on growing but also prevent it from going into the neighbours' side. But I fear this will mean a lot of work. You will need to keep pruning every year to control wayward branches.
Due to the original shrub being planted so close to the fence, the shrub will always need a level of pruning to stop it stooping over. In my view not really ideal if you want it to grow more naturally. So, if you don't mind yearly pruning to keep it compact and control numerous long branches adding weight, then it has a place in your garden, if not, I think you should consider removing it.
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Try to take a picture of this shrub. It's hard to say if pruning will help since these types of shrubs are not easy to prune. If the branch areas are quite mature, they sometimes don't recover.
Thanks for taking the photos. It's making more sense now. There are two main issues. It does sound like you may have an east aspect, so it's very likely your shrub naturally wants to grow towards the side where there is light. The other issue is your shrub has grown beyond the border fence height, which is a common thing in most gardens, and most shrubs and plants will flop to the neighbours' side.
Your Ceanothus is now very unstable because the weight is now distributed into your side which is why I see a stake in place. It has also grown to such a height that it is very hard to hack back and rejuvenate it and create a more mult-branched shrub.
If you want to keep this shrub, I think you may have to somehow insert a trellis behind the shrub and extend the height of the fence from your side. That may hopefully allow your shrub to carry on growing but also prevent it from going into the neighbours' side. But I fear this will mean a lot of work. You will need to keep pruning every year to control wayward branches.
Due to the original shrub being planted so close to the fence, the shrub will always need a level of pruning to stop it stooping over. In my view not really ideal if you want it to grow more naturally. So, if you don't mind yearly pruning to keep it compact and control numerous long branches adding weight, then it has a place in your garden, if not, I think you should consider removing it.