Ceanothus

I bought a Ceanothus which is about 18" tall at the moment and on a small fan shaped support. Ive planted it, but kept it on the support. Should I remove it the support? its up against a fence so will have some support from that.

Keep it on the support for now, until the branches have really firmed up and can withstand sindy conditions. It will soon become self supporting, and those thin shoots will in time grow to be several inches across. 

Today I dug up two of my mature ceanothus 'Concha' that got zapped by the cold winter.  One had a tiny green shoot emerging from a 3" diameter stem at the base, but as they only have a limited life I decided to replace it with another. Surely we can't have two winters like the last two - not for a few years anyway!  

Ceanothus are always described as being short lived, but for us this has not been so.  About 12 years ago I bough one with variegated foliage and lovely blue flowers called 'Zanzibar', being assured I would get 2 or 3 years out of it.   It is still going strong, has never become a huge bush as some can do, but flowers beautifully each year.  I prune it very hard in autumn, which is why it has never become big I suppose, and off it goes.  Mind, having said this I have probably put the kiss of death now

What cultivar is it? Although sometimes that hardly matters...

I have two Ceanothus. The first, Treewithin is planted against a south-facing wall and is 15yrs old (thereabouts). It was a cutting in a tiny pot and got planted in builder's rubble. Apparently they like it mean and hot so I was lucky, but make sure you have the space, this was last year, after its flowered this year, is getting hacked back width wise if not height.

 The second was bought for the back garden as ground cover but its hardly turned out to be so. It's topping my five foot fencing and is just as wide. The labels must have been confused because I had to remove a Rosemary and sage bush last year and this year it will also get hacked back after flowering. (I would post a picture but its telling me my file is too large)

Suffice to say, Ceanothus are not supposed to bounce back from hard pruning, but both mine are sprouting from very low wood so I don't think there is a problem.

I would recommend that you check your cultivar for proper care/placement

 This was 2010

 2011...

 And very early this year. It's going to get a trim after flowering!