On 18/06/2016 19:50, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 18 Jun 2016 18:57:10 +0100, Janet wrote:

In article ,
says...

I have the evergreen grandiflora and quite regularly take a pruning saw
to it, these you can treat as a hedge, not sure about the deciduous
sorts but I can see why it would be different


Do you grow grandiflora against a wall, or could I get away with it
in a sunny sheltered spot?

Janet (Arran)

There was a thread on that same topic some years ago, here
http://tinyurl.com/gper827 Scroll up to the top to get the full
thread. The general consensus seems to be that they will 'do' but not
very well. Bearing in mind they're from the Southern States in the
USA, where they get lots of hot weather in the summer, and although
they're semi-woodland trees, the strength of the light will be much
greater there than in the UK, and Arran in particular, so full sun
would probably be ok. But won't the leaves get shredded in the winter
gales? They're quite large and very vulnerable I would think.

AIUI most M. grandifloras down here in Cornwall are grown against a
wall. The NT property at Lanhydrock has a couple of ancient ones
covering the wall on the RHS in this picture.
http://tinyurl.com/zgqybrx

There was a great M.grandiflora against a 4 story house in Cathedral Rd
in Cardiff, It was felled when the place was redeveloped leaving a stump
about 18 inches across which they caped with a sheet of lead.
a year later a shoot started growing from the stump, after around 3
years it was up to around 10 ft, I don't know if it has been left to
grow, but shows they can be pruned Hard.
David @ a calm and rain free side of Swansea Bay