In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article m,
Tiger303 writes:
| i've recently bought some mature climbers and wondered if anybody can
| recommend a good book with advice on planting, feeding, training etc
| etc etc. all the info needed to keep the plants growing, flowering, and
| generally looking their best
|
| if you're interested i've bought:
|
| lonicera X tellmanniana & lonicera henryi
| hydrangea anomola petiolaris
| jasminum off. argenteovariegatum
|
| due to having paving near both sides of the house the jasmin &
| hydrangea are going to have to be planted in very big pots

L. x tellmanniana is lovely, but is a martyr to greenfly when
not in full sun. Don't ask me why, but they are bad enough
to stop its flowers opening. Note that it does NOT shoot from
very old wood or the base, unlike the common L. japonica.

L. henryi has rather dull flowers, but is pleasantly evergreen.

All of those should be happy with winter pruning (and when needed
to avoid being strangled), and not too fussy generally, though I
have not grown the hydrangea or that variety of jasmine.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I have hydrangea anomola petiolaris growing happily in my garden. It
was in the front garden (south facing) when I moved here, but the plant
looked very unhappy. They don't like much direct sunshine. I dug it up
(it was only a year or so old) and moved it to the back of the house
(north facing) and it has never looked back. It is self clinging, like
ivy. Has wonderful white flowers once established. Mine didn't
flower for a couple of years, but now it does regularly and I have to
make sure it doesn't get clinging onto the drainpipe - its becoming a
thug.
--
Chris Boulby National Collection of Diascias