On 18/11/05 16:07, in article ,
"Janet Baraclough" wrote:

The message
from Ian Keeling contains these words:

jay jay wrote:
Hi. I'm worried about my potatoe vine (the one with the beautiful pale
blue flowers). Temperatures have just gone down to minus 2 overnight
here in the Dordogne and last year during worse conditions it only just
survived (with fleece) and this summer conditions have been very hot and
dry. Through all that its grown and flowered quite well, but has become
very leggy, with no new growth at the foot of the plant. It's three
years old. I'm intending to prune it in Spring after the cold weather.
My question is, how far back can I prune it? Looking forward to any
help. jay jay


My pruning book says of Solanum crispum (also of S. jasminoides):

"Plants do not respond well to severe pruning and renovation should be
spread over two or three years. Remove one old stem at its base each
year, training the strongest of the new stems as a replacement. Very old
specimens are best replaced." (RHS Pruning and Training - Brickell and
Joyce)

Also, regular light maintenance pruning may encourage it to produce
shoots from lower down.

I had always thought it was rather temperamental and had to be
allowed to ramp away, until two years ago when I saw one grown as a
dense mound in a large outdoor pot, with no support except itself,
tightly pruned, and covered in flowers. I've started one of my own,
cutting it back hard so instead of a climber, so it remains a (fairly)
well behaved potted shrub. It flowered almost continually all last
summer (and is outside right now, despite -2 C last night). It will lose
the leaves in this cold.

I had one that was a complete thug and had to be hacked back on a very
frequent basis. Admittedly that was in a walled garden in Jersey so
location and climate might have made it tough enough to withstand my regular
fights with it.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)