On 09/11/2013 11:35, David Hill wrote:
On 09/11/2013 10:30, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 08/11/2013 11:22, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
On Fri, 8 Nov 2013 10:41:43 -0000, Janet wrote:

Espaliers are not low maintenance and kiwi is not self-clinging to a
flat wall.

We are still thinking about it. As we are disabled we would need to
get some help initially but once in place what does it need apart from
pruning?

"Apart from pruning"! If it gets going, that's a major task - and,
while it bleeds if pruned at most times of year, you often can't
tolerate a year's growth before hacking it back.

Something that might do well is Campsis. That grows like ivy, with
flowers at the top where it leaves the support. It is deciduous,
but the flowers are spectacular in July/August. And, for such a
use, it should be low-maintenance.

Campsis can be very invasive after several years once it has established
itself. It can spring up several metres from its planting point (just
search the internet on "Campsis" and "invasive" if you doubt me on this.
Read some of the negative comments he
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/644/. I speak from experience. I
spent several years trying to kill it with glyphosate and it still kept
coming up). I do not know if it is invasive everywhere it grows, but I
will /never/ plant it in the ground again.

It might help to know where you are Jeff.
I had campsis growing outside here in South Wales but it struggled and
the first bad (For us) winter finished it off

It was in Horsham on Wealden clay. The plant was Campsis. × tagliabuana.

For the first 5 years it grew and flowered well. Then I noticed two or
three suckers coming up a couple of dozen cm from the single main shoot.
I pulled them out. Then more started appearing up to a metre away.
I pulled all of these up. The next year shoots appeared 3 or 4 metres
away, even getting under the greenhouse foundations. By this time the
main shoot was about 4 cm in diameter. I cut it off about 30 cm above
soil level, after spraying as much of the plant as I could with
glyphosate. Every time a sucker appeared I sprayed it. I also drilled
several 5 mm holes about 5 cm deep in the stump and filled them with
glyphosate concentrate. This slowed it down and a couple of years went
by with no more shoots. I thought I had finally killed it, but in
spring last year a couple of shoots appeared. I again sprayed these.

We moved in September. The new owner had in any case decided to dig up
most of the garden (including the bit with the campsis) and replace it
with lawn. I have no idea if it reappeared this year or not.

I cannot understand how the RHS can come up with an information page on
Campsis without even mentioning that there are reports it can be
invasive (http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/...e.aspx?pid=328)

--

Jeff