pruning climbers
 

I've inherited a garden full of old and rampant climbers. Mainly roses, what
looks like evergreen jasmine and clematis. Most of this is very overgrown
and all tangled together. In particular one patch of jasmine mainly consists
of dead looking huge, think stems which turn out to have green growth at teh
ends. The ends are, in general, not where I want the climber to be. What do
I do? If I just cut jasmine, clematis and roses back to the base will they
regrow? TIA,
Hayley

"H Ryder" wrote in message
...
I've inherited a garden full of old and rampant climbers. Mainly roses,
what
looks like evergreen jasmine and clematis. Most of this is very overgrown
and all tangled together. In particular one patch of jasmine mainly
consists
of dead looking huge, think stems which turn out to have green growth at
teh
ends. The ends are, in general, not where I want the climber to be. What
do
I do? If I just cut jasmine, clematis and roses back to the base will they
regrow? TIA,
Hayley


Yes, but..........

You might be better off being more selective :

- take the jasmine right back, it will regroup readily and doing this first
will let you see more clearly the others

- then, identify if you can the types of clematis you have, the have
different preferred pruning regimes, some need to be cut hard back each year
others trimmed, yet others left alone. All will regroup if cut right back
but you might miss flowering.

- that leaves you with the roses, again most will regroup if cut back hard
but better to see if you can salvage a basic framework. Cut out dead,
diseased, tangled, crossing or damaged wood and see what you have left. If
it makes sense use some as your new framework tying in as appropriate. Most
climbing roses prefer to have their stems bent down to the horizontal
(hormone drains to the lower edge and flowering growth breaks from the upper
side)

pk

In article ,
"p.k." writes:
| "H Ryder" wrote in message
| ...
| I've inherited a garden full of old and rampant climbers. Mainly roses,
| what
| looks like evergreen jasmine and clematis. Most of this is very overgrown
| and all tangled together. In particular one patch of jasmine mainly
| consists
| of dead looking huge, think stems which turn out to have green growth at
| teh
| ends. The ends are, in general, not where I want the climber to be. What
| do
| I do? If I just cut jasmine, clematis and roses back to the base will they
| regrow? TIA,
|
| Yes, but..........

Yes, but ....

| You might be better off being more selective :
|
| - take the jasmine right back, it will regroup readily and doing this first
| will let you see more clearly the others

J. nudiflorum certainly reshoots if cut right back, irrespective
of age, but I don't know if all do.

| - then, identify if you can the types of clematis you have, the have
| different preferred pruning regimes, some need to be cut hard back each year
| others trimmed, yet others left alone. All will regroup if cut right back
| but you might miss flowering.

Only SOME clematis will regrow. If they have multiple stems
(e.g. C. alpina), there is no problem. If they have a single one
(e.g. C. armandii), they may die if you do that. That is a good
general rule, incidentally, for deciding whether plants will
respond well to being cut back to ground level.


I agree with your general approach and would add that, if they are
seriously neglected, then they will either respond to cutting back
or are unsalvageable. For example, a really ancient and neglected
C. armandii may as well be grubbed and replaced, as there is nothing
you can do with it. So there is little to lose by cutting back
hard, though propagating them before doing so might be a good idea.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.