GardenBanter.co.uk - Russian Vine (Polygonum baldschuanicum)

Russian Vine (Polygonum baldschuanicum)

Hussein M. wrote:

On Tue, 8 Apr 2003 11:52:20 +0100, (swroot)
wrote:

My armandii is in full flower now and glorious it is too. NW wall in
coastal East Anglia (brick which probably has a warming influence in
what at this time is the coldest area of the British Isles - N.
Scotland is degrees higher).

Mine is also in flower (west facing timber fence in East Anglia).
*Nothing* kills it, not even pruning to the ground in late summer when
the fence was replaced.

Really? To the ground?

The reason I ask is that mine, due to another's gung ho pruning has
somehow got itself to an approx 2.5 m of bare stalk (S bend) before
all the action and it never seems to send shoots from the bare stalk.
I have refrained giving it a "hard one" because somewhere I have been
given the impression that it wouldn't survive it.

Shall I try when it has finished flowering? Dýa think?

I doubt that knowing mine survived such drastic treatment is any
guarantee at all that yours will! Mine sent up new shoots from the
rootstock rather than budded from the bare stalk; FWIW the bare stalk(s)
develop regardless of gung ho pruning -- mine's already got 1m or more
of bare stalk at the base again. I'm not entirely certain C. armandii is
worth the bother in our relatively small garden; I may replace it with
clematis or soft fruit or something useful once the new rose next to it
becomes established.

The one thing I truly regret losing when we replaced the fence is the
climbing rose Alberic Barbier: evergreen, glossy leaves and a host of
tiny creamy flowers.

regards
sarah

--
"Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view,
is silence about truth." Aldous Huxley