From what I read in my motley collection of gardening books, now is
not the time to be cutting this plant back but can anyone tell me what
I risk if I do so?
I'd like to cut it back quite close to the wall since it's now
billowing out well above plants beneath it that are consequently being
starved of light. I gather that a radical pruning like this will mean
waiting a couple of years for flowers but since this job will have to
be done, I'd like to start it ASAP and wondered if I could take
advantage of a head start with some summer growth. Most of the leafy
growth (I've recently trimmed off the dying flower heads) is on stems
that protrude about 18" to 2 feet from the wall, so my planned
pruning will leave the wall with just the clipped stems showing. Could
I do it now or in autumn or is winter the best?
How close to the wall can/should I cut?

thanks for any input..

fumbler wrote in message
...
From what I read in my motley collection of gardening books, now is
not the time to be cutting this plant back but can anyone tell me what
I risk if I do so?
I'd like to cut it back quite close to the wall since it's now
billowing out well above plants beneath it that are consequently being
starved of light. I gather that a radical pruning like this will mean
waiting a couple of years for flowers but since this job will have to
be done, I'd like to start it ASAP and wondered if I could take
advantage of a head start with some summer growth. Most of the leafy
growth (I've recently trimmed off the dying flower heads) is on stems
that protrude about 18" to 2 feet from the wall, so my planned
pruning will leave the wall with just the clipped stems showing. Could
I do it now or in autumn or is winter the best?
How close to the wall can/should I cut?

thanks for any input..

I would do it now, but it will of coarse come back as that's how it flowers.
I must have a go at mine as the recent gales have ripped it off the wall and
its hanging in an unsightly way!

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:35:40 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:

I would do it now, but it will of coarse come back as that's how it flowers.
I must have a go at mine as the recent gales have ripped it off the wall and
its hanging in an unsightly way!

Thanks for replying. So, it's ok to do this quite brutally, leaving
just a brown skeleton with short stems? I'd like to cut back well
behind the existing new buds in the hope that fresh buds will appear
on the truncated stems. I don't know if that's a vain hope or not.

(is there a technical or gardener's term for this growth phenomenon?
It'll be obvious that I'm a newcomer to this but I've noticed that
many plants are very fussy about where they're trimmed back to -
lavenders for example, and I've got a ceanothus that looks as though
it has no choice but to become leggy. OTOH a viburnum I've just
posted about appears to be happy to be pruned anywhere and will always
obligingly sprout new growth at whatever the point of the cut. Is
this the case with the H.petiolaris?)

On Jul 10, 5:56 am, fumbler wrote:
From what I read in my motley collection of gardening books, now is
not the time to be cutting this plant back but can anyone tell me what
I risk if I do so?

Not so many flowers (or none) next year. Most plants will tolerate
being cut back after flowering, but you may well compromise next years
display if you cut out too much of this years growth in one go.

Mine has always been self stick to the wall - until gales a couple of
weeks ripped it off and snapped a 6' chunk off the top. It now has a
couple of rawlplugs and wires in the wall to climb up. I usually trim
mine after flowering despite what the books say - if I didn't the path
would be overgrown.

I'd like to cut it back quite close to the wall since it's now
billowing out well above plants beneath it that are consequently being
starved of light. I gather that a radical pruning like this will mean
waiting a couple of years for flowers but since this job will have to
be done, I'd like to start it ASAP and wondered if I could take
advantage of a head start with some summer growth. Most of the leafy
growth (I've recently trimmed off the dying flower heads) is on stems
that protrude about 18" to 2 feet from the wall, so my planned
pruning will leave the wall with just the clipped stems showing. Could
I do it now or in autumn or is winter the best?

I would do some now and initially take out the worst offending
stragglers and trying to leave as much new growth as possible whilst
minimising how far out from the wall it sticks out. Mine encrouches
onto a path so I have to trim it from time to time to keep the path
useable. You can see the branch skeleton better in winter.

How close to the wall can/should I cut?

How big is the plant? An established one would be pretty difficult to
kill no matter what you do, but a small plant denuded of all its new
growth might well be seriously unhappy. I'd leave 10-12" of growth on
everywhere and a bit more where there is room. It will look odd if
clipped hard rectangular ike a hedge,

Regards,
Martin Brown

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:17:15 -0700, Martin Brown
wrote:

On Jul 10, 5:56 am, fumbler wrote:
From what I read in my motley collection of gardening books, now is
not the time to be cutting this plant back but can anyone tell me what
I risk if I do so?

Not so many flowers (or none) next year. Most plants will tolerate
being cut back after flowering, but you may well compromise next years
display if you cut out too much of this years growth in one go.

Mine has always been self stick to the wall - until gales a couple of
weeks ripped it off and snapped a 6' chunk off the top. It now has a
couple of rawlplugs and wires in the wall to climb up. I usually trim
mine after flowering despite what the books say - if I didn't the path
would be overgrown.

I'd like to cut it back quite close to the wall since it's now
billowing out well above plants beneath it that are consequently being
starved of light. I gather that a radical pruning like this will mean
waiting a couple of years for flowers but since this job will have to
be done, I'd like to start it ASAP and wondered if I could take
advantage of a head start with some summer growth. Most of the leafy
growth (I've recently trimmed off the dying flower heads) is on stems
that protrude about 18" to 2 feet from the wall, so my planned
pruning will leave the wall with just the clipped stems showing. Could
I do it now or in autumn or is winter the best?

I would do some now and initially take out the worst offending
stragglers and trying to leave as much new growth as possible whilst
minimising how far out from the wall it sticks out. Mine encrouches
onto a path so I have to trim it from time to time to keep the path
useable. You can see the branch skeleton better in winter.

How close to the wall can/should I cut?

How big is the plant? An established one would be pretty difficult to
kill no matter what you do, but a small plant denuded of all its new
growth might well be seriously unhappy. I'd leave 10-12" of growth on
everywhere and a bit more where there is room. It will look odd if
clipped hard rectangular ike a hedge,

Regards,
Martin Brown

Many thanks for your post. I took the plunge and an element of common
sense took over. I've trimmed back the shoots with new leaves to an
earlier knuckle just after a bud or a pair of buds leaving an average
of at least 12" i'd say. There are quite a few stout branches which
have grown out of the main structure, branches between 2 and 4 cms
thick and with a trail of caterpillar-like 'stickers' expecting to
find a wall. As they're growing outwards, they'll not find a wall of
course. I've cut back one of these as an experiment - there are no
obvious cutting points. I think this is quite a mature plant, the
'trunk' at the base, a twist of intertwinings, is about 8" in diameter
but the whole deal has never been allowed to grow above the height of
the 9 foot wall which is co-owned (the plant runs no more than 15' in
length). There's something around chewing quite a few but no more than
10% of the leaves - I don't know if it's a pest that has met its own
nemesis and can therefore be left? Also, most of the google hits talk
about petiolaris as deciduous but I don't think this one lost its
leaves last year, or the year before come to that.

On Jul 9, 11:56 pm, fumbler wrote:
From what I read in my motley collection of gardening books, now is
not the time to be cutting this plant back but can anyone tell me what
I risk if I do so?
I'd like to cut it back quite close to the wall thanks for any input..

Since this plant blooms on laterals that extend outward, pruning close
to the supporting wall will prevent flowering. Leave it alone.

fumbler wrote in message
...
On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:17:15 -0700, Martin Brown
wrote:

Also, most of the google hits talk
about petiolaris as deciduous but I don't think this one lost its
leaves last year, or the year before come to that.
If its evergreen its not petiolaris, there are several evergreen climbing
Hydrangeas, seemannii, and serratifolia are the ones most frequently seen.
they tend to form their flowers in large duck egg sized buds rather than
just forming tiny replicas of the finished flowers.
Doesn't really matter pruning after flowering seldom does any real harm.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea

On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:52:07 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:


fumbler wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:17:15 -0700, Martin Brown
wrote:

Also, most of the google hits talk
about petiolaris as deciduous but I don't think this one lost its
leaves last year, or the year before come to that.
If its evergreen its not petiolaris, there are several evergreen climbing
Hydrangeas, seemannii, and serratifolia are the ones most frequently seen.
they tend to form their flowers in large duck egg sized buds rather than
just forming tiny replicas of the finished flowers.
Doesn't really matter pruning after flowering seldom does any real harm.

The flowering has been quite poor, dullish greeny white and so
unstriking I didn't concentrate on the flower pattern, in passing it
reminded me a bit of the form of the lacecap. But looking on google's
images I see your two named varieties both have serrated leaves as
does mine. Interesting - thanks for naming it for me! The plant came
with the house and it's previous owner - a keen gardener - had listed
it as petiolaris. Duh.