Hi all,

I went plant shopping with a mission in mind.

We have a poorly designed corner of our small WA courtyard which is a union of 4 different building materials (brick, block limestone, corrugated hardyfence and that new tin fencing stuff. All but the corrugated hardyfence is faux limestone in colour which is one saving grace. One wall faces north the other east, with a small notherly aspect. The soil in the planters is a narrow 15cm wide, 2m long by a couple of feet deep.

So we purchased four pots of Jasminum multipartum as a screen climber and we hope to erect a trellis made of three coppers logs (one for each end and one for the corner) and stainless steel or equivalent wire. The detail on the plant label indicates that it will climb (?) to 1.5m, which is ideal for us.

So the questions are:

Have I bought the right plant?

If so, how far apart should I place the horizontal wires for the plant to successfully suspend itself from the trellis. I hope to not have to put in any verticals. I can use soft tape for holding the tendrils in place until they find their own.

Thanks for your assistance.

I’d be looking at maybe placing your first wire at say 20cm above ground height and then measuring to the top of the pole (or where you think the top wire should go) and evenly dividing the space into spacings which looks neat and tidy with the forms you already have in place.

If I in Townsville were to say to you place the wire at 25cm intervals, and it looks totally naff, then it ain’t my biggest concern. But if you place a start and finish wire, you may find there is a reason to have even spaces at say 30cms…

But I’d be looking at around the 25 to 30 cms…

Thanks for the tips, painmaster.

After my post on the forum I have done a bit more searching and found that J. Multipartum is a rambler bush rather than a climber and could not be trained up a trellis. I took them back to the huge hardware store that I got them from for exchange in order to look for small varieties that only climb up to say the 3m mark. The two varieties they have climb to 6m, far beyond what I need.

There is not much DIY stuff I could find on the web for successful trellis building but your plan does look sound enough and will be the one I utilise.

Now to find a Jasmine or perhaps Clematis that will only grow to a few meters!

Any species or sources in WA would be appreciated.

at the end of the day, a trellised (is this a word?) creeper, will only grow as high as your garden shears, but beware, with all creepers, you will find the big expansive healthy growth will be at the top of the trellis… you may find yourself with some stalky lower growth as the main desire for a creeper is to reach for the sun…

Unless your trellis leans back into the wall, ie, the top of the trellis is against the wall, and the base is a little way out. This may give a bit more sunlight to the base of your trellis and give an excuse for some of the leaves and flowers to remain there… Unless you get a weeping habit creepwe, which would rather cascade as oppose to climb??? Pyrostegia anyone? Strongylodon anyone?

pain master said:

at the end of the day, a trellised (is this a word?) creeper, will only grow as high as your garden shears, but beware, with all creepers, you will find the big expansive healthy growth will be at the top of the trellis… you may find yourself with some stalky lower growth as the main desire for a creeper is to reach for the sun…

Unless your trellis leans back into the wall, ie, the top of the trellis is against the wall, and the base is a little way out. This may give a bit more sunlight to the base of your trellis and give an excuse for some of the leaves and flowers to remain there… Unless you get a weeping habit creepwe, which would rather cascade as oppose to climb??? Pyrostegia anyone? Strongylodon anyone?

How I would love to grow Strongylodon. I’ve seen a beauty and it takes your breath away.

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Fabaceae/Strongylodon_macrobotrys.html

Looks like an escape artist to me, she who is forever uprooting little rubber vine seedlings…the flowers smell divine and in my yard they are probably doing no harm, but I suspect that birds might spread the seed and I have seen photos of the damage done by rubbervines…

Tell me I’m wrong PM…

The only climbers I like at the moment are bouganvilleas, as they don’t escape…

Dinetta said:

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Fabaceae/Strongylodon_macrobotrys.html

Looks like an escape artist to me, she who is forever uprooting little rubber vine seedlings…the flowers smell divine and in my yard they are probably doing no harm, but I suspect that birds might spread the seed and I have seen photos of the damage done by rubbervines…

Tell me I’m wrong PM…

The only climbers I like at the moment are bouganvilleas, as they don’t escape…

These pics are much better Dinetta. It truly looks the same as shown here.

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://toptropicals.com/pics/garden/m1/raznozvet2/Strongylodon2005MarkSuze.jpg&imgrefurl=http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Strongylodon_macrobotrys.htm&usg=__wueOVGiDtwOQrwXqw9uS32vuu7Q=&h=489&w=648&sz=122&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=tx0CTZ3Hw0vq3M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3DStrongylodon%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

That’s some h u g e link.

Imagine my horror in late 2008 when I walked into the Port Moresby Botanical Gardens and had a chat and a walk through with one of the gardeners and we inspected their nursery to find everything brown and dieing! Eda Ranu (PNG Waterboard) had decided to cut off the water supply to the Botanic Garden because of a PGK1,000,000.00 excess bill!!!!!!!!!

Holy bed sheets!!!!

My quest at the time was to see if I could score some Strongylodon cuttings for a pet project of mine… the Strongy was dieing due to the lack of water and it was also the end of the dry season. An elderly man who had raised the Strongy from a cutting himself, some 30 years previously had tears in his eyes as he showed me his dieing plant. This wise old Papuan gardener almost looked as if he too would expire along with the plant. We found a dormant section of the plant which still had some life and he allowed me to take the cuttings, he wished me good luck and we said farewell.

Despite my best effort, my cuttings never struck but the wet season did come, and I am now left wondering, did the wet season revive the Strongy at the gardens and in turn, revive the old gardener or have they both succumbed like cuttings did… I wasn’t game to go back :(

pain master said:

Imagine my horror in late 2008 when I walked into the Port Moresby Botanical Gardens and had a chat and a walk through with one of the gardeners and we inspected their nursery to find everything brown and dieing! Eda Ranu (PNG Waterboard) had decided to cut off the water supply to the Botanic Garden because of a PGK1,000,000.00 excess bill!!!!!!!!!

Holy bed sheets!!!!

My quest at the time was to see if I could score some Strongylodon cuttings for a pet project of mine… the Strongy was dieing due to the lack of water and it was also the end of the dry season. An elderly man who had raised the Strongy from a cutting himself, some 30 years previously had tears in his eyes as he showed me his dieing plant. This wise old Papuan gardener almost looked as if he too would expire along with the plant. We found a dormant section of the plant which still had some life and he allowed me to take the cuttings, he wished me good luck and we said farewell.

Despite my best effort, my cuttings never struck but the wet season did come, and I am now left wondering, did the wet season revive the Strongy at the gardens and in turn, revive the old gardener or have they both succumbed like cuttings did… I wasn’t game to go back :(

That’s a bit sad.

pomolo said:

pain master said:

Imagine my horror in late 2008 when I walked into the Port Moresby Botanical Gardens and had a chat and a walk through with one of the gardeners and we inspected their nursery to find everything brown and dieing! Eda Ranu (PNG Waterboard) had decided to cut off the water supply to the Botanic Garden because of a PGK1,000,000.00 excess bill!!!!!!!!!

Holy bed sheets!!!!

My quest at the time was to see if I could score some Strongylodon cuttings for a pet project of mine… the Strongy was dieing due to the lack of water and it was also the end of the dry season. An elderly man who had raised the Strongy from a cutting himself, some 30 years previously had tears in his eyes as he showed me his dieing plant. This wise old Papuan gardener almost looked as if he too would expire along with the plant. We found a dormant section of the plant which still had some life and he allowed me to take the cuttings, he wished me good luck and we said farewell.

Despite my best effort, my cuttings never struck but the wet season did come, and I am now left wondering, did the wet season revive the Strongy at the gardens and in turn, revive the old gardener or have they both succumbed like cuttings did… I wasn’t game to go back :(

That’s a bit sad.

If you are staying in T’ville, try to grow it again..I would be intereasted to know how you go.

pomolo said:

pomolo said:

pain master said:

Imagine my horror in late 2008 when I walked into the Port Moresby Botanical Gardens and had a chat and a walk through with one of the gardeners and we inspected their nursery to find everything brown and dieing! Eda Ranu (PNG Waterboard) had decided to cut off the water supply to the Botanic Garden because of a PGK1,000,000.00 excess bill!!!!!!!!!

Holy bed sheets!!!!

My quest at the time was to see if I could score some Strongylodon cuttings for a pet project of mine… the Strongy was dieing due to the lack of water and it was also the end of the dry season. An elderly man who had raised the Strongy from a cutting himself, some 30 years previously had tears in his eyes as he showed me his dieing plant. This wise old Papuan gardener almost looked as if he too would expire along with the plant. We found a dormant section of the plant which still had some life and he allowed me to take the cuttings, he wished me good luck and we said farewell.

Despite my best effort, my cuttings never struck but the wet season did come, and I am now left wondering, did the wet season revive the Strongy at the gardens and in turn, revive the old gardener or have they both succumbed like cuttings did… I wasn’t game to go back :(

That’s a bit sad.

If you are staying in T’ville, try to grow it again..I would be intereasted to know how you go.

Hmmm, I might. I did have one creeper in Moresby that grew fantastically and cascaded with mauve flowers down to ground level. I don’t know its name but I should have a photo somewhere…

For dinetta0, I think your region is too dry for Strongylodon to escape as a weed, you will need to keep it well watered and mulched out there…

pain master said:

pomolo said:

pomolo said:

That’s a bit sad.

If you are staying in T’ville, try to grow it again..I would be intereasted to know how you go.

Hmmm, I might. I did have one creeper in Moresby that grew fantastically and cascaded with mauve flowers down to ground level. I don’t know its name but I should have a photo somewhere…

For dinetta0, I think your region is too dry for Strongylodon to escape as a weed, you will need to keep it well watered and mulched out there…

How come you don’t know it’s name? Was it unidentifable? I would certainly like to see a pic please.

Do any creepers grow smaller than the one identified here? Seems nearly all the ones I have researched eventually grow to HUGE proportions.

Would be marvellous if some were cultivated to grow to a smaller sizer for modern gardens.

Has anyone had any luck with Hardenbergia species?

hardenbergia is very hardy, but can look a bit scrappy in summer. in its prime now with flowers out. it will grow as high as you give it support, then flop over. Will get bare underneath.

>a PGK1,000,000.00 excess bill!!!!!!!!!

That’s a lota green bananas!

Why don’t you grow the “Orange Trumpet Creeper—it stays green all year and is in full bloom mid winter—an looks wonderful

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jen_in_brisbane/3626784085/

Here is a pic—I have it here and it has given me lots of privacey—great vine

Grasshopper said:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jen_in_brisbane/3626784085/

Here is a pic—I have it here and it has given me lots of privacey—great vine

If it’s what I think it is, it’s as tough as old boots…almost…and our neighbour grew it on her western side for afternoon shade under her house…

pomolo said:

pain master said:

Imagine my horror in late 2008 when I walked into the Port Moresby Botanical Gardens and had a chat and a walk through with one of the gardeners and we inspected their nursery to find everything brown and dieing! Eda Ranu (PNG Waterboard) had decided to cut off the water supply to the Botanic Garden because of a PGK1,000,000.00 excess bill!!!!!!!!!

Holy bed sheets!!!!

My quest at the time was to see if I could score some Strongylodon cuttings for a pet project of mine… the Strongy was dieing due to the lack of water and it was also the end of the dry season. An elderly man who had raised the Strongy from a cutting himself, some 30 years previously had tears in his eyes as he showed me his dieing plant. This wise old Papuan gardener almost looked as if he too would expire along with the plant. We found a dormant section of the plant which still had some life and he allowed me to take the cuttings, he wished me good luck and we said farewell.

Despite my best effort, my cuttings never struck but the wet season did come, and I am now left wondering, did the wet season revive the Strongy at the gardens and in turn, revive the old gardener or have they both succumbed like cuttings did… I wasn’t game to go back :(

That’s a bit sad.

It’s very sad…I can’t get my head around “drought-like” conditions in PNG tho’, warranting excess water usuage???

Yes it is very tough—has to be in my garden—lol—-but a great vine—jusy have to make sure it doesn’t roar up all the trees—but I find that is easy to control

Grasshopper said:

Yes it is very tough—has to be in my garden—lol—-but a great vine—jusy have to make sure it doesn’t roar up all the trees—but I find that is easy to control

She had it growing across a pergola, it started on the eastern side, went across the top and dropped over the western side…looks weren’t really a consideration in that they just looked at the foliage and flowers and didn’t notice the vine stems itself…

As you say, there wasn’t much to do to control it…it wasn’t fed much I can assure you! LOL

And it really is a sight to see at thsi time of the year—

These pics are much better Dinetta. It truly looks the same as shown here.
—-
amazing – looks more like scifi than a real plant. what a weird colour for nature.
lovely – don’t show my wife – she’ll want one.

pomolo said:

pain master said:

Hmmm, I might. I did have one creeper in Moresby that grew fantastically and cascaded with mauve flowers down to ground level. I don’t know its name but I should have a photo somewhere…

How come you don’t know it’s name? Was it unidentifable? I would certainly like to see a pic please.

Lazy I guess… only so much time and so many plants to identify…

enduro said:

Do any creepers grow smaller than the one identified here? Seems nearly all the ones I have researched eventually grow to HUGE proportions.

Would be marvellous if some were cultivated to grow to a smaller sizer for modern gardens.

Has anyone had any luck with Hardenbergia species?

enduro, you sound like you want a hedge? There are some bushy Hardenbergias that if you selectively pruned and trained you could teach them to be a short arsed climber????

colliewa said:

>a PGK1,000,000.00 excess bill!!!!!!!!!

That’s a lota green bananas!

indeed… hmmm, maybe the staff were exploiting the lack of water at their settlement and the apparent never ending supply coming out of the rubber hose at work??? Maybe.

Or maybe the bosses just weren’t paying the bills? After filthing the budget themselves?

You can’t blame ‘em really….

Grasshopper said:

Why don’t you grow the “Orange Trumpet Creeper—it stays green all year and is in full bloom mid winter—an looks wonderful

Is this Pyrostegia?

Dinetta said:

It’s very sad…I can’t get my head around “drought-like” conditions in PNG tho’, warranting excess water usuage???

picture this… Brownsvillians are proud to say that winter lasts one weekend of the year and 6 months later, the wet season hits for one weekend dumping all of their 1200mms on average…. Well Moresby gets only 1000mms and it normally takes less than a weekend….

The dry season in Moresby lasts 363 days of the year.

pain master said:

Grasshopper said:

Why don’t you grow the “Orange Trumpet Creeper—it stays green all year and is in full bloom mid winter—an looks wonderful

Is this Pyrostegia?

—

Yes it is

pain master said:

pomolo said:

pain master said:

Hmmm, I might. I did have one creeper in Moresby that grew fantastically and cascaded with mauve flowers down to ground level. I don’t know its name but I should have a photo somewhere…

How come you don’t know it’s name? Was it unidentifable? I would certainly like to see a pic please.

Lazy I guess… only so much time and so many plants to identify…

You can always put the pictures up on here and let us ID them. You used to do that once. Mostly you knew the answer but they were good brain teasers.

pain master said:

Dinetta said:

It’s very sad…I can’t get my head around “drought-like” conditions in PNG tho’, warranting excess water usuage???

picture this… Brownsvillians are proud to say that winter lasts one weekend of the year and 6 months later, the wet season hits for one weekend dumping all of their 1200mms on average…. Well Moresby gets only 1000mms and it normally takes less than a weekend….

The dry season in Moresby lasts 363 days of the year.

Woah!!

There goes my green green jungles all over PNG theory!

Dinetta said:

pain master said:

Dinetta said:

It’s very sad…I can’t get my head around “drought-like” conditions in PNG tho’, warranting excess water usuage???

picture this… Brownsvillians are proud to say that winter lasts one weekend of the year and 6 months later, the wet season hits for one weekend dumping all of their 1200mms on average…. Well Moresby gets only 1000mms and it normally takes less than a weekend….

The dry season in Moresby lasts 363 days of the year.

Woah!!

There goes my green green jungles all over PNG theory!

But, 5 minutes out of town and the rainfall rockets… places like Kerema and up in the Gulf (see Longy) can average 8 metres of rainfall a year. The city of Lae averages 4 yet it acts like it is in a rain shadow. Rabaul scores 2.5 metres a year and the locals want more… Mine sites like Tabubil get 4 – 6 metres. There is some serious wet areas, just that they stuck the capital in a rain shadow.

pain master said:

Dinetta said:

pain master said:

picture this… Brownsvillians are proud to say that winter lasts one weekend of the year and 6 months later, the wet season hits for one weekend dumping all of their 1200mms on average…. Well Moresby gets only 1000mms and it normally takes less than a weekend….

The dry season in Moresby lasts 363 days of the year.

Woah!!

There goes my green green jungles all over PNG theory!

But, 5 minutes out of town and the rainfall rockets… places like Kerema and up in the Gulf (see Longy) can average 8 metres of rainfall a year. The city of Lae averages 4 yet it acts like it is in a rain shadow. Rabaul scores 2.5 metres a year and the locals want more… Mine sites like Tabubil get 4 – 6 metres. There is some serious wet areas, just that they stuck the capital in a rain shadow.

Here’s the conundrum: if there’s so much fresh water available, even if it doesn’t fall gratis on the botanical gardens what’s the issue with providing it to an essential public facility such as the national botanic gardens?

OK, OK, it’s political, but I do think it is a crying shame…

Dinetta said:

Here’s the conundrum: if there’s so much fresh water available, even if it doesn’t fall gratis on the botanical gardens what’s the issue with providing it to an essential public facility such as the national botanic gardens?

OK, OK, it’s political, but I do think it is a crying shame…

Hmmm, the jealous nature of Melanesians… Why is that person getting free water just because they are championing the cause of horticulture, yet I want to grow lettuces? Or actually more in reality, Why is that person getting free water when I am not.

WHERE’S MY FREE WATER with WAGES!?