Thanks fo any help!
Here is another view of the Montana
How Beautiful!!...Jeanne
Thank you, but can I trim it drastically or do I have to keep it this way? Thanks
As far as I understand you can prune it after it blooms to keep it in the shape you want it. I'm going to be watching the answers though because I will have a similar situation in my future if I don't watch out.
Montanas are pruned after they bloom...prune to fit how you want..just remember once you prune that certain vine it won't grow any longer...Jeanne
My problem, as yours, seems to be too many vines and how to prune them so I don't end up with dead wood. They are SO intertwined.
So, no hard pruning on that one, eh? Would it come back if one did so? I don't have one, I'm just curious. :)
If they truly are a mess and you have tons of dead vines you can prune down to about 2 feet above a healthy node...I've seen people take electric pruning sheers to them like you would to shape a hedge when they get too thick...Mine is 3 years old and not a problem yet...LOL...Jeanne
I guess I've always figured that when they got too big I'd prune them back by taking them back to about 8 feet and starting all over again. I hadn't thought of pruning shears though! I guess you could start there and if that didn't work you could cut it back. I'm feeling a little relieved as I have montanas crawling under my eaves on both sides of my house and had never seen one quite that big although I had heard that they get to be monsters.
Very pretty! I don't have any Montanas in my garden. They actually fall into pruning group 1, which is NO pruning, unless they get to monster size and then I was take the electric shears to it. I would prune it back AFTER it has finished blooming. Montanas only bloom once. It will grow back very rapidly next season.
Doss: If my Montana was crawling under the eaves on both sides of my house, I would cut that thing back! You don't want it pulling down your gutters. Just my 2 cents worth.
Out here we have to stay away from the eaves because of fire danger. Plants with irrigation, low growers, succulents, low fire danger, etc., are OK close to the house, but otherwise, we're supposed to stay 30 feet from the house. Makes it tricky. I'm not even sure about having my clematis where they are, so we have to watch how they grow carefully. We do have a tile roof, sprinklers, and stucco, which are pluses. I'm planning to put roses and clematis on our fences, though, which are waaaaay far from the house! :-) Honey...we need more irrigation pipe!
Shouldn't be a problem. My Montana has it's own support that can be taken down at a moments notice and won't bother the gutters etc. The support hangs down from the eaves and it doesn't touch the fascia board at all. I'll be cutting it way back periodically and letting it come back. I can't have it become a monster. Too much dead wood. If that doesn't work I'll get rid of it.