[David Bracey]

Has anyone seen a better Hardenbergia growing outdoors.?  This pic was taken in Montreux by the lake,

[Fleur Pavlidis]

Wrong picture, David.

[Daisy]

I planted a Hardenbergia violacea last spring. I gave it both vertical and horizontal wires for training it on.
It was too quick for me
In spite of my initial training, it shot up to the top of the wall and is about to grow over into my neighbours garden.
At the moment, it is full of buds.
When it has finished flowering, can I cut it hard back?
Will it sulk?
The bottom is already mainly bare brown stems.
Daisy

[Fermi]

Daisy,
it might sulk but it's more likely to re-sprout and repeat the performance unless you keep it trimmed back and train it horizontally, I think. It's known for going straight to the top and forming a "bird's nest" with bare stems below!
It grows much better in the wild where it just scrambles over the ground and small shrubs.
cheers
fermi

[Alisdair]

Really helpful advice, Fermi: thanks!

[Fermi]

A few pics of Hardenbergia violacea growing on the roadside
near the town where I work taken in spring a couple of years ago.
cheers
fermi

[Alisdair]

Lovely - the first picture gives a very good idea of where I'd like to try it in our own Greek garden, as a sprawler among shrubs on an untidy bank rather than as a climber.

[Daisy]

Thanks Fermi, I will cut it back after flowering. The first buds are just opening now.
Do you think I can cut into the brown bare stems at the bottom, or should I just trim it back to green wood?

I love your photos, that does look a better way to grow it.
I just wish it would flower for longer.
Daisy

[Trevor Australis]

Down to the brown. No worries.

tn

[Daisy]

Thanks Trevor.
Daisy

[Trevor Australis]

there is another sp. which is far more bushy. it has broader leaves and a wider range of colours - mauve-pink, white and several shades of lavender-purple. I'll have to see if I can locate the name. tn

[Alisdair]

The Australian wildflower book that I couldn't resist buying when we were out there shows Hardenbergia comptoniana, which certainly does look/sound bushier, with less tough stems (and more of them), and trifoliate leaves. Is that the one you had in mind, Trevor? The book called it "Wild Sarsaparilla", as opposed to "Purple Coral Pea", the name they give to H. violacea.

[Trevor Australis]

  Yes, Alisdair Hardenbergia comptoniana was the species I couldn't recall. It makes a sprawling shrub, rather open but good when massed as ground cover. tn

[David Feix]

One of the better forms of Hardenbergia violaceae I've seen here in northern California is the cultivar 'Canoelands'.  The flowers are significantly larger, and the plant also has a much longer bloom season, often extending into June after starting in January/February as per the more common cultivar 'Happy Wanderer'.  It is the nature of the species to develop bare legs and concentrate growth at the top of the vine, and I'd be cautious about pruning this too severely.  In my experience with the vine here in California, it doesn't always respond well to cutting it back completely. Also, H. comptoniana seems just as prone to be a vine here in California as does H. violaceae, but maybe that is just because that is how people use it here.

[Alevin]

Well, we pruned a white flowered monster one really hard after flowering, into the wood, and it came back with twice as much strength. It is almost impossible to keep it in check.