Fragrant Climbing Plant Collection

Planting Advice for your Fragrant Climber Collection:

• Unpack plugs immediately and stand them in water for an hour.
• If you can’t do this, they can sit in their mini greenhouse for a week if upright and not too wet.
• Plugs may be slightly dry or yellow after being in a dark box in the post, but they’ll quickly recover.
• Put them somewhere warm, light and airy such as a windowsill or greenhouse.
• When potting on, handle plugs carefully. Pot on using our 9cm pots in Shuttle Trays, using good multi-purpose compost.
• Give your plants a good water initially, then only when the top compost starts to dry. They don’t like to be left in standing water.
• Plant approx. 20cm (8in) apart to allow them room to grow.
• Feed using a high-potash feed such as Blooming Fast Superior Soluble Fertiliser for Flowers & Fruits, to encourage flowering.
• Deadhead when flowers fade to encourage more flowers.

Aftercare Advice for Climbers:

• Honeysuckles and jasmines can be grown in containers but grow much better in the garden in well-drained, humus-rich soil.
• Honeysuckles are self-clinging but require a helping hand when young. Use galvanised wires and lead the plant to these by guiding stems with a bamboo cane.
• Water plants in well and feed with a general-purpose fertiliser in spring.

Pruning Advice:

• Climbers do not require formative pruning as they flower on the current season’s growth, but you can cut them back in spring if they have outgrown their space.
• In subsequent years (again in early spring), thin out congested stems, and prune lanky, older stems back to healthy buds.
• Every few years, you may want to renovate your plant, and you can do this by cutting it back to around 60cm above the ground.
• Once new growth has started, it can be thinned and tied back in. After pruning, apply a generous 5-7cm (2-3in) mulch of well-rotted compost or manure around the base of the plant.