Hi Lulu, Yes and no. I think trailers are a little easier because one does not need to worry about symmetry and suckers. But, some trailers can get a little gangly and need to have the centers of their crowns pinched out occasionally to make them bushier. Whether one needs to do the latter usually depends on the trailer. Larry

Afternoon! Last summer, I got a piece of clematis that someone basically ripped out of the ground for me and threw into a pot. Amazingly, the thing lived. It's lucky, because I was too busy/lazy to trim its brown stem back over the winter, not understanding that new growth would come from that stem as well as from the base. At any rate, it's growing like crazy and I'm full of ideas as to where it can go. But I have no idea how big it will be because I don't know what kind it is. And I've never grown a clematis before, so I've got lots of questions. 1) I have it planted now at my foundation and I have a rather small trellis that I will use to encourage it up to the top of my porch. How do I get it from the ground up to the trellis, though? The trellis is perhaps 5 feet above where the plant is now. New growth is just laying on the ground. 2) Once it gets to the top of the trellis, can I use wire or line or something to train it along the top of my porch? And over my garage? Can it grow sideways wherever I want it to go? And I must admit I'm a bit afraid that it will try to get up under my roofing shingles or siding. Are they aggressive like that? 3) Lastly, how do I know what type this is? I have no idea when or if it should be pruned. Any pointers would be appreciated. I don't even know what color this thing is going to be! Karen

Interesting question, I'd never thought abt this before. Hum, well they mostly grow towards the light. But I just went inside & looked at them, & all but 2 grow towards the light (west window in my case). The exceptions are Obovata (whose new, bare vines seem to grow down, away from the light & window) & a no ID which may be Kentiana, which grows right next to the window & oddly, threw a vine in the opposite direction. Now that we're talking abt this, that does seem kind of odd, I wonder why ... Cool question Paul, thanks for asking it. Well, since we don't know what kind of Hoya it is, can you pls. describe its leaves &/or growth habit? It can't hurt to find something to train it on. Maybe that's why it's reaching out in such an odd direction, looking for something to grab on to???

No mini is truly resistant to BS. But, you could go with one of the more restrained hybrid musks that take rather well to being used as a pillar rose. Pax, Penelope, Cornelia, and Will Scarlet are all lax enough to need support and will respond well enough to pruning to keep happy on a pillar.