Don't look at me Varmi, I don't know.
Gavan

I don't understand your response climber. Is there anyone out there that can provide help?

Can you hard prune Mermaid?

Thanks in advance.
varmi

Last try, anyone know?

Dear Varmi
I have two Mermaids, and my sister has one. So I have some experience, but I don't trust that my experience will be 100% relevant to you. But here goes.
I too have read that she does not like pruning. My two are young, one four years, but has been transplanted twice, the last time during the past winter, when I pruned it. It hasn't taken off again but it did bloom and looks healthy.
The other is in its third year and is still small but will survive, and take off one day. I am in melbourne, you are in W.A. from memory. She is more likely to take off in your climate. Larry in Sydney talks of her being a monster there, she is tender in England.
My sister's was neglected her in Melbourne, was under the eaves, probably didn't get enough water, sent up one big cane, with leaves and flowers above the guttering and is alive but not thriving. I wanted to cut it at the base and tell her to feed and water it but she didn't like the idea.
I have seen a picture of Mermaid grown over a huge metal dome, in England I think, and covering it in majesty. I have read Peter Beales say that David Ruston in Renmark has one with canes the size of a tree trunk.
My conclusion: She can be tender, can sulk if tampered with, but is a big girl when she gets over it. They say bullies feel like they are being bullied. She has big thorns and doesn't seem too considerate of those around her. I would attack her with a chainsaw to make her behave and then be vigilant and patient about new growth, training it in the direction you want it to grow, and then marvel at one of the glories of the rose world.

Hi Varmi I dont have one but my rose book states that it does not need pruning ( even if it grows 9 mts across and 6 mts high in warm areas )Then it goes on to say that it can be cut back when it gets out of control, to me a cut is more than a prune its a lop off so I reckon it would be ok to give it some kind of a hair cut.

I would say maybe the reason climbers didnt do to well is because it was pruned in the winter in a cold climate where your climate is different and also today is the first day of Summer so that may make a difference. I would be inclined to do what Climber said in the last couple of lines up here roses are very forgiving maybe they are where you live too...Cheers..MM.

I don't have one so this reply is all hearsay and observation. All care and no responsibility. I've heard many complaints that Mermaid is as bad as that other triffid, bougainvillea, and can be hacked back with the same vigour, usually with great damage to the hacker (owing to her thorns) but nothing lasting to Mermaid. I saw a huge one covering a long trellis at a caravan park in NZ whose proprietor had just sliced her back to within a few centimetres of the trellis. He said this was an annual autumn routine.

Mermaid is a very interesting rose, for me mainly because it it probably the rose that demands little attention. It keeps on growing and blooming like a Tea rose, never offering us the opportunity or encouragement to prune. It is sparse as to production of basals unlike its seed parent. So Varmi, various mags say that you don't prune Mermaid. Problem is that such publications merely regurgitate what might have been said by a "learned" rosarian years ago, but current writers hide behind the words of others, giving no reasons for their utterances, surely what the reader craves.

Only if you grow and observe this rose will you appreciate the difficulties of coping with Mermaid. Left unattended, it will mound into a coppice, as Varmi has found. In this regard it is similar to its seed parent. If you can follow me, the blooms appear on the extremities of tiny twiggy laterals, much like a Tea. The foundation of he plant remains hidden beneath the foliage and blooms. Put your hand in there, and you may not be able to retrieve it! The wood ages and hardens very considerably, showing no inclination to produce lush basals (except at its own contrary inclination).

My suggestion to you Varmi, is to get rid of the nearby dead tree, cut your Mermaid so that it has a linear form instead of circular, provide support upon which to train it, sit back, and see what happens. As a matter of interest, I used to propagate Mermaid on a 5' standard stock. In this form it is quite manageable, but still abides with a reluctance to produce any basals, except when it so chooses.

Fantastic responses everyone. Will certainly give it a go and use some more patience practised when it was a wee thing. It really does need a good hacking, as it's growth was affected by the once green tree of which has now been removed.

Thanks very much for your help, Merry Christmas!

Altissimo is looking very Xmassy in it's red, green and gold...spectacular :)

varmi