I kept mine to maybe 5 main branches, the biggest was 3" diam., & trimmed off the lower small branches so I could plant alot of stuff underneath & expose the bark. The wood isn't too hard, so it's easy to cut if the diam is kept manageable. If you trim a side twig all the way back tight to the main branch, most likely it won't sprout at the cut. And the sprouts from the base are soft & easily cut w/ pruners. If it was my shrub, I'd select a 12" area to keep; cut the rest of the area to ground level & cover w/ heavy black plastic, big rocks & mulch, & see what happens. I think these roots go straight down deep - rarely needed supplemental watering. Digging it out could be quite difficult. I'd guess my shrub was 30 years old & the base was only 12" diameter, but it was planted in dry east exposure shade - which probally slowed the spread. It was on the side of our house, arching over the gate into the backyard. The base was 36" from a sidewalk. Between trimmings or when in bloom we'd just duck to avoid getting poked in the eye. I can imagine a front path main entrance location could have been a problem. When in bloom, it would get so heavy w/ all the tiny flowers, the branches would weigh down halfway to the ground. After it bloomed, and all the tiny flowers started to drop, it would look like it was snowing. The layer of fallen flowers was so thick on the ground you couldn't see the sidewalk. It's a bush worth trying to keep!

dad had one here in MI for 20 years.... only twice did it set fruit ... the blooms are extremely touchy in terms of temps .. the slightest frost will make the flowers abort ... so that would be the simple suggestion as to why it fruited one year.. and perhaps not the next ... even in CA .... [any recollection of the citrus folks going crazy.. the year it did not set fruit????] i would suggest that a 2 year history is not enough info to jump to any conclusions ... and surely not a reason to leap to pruning to solve the problem... which it wont.. if it was a temp issue .... also.. pruning for fruit production.. usually does NOT make for a pretty tree .... if you are not the owner.. its really not your problem ... and i dont know why you would want to interject the topic into your landlord/lessee relationship .... the tree is grossly large for such a tiny space ... if you consider that the root mass could be twice as large as that above.. you wonder where it is getting water and air ... as compared to all that concrete ... at least its not a 100 tree.. that will crush the house ... killing you in your sleep ... if it fails.. it should not do that much damage .. and its not your problem anyway ... if i were the landlords ins agent.. i might not be happy about the risk ... also.. sooner or later.. there is the possibility .. that it might cause those walls to fail ... the only issue being.. in whose lifetime ... lol ... i only bother to mention all this.. because you had a thirst for knowledge.. bottom line.. i would not invest anything in this tree .. and be saving money for future removal ... as even i dont think i could get it out of there safely/easily ... i have 5 acres.. and CA lot sizes mystify me ... thats quite a front yard you have there.. lol ... but at least you have one.. compared to apartment folks.. if i had that tiny a spot.. i would have some type of potted collection of plants to play with ... rather than two 20 foot trees ... have a great day ... ken

Endless Summer is not the name of a specific cultivar of hydrangea but rather of a series of reblooming hydrangeas. The one most folks refer to as "endless summer" is really Endless Summer - The Original, as it was the first in the series. Both Blushing Bride and Twist and Shout are Endless Summer hydrangeas - Twist and Shout IS a lacecap so that could be what you have. If it is part of the Endless Summer series (would have come in blue pot) then you should be able to prune now and still get flowers. Pruning hard now will remove the early flowering - those blossoms that develop on older growth - but you should still be able to realize flowering later in the season from the new growth. However, this new growth flowering does not seem to be 100% reliable for all the Endless Summer hydrangeas. Here is a link that might be useful: The Endless Summer collection

Hi Lily Thanks for the photos - they help a lot. Good job too of sleuthing out the types of roses. For John Cabot, I think the best plan for you in spring would be twofold: First, prune out the deadwood after the spring weather starts to kick in (i.e. when the forsythia start to bloom) - in that first photo everything black or brown definitely needs to go, and even the green canes with the purple behind them need to be pruned until at a fresh cut the cane is creamy colored in the middle (no dark brown centers). That will leave only healthy cane to support the blooming canes. Don't worry if it gets pruned down to a foot or less above the ground, but leave as much healthy can as you can to work with. Then second, tie the canes as much as you can toward the horizontal and put up a support between the rose and the wooden fence for the rose to climb on. If you cut the canes down to their stiffest parts you may not be able to bend these original canes sideways, but work with the new growth after it puts out new canes in the spring (these will be more flexible). What I might do for support of a big heavy caned climber like John Cabot is put a few deer panels (from a feed store) behind the rose and stake them into the ground. Then there's something sturdy to tie the rose canes onto but it will disappear as the rose puts out leaves. In my experience, John Cabot is a heavy spring bloomer with only sporadic bloom later in the summer. That is one of several reasons that you want to leave as much healthy cane as you can, since the rose will bloom mostly on old wood. That may be why you didn't see much bloom when you last pruned it. You particularly want to keep as much as you can of the main central cane, since climbers want to grow their main cane out to their preferred height before they do much blooming. Still, the dead cane will do you no good so you do need to prune it out. If you still don't get much bloom after it has more like 4-5' surviving cane after a winter, part of the problem might be the relatively limited sun in that spot (at least as far as the pictures look). Roses prefer around 6 hours of direct or at least filtered sun a day, though some will bloom on less. Darlow's Enigma is a good example of one that I have that will bloom on less sun quite well. The guidelines for tying up a climber don't apply to this rose as far as my experience goes, since this rose wants to be a big 6' or more bush and at least 4' wide, with a multitude of thin canes that will all bloom when happy. You'll need to get in there and (carefully, for your skin's sake) prune out obvious dead wood. I only prune Darlow's Enigma once in the spring and he gets a surface trim, since he's full of tiny branches with major prickles that catch me every time. In my experience he blooms off and on all summer with almost no care from me, though the blooms are quite small and mostly impressive as a group rather than individually. I'll attach a shot that has him in the background to give you an idea of his habit - he's the white bush at the back blocking the neighbor's windows. The limited sun will bother him less than John Cabot, so mostly give him plenty of water when needed and let him be. Hope this helps! Cynthia