Your MACs do look demure at the moment. I have 3 MACs in different settings (yes, I am nuts), all about 7 to 9 years old, and just went out and measured them. With pruning (and in the case of the one growing in decent soil on the west side of the house, "muscular" pruning that takes one day each twice a year; the other in crummy conditions, just one day a year), MAC on a pergola or trellis can be kept about 12 to 15' tall, 14' wide, and 9-10' deep. The third MAC, in partial shade and lousy soil under a huge old pepper tree that sucks up most of the water and nutrients, is about 20' tall and 16' wide and 12' (at least, wanders over to my neighbors trees at that point -- new neighbors whose screams I expect to hear any day now when they realize how far Madame Al is over in their trees...). This one is allowed to run amok (obviously) and is all mixed up with what I think is Fellemberg (was supposed to be Parson's Pink, long story) and is lovely, but is obviously motivated by the extra shade of the pepper tree to stretch. MAC actually tolerates pruning rather well, but intelligent pruning (don't create witches' brooms). Like you, I originally planted two MACs at my entryway and ended up removing one: one is enough here. Conditions in your yard may well differ. I have all the ones on your "new candidates" list. Jaune Desprez is just as rampant as MAC but worse because of vicious thorns (I dearly love it, but it costs in blood). Marechal Niel is so far modest-sized at roughly 10' x 4' after three years, but that's not long enough to know; some I have seen are definitely big. On the other hand, MN has a reputation as something of a fussy-buttons and is not looking like a house-eater here yet, though parked in prime real estate, so maybe not as rampant. Buff Beauty is definitely the "mannerly climber" it is often descrbed as. I have kept one at 7' tall and 4' wide and 16' long along a fence for about 9 years. Debbie

Sorry. I meant I need advice (not advise). (I wish there was a way to edit the posts after they've been submitted.) Hope it isn't too long for people to read through but I thought I should provide some history.

When you start to prune FCR you will most likely find she is not totally cane hardy in zone5 . Her canes will still be green on the outside but the pith (the inside) must not be brown. Start pruning at the tips and make more cuts till the center is white or green. If you leave them on she will be disease all year. Don't worry even if you need too back to the crown she will grow back. Yes you can thin out the middle and take off all the thin growth.

I am not sure why they said to wait - there is no demand of the plant that would call for that. We have a great many commercial lavender farms in the area and their practice is the one I advise as well. Start pruning your lavender at the end of its first summer. Unpruned lavenders do have a tendency to grow leggy or extend rapidly and if not addressed while still very young, these will develop a very bare woody interior and begin to splay or flop open. Not a nice look :-( So prune at the end of the flowering season (late summer/early fall) beginning that first year, removing the old flower spikes and just an inch or so of foliage. In spring as new growth emerges, you can prune back a bit tighter but never back into bare wood. As the plant matures, this early spring pruning becomes even more important as it keeps the plant compact and dense and encourages additional flowering tips. And prevents the flopping or splaying. So trim back lightly at the end of the season and a bit harder at the beginning of the season as new growth becomes evident.