The Brew Cabin

Hi Tony,

I want to plant a climbing hydrangea on my north facing house wall. This is near gulleys/pipework which takes waste away from the house. Can you tell me if I will affect any of the drains/pipes by planting nearby. I had them all renewed about 2 years ago in plastic by a reputable local building company (who have been around for 80 years).

Thanks very much

Hydrangea are real water lovers (Hydra-ngea - geddit??) but the petiolaris you fancy planting isn't to aggressive and your drains should be fine.

Only a couple of weeks ago, my brother dug out a H.petiolaris that had been planted about 15 years ago at the side of a garage. It had become a bit of a bind for the owner, who is elderly and not into trimming and pruning as she once was, and was finding the H.petiolaris was interfering with the garage door.

Anyway, Our Kid hacked the bugger down and dug up the rootball and, although it had sent roots down about 500-600mm into the soil and a good metre all around, not a single one had attacked the pipework for an adjacent Rainwater Pick-up. :)

Luvverely plants, too. I put one in on my N-Facing front wall a couple of years back. The only trouble is that Earwigs love to nibble the newly-emerged leaves, so it's worth setting a few earwig traps.

Thanks very much Tony. One final question is re:the ariel roots on a hyrdangea. I had an ivy on the back wall and when I removed it, it left a lot of the old "roots" stuck to the wall. I have been advised to leave these and let the elements remove them over the years. I am concerned that the hydangea will give me the same problem and may also damage the mortar/bricks. Did your brother find lots of old ariel roots stuck to the wall when he removed the hydrangea? Also I have half tiled walls so I'm not sure if the tiles could be lifted by this plant.

Thanks for your help.

There are some aerial roots, but they are quite fine and nowhere near as bad as those usually found with Ivy. Maybe it was because the brickwork was so hard (Accrington Stock Bricks) but Our Kid says that what few roots were left behind came off quite easily when scrubbed with the wire brush.

Just a footnote..... When I started to prepare the ground for my block-paved path, the first unexpected thing I found was that a hydrangea petiolaris was well established with its root system nearly 3 metres down a rain pipe. I shall never know whether the monkeys who laid the original Hepsleve 10 years ago cracked it in their final tamping, and the plant seized the opportunity for better boozing, or it actually insinuated itself, root tendril by root tendril between a joint. Anyway the pipe itself ended up being cracked open, so in situ replacement was the order of the day. Not quite what I expected, so I didn't have the presence of mind to photograph the long and substantial root beard I pulled out. But this shot shows the relative positions of the pipe and plant, post repair.


- Mike -

Thanks very much Mike. I just had my plant delivered this weekend but didn't get a chance to plant it due to other commitments. It's quite a mature plant and expensive as a result. I am a bit concerned to hear what you've written but I think I will risk it now. A couple of people I have spoken to have said it will be alright as long as the new pipes were laid correctly. I trust the company who did the job to have done this. Thanks for your feedback.