"Hop" to it

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Looking for a climber that grows at amazing speed?

Will be happy in shade or part shade?

Is happy with a bit of neglect as long as some support is in place?

Only needs a trim once a year, and no fancy pruning? 

Has plenty of bright green foliage and interesting scented flowers?
You have no ladder or no head for heights?

Humulus Lupulus (hop) does all that and more. 

Now you see it, now you don't. This picture was taken at the rectory in 
February 2010, nearly 2 years ago. Hop is a deciduous climber and you can just about make out its stems weaving through the trellis panels. Within just a few months, the view is changing:

By June the trellis in invisible. Bright green leaves are covering the entire back and they don't stop at covering the trellis, they are bravely branching out and mingling with the climbring hydrangea on the left and the jasmine on the right. Even the bay tree located a few feet behind the trellis is not quite safe from the reach of the hop.


Right until autumn the green wall gives much cheer. The flowers are attractive, too. Unfortunately I never got round to taking a picture of the flowers, so had to trawl the internet for a suitable close up.

photo credit: Wikipedia

Alas, by winter we are back to trellis, only the long stems entwined with the trellis remind me that it is pruning time.

You can and probably should prune hop late every winter because if you don't the tangled stems make the job much harder next year. I find that pruning every other year is just fine but would not want to leave it longer than that. When I took on the rectory in January 2009, I could not even see the trellis, a sure sign that the hop had not been touched for a long time....


The right time to prune is at the end of winter or when ever nature thinks it is the end of winter. We had a few weeks of milder weather and this has of course tricked the rectory's hop into thinking that spring is near. The proof is at ground level:

Last years stems have gone brown and woody but right at the base, scaly looking new shoots emerge. Time to cut back all old growth before the new growth makes the task too cumbersome.


It helps to wear gloves as the stems are hairy to the point of being a little spiky. Secatuers should be fine for most stems. Simple sever as close to the ground or leave a little stubble, carefully avoiding the new shoots. The remaining dead topgrowth can be cut away from the trellis or pulled off. Be prepared for a big pile of woody garden waste.


You can give it a feed now, too. I tend to forget and I never go near the hop again until next winter. Established plants won'ty need watering or pampering in any way; extra care is only required if you want to grow hops for brewing. In other words a perfect plant for the lazy gardener.