I think you'll get posts reassuring that six years is not an unusually long time to wait for a c.h. to bloom. I recently read that the blooming wood takes a long time to mature, so if you purchased a "young" plant it could take awhile. I have one on a tree that took at least six years to bloom and also has the bushy form (but it is also climbing way up)These vines are vigorously three dimensional and can be nearly two feet "thick" from the wall it is adhering to.

One on a rock wall has several blooms- been there at least 5 years.

It is big, robust plant by nature. YOu'll never get to the end of the pruning over the years. But I don't prune, so I'm sure there are others with more experience in that department.

I did read several posts about it taking a LONNNNGGGG while to bloom, and I am OK with that... but it seems like my two plants (one was about 18" when purchased about 6+ years ago and one about 30") which are now 5' and 6' tall and about 36" wide (at least!) in all directions are trying to spread ground-level branches everywhere!

Because this is an arbor that connects two fairly heavily planted perennial beds, I hadn't realized just how many shoots were starting to root along the ground and I can't seem to find information about what to do. Are these shoots (if I let them root) helping support the plant? Or are they taking resources away from blooms that could be growing?

If I decide to remove them, how hard would it be to root them to sell at my garden club plant sale next spring?

Any info would be appreciated!

BettyLu