If the Jackmaniis have been in the ground for several years and you have only been pruning them down to 3 feet for those years, then I bet you have brown woody stems sticking up out of the ground. To stimulate growth, you need to cut them down much further each year-say down to 6 inches or so. This should help stimulate more stems from the ground. I am also wondering if you planted them deeper in the ground than they were in their pots. If so, then you buried nodes that could be called into play to produce more vines. If not, mounding more soil around the existing stems may help. I still say prune harder than 3 feet and that will likely help. In addition, pinching the growing tips out of the stems you do have as they grow will generate more stems higher on the plant.

Etoile Violette and Polish Spirt are type IIIs and will greatly benefit from hard pruning each year. You say that they are new to you this year although you don't say how big they are (what size pot are they in) nor how big the root systems are. Depending on answers to those questions will help identify how to treat them this year. In subsequent years hard pruning of all vines to within 6 or so inches of the ground will help them.

Niobe is a type II that I personally have always treated as a type III. How you prune it in coming years will depend on which pruning group you wish to treat it like. Again, you don't mention how large the plant is or how big the root system is. If it is a small plant, then pot it up into a one gallon sized pot and grow it out this spring and summer and plant it this fall.

nckvilledudes,

Thank you for quick response and helpful feedback!

Etoile Violette and Polish Spirit both came in 1 gallon cans with lots of healthy foliage. They were not at all pot bound but had a well developed root system. They are already in the ground and I planted them about 3" lower than the soil surface in the pot and they both have compost mulch about 2" thick. Their feet are in the shade and each has a rose to climb into - Sally Holmes and Polka.

I just got Niobe 2 days ago in a 5 gal pot with a lot of healthy foliage and in bloom.

My preference would be to prune and feed the roses and the clems at the same time - easier to keep track of. In my zone that would be January.

Thanks again for your help!

BettyN