These images are of one of the white stemmed brambles that since leaf fall are now more obvious in the border. The white indumentum over ruddy brown stems is an attractive winter feature. These stems are best culled on an annual basis and then given a generous mulch of compost to encourage the basal buds to grow away. As you prune out the growth look out for rooted plantlets that occur as the arching growth touches the soil and adventitious roots anchor the shoot. The tough, thorny, arching stems reach 2 metres in a growing season. At the start of March cut these back to ground level. A fresh crop will emerge and as the rootstocks establish they will colonise ground. These plants originated from seed collected in China. Growing in Sichuan Province near the Balang Shan Pass on the edge of a landslip at 2500 metres.