How can I make climbers "bushy" at the bottoms

I've got problems with all of my climbers being top-heavy and very sparse at the bottoms. I've pinched them back to encourage more side-shoots. I've cut them back. I've tried training the vines to go along the fence rather than up it to encourage more side-shoots. All of this is advice from the garden centers BTW. I wonder what I'm doing wrong though. All of them have been in the ground for 3 years. I got the climbers to be a living privacy barrier. But if they only get dense at the top of the fence and there's a 3 foot nearly-bare gap at the bottom....it doesn't really do the job. I've got Arabian Jasmine (total disaster as far as "climbing" goes), Jasminum polyanthum (lovely flowers and amazing fragrance), and Pyrostegia venusta (also great flowers and big-bang of color in the winter). Any advice?

Thanks in advance!!!

-Julie

The trouble with most vines is that they evolved as a way to get the plant above the forest canopy to get to the light, so it was more effective to have them "top-heavy."

Try planting something else to cover their naked legs, something that is the approximate height, and nice and bushy.

ROTFL! So you mean, it's hopeless? I'm just a bit frustrated because I see so many other vines being used the way I want. I'm starting to think they've all grown the way mine have, but have now trailed down again to hide their bare legs. In any case, my husband, who thinks I'm a gardening genius (he has little frame of reference ;-), thinks I'm a vine failure LOL. I'm thinking of putting in lots of honeysuckle. THAT stuff should keep things bushy....even it invites a lot more bees than my husband would appreciate ;-). hehehe

-Julie

Honeysuckle is good because it puts out enough sprouts that you can cut a few stems back to almost ground level, and get it to bush out a bit . Jummingbirds seem to adore honeysuckle, and it smells fabulous.

I was thinking of things like my Clematis, trumpet vine, etc, that have "naked legs", and I've had to plant other things in front.

As far as being a vine failure, I was so grateful, when I had my very first Clematis, (which seemed to sulk for ever after planting,) to be told by an elderly friend "First year sleep, second year creep, third year leap.." and sure enough, it was true.

Zeus.....next time you prune, do a hard prune...this way when the growth starts shooting up, keep cutting off the vine about 12" from the ground, the stems in front and to the sides of the taller stems. To explain this better, by doing this, you will then give the energy to the taller stems for more bloom as well as staggering the shorter stems for more bloom., thus filling in the whole vine....good luck........Elaine..