Clematis: Help ID, but no prize Niobe vs Warsaw Nike, 0 by ClematisGuru

ClematisGuru wrote:
when i plant clems i first fill the hole with water and let it drain. then do it again. then fill a third time and place the root ball/plant in the "swimming pool" as it starts to drain again(will drain slower this time as you have saturated the whole area around the hole thru the first two fillings and drainings) anyway as it starts to drain again, refill with hole with water and then after the 4th draining is well underway, begin back filling the hole with your amended soil , carefully placing the clem plant so that it will be planted an inch or two below the previous root line, and separating tangled roots (note:herbaceous non vining clems and finely rooted species clems such as intricata or my angel etc.... should be planted like any other perennial just to the current soil line, not deeper and do not need such a prolonged soak)

this saturates the whole area, allows you to double check drainage of the hole and ensures the root ball is completely saturated. some people soak the root ball in a bucket of water before planting, which i used to do, but i switched to my "swimming pool" method a few years ago as i could multitask saturating the area, checking the holes drainage and soaking the root ball all at once.

i frequently dig, or have a helper dig, my clem holes weeks before they arrive and mix all the soil from the holes on a large water proof tarp with the amendments in advance of the plants arrival. this way when they arrive i can plant promptly as the big chores are out of the way. the water proof tarp can be folded back over the pile of amended soil to keep it from washing away in the interim period.

this method has made planting easier and given me a higher success rate in general than i experienced when i had less of a system.

here is a nice polish spirit from last summer, planted with a terniflora on a hawthorne tree. the polish spirit is planted further away from the tree than the terniflora so i can take some care in early spring that it is not overcome by the terniflora.