Pruning...and chat continued

Coming from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1220525/

For some of us pruning is a job we face with fear while others happily prune away very confidently.

Please share any and all of your favorite pruning tips and experiences so we can all benefit from them. If there is a specific clematis that gives you grief or one you prune differently from the standard procedures, let us know.

I was absolutely thrilled to read about pruning on the Hummingbird Farms site: read it and smile while you feel weight leaving your shoulders and your mind - http://hummingbirdfarm.net/clematis_pruning.htm

Thanks, Pirl....I bookmarked that page since my memory lasts for about a day!

We're in the same boat, Marilyn. I just kept going back to the site for days on end to be reassured I hadn't read it wrong when they said, regarding pruning, "Don't bother". What a joy to read those words.

Next time we go to Maine it will be a priority to visit them. The camera's digital card gets a workout now with Eartheart Gardens (Harpswell, Maine) for Japanese irises but I'll bring another card for Hummingbird Farms in Turner, Maine, just a bit over an hour from Harpswell.

I have never been to Harpswell ....Dr. McEwen's widow is now living here in CT with her nephew...his wife is in my art class.

Harpswell is beautiful. It's on a peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic - quite scenic.

I'm just guessing that Mrs. McEwen must be nearly 100 years old now. She must have wonderful memories.

Welcome back Lee, glad all is well.

I'm curious, has anyone tried rooting stem cuttings? Either potting soil or water? Getting ready to cut back this years growth and wanted to try rooting for new plants, (like I need more, lol.) Kathy

Kathy

the best way to get them to root is serpentine layering.


Are your clems dormant already? Mine have been dying back, but not dormant. The day before yesterday it was 70 degrees, but I think that is going to change very shortly.

Layering was so easy but maybe it was beginner's luck. I did it with new spring growth when the stem was about 18" long. It worked beautifully.

Thank You, Thank You.. That is a pruning tip for the Dummies...lol

That was the most welcome advice I've ever seen on any clematis site. Even the very thought of "Don't bother" thrills me. Now we have to adapt that to cooking/cleaning/laundry, etc.

Please describe in detail how to layer the plants? Also, do you get multiple stems from the parts of the vines that have been layered, and if so, could these become extra individual plants? Annette

Carolyn22....Come to think of it, I did attempt to layer one at my daughter's house. I forgot all about it and will have to check it next week when I'm there (I hope I remember). Not sure if it's too late to try as most got frosted, just checked one of my plants this morning, I will look at others tomorrow. ....Chem9.. What I did was ,(think it was early, maybe May or early June) took a stem (can't remember if I nicked it ot not) and laid it on the ground, took off several leaves and covered it with dirt at the node.. So I'll have to see how it worked......Kathy. Think pix is durandii.

Here's a site with a drawing to show you exactly how it's done, Annette. Just scroll down to see the drawing.
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/plantfinder/clematis_23.asp

It gives you the idea of how to do it but it goes further than I do. I don't use wire hooks or earth staples and I don't nick the stem (fear I'll break it). I wet the compost covering the layering well and use a brick to hold it in place and the brick serves to remind me of the layering. Take a photo of it so you'll have a record of when you did it. Don't dig it up at the first sign of growth but let it remain for a minimum of a full year. The one layering will send up multiple stems but they're all from the same layering so please don't try to separate them. You can do multiple layerings but put them in different directions from the mother plant (north, east, south, west) to give each one maximum room.

I layered this one in early spring of 2010 and will move it in February of 2012. I'll take photos of the roots then so you can see it.

Please ask questions for anything I may have missed.

Kathy - let us know how your layerings did. Thanks.

Pirl. I am starting to get the hang of the" Dont Bother " with cooking, cleaning, laundry. As I get older I think, whats the point of a perfect house?...lol

I would rather be outside with my hands in dirt anyway.

While I do enjoy a nice clean and neat home, you won't find me scrubbing floors and toilets on a gorgeous day when I can be happy in the garden.

I'd much prefer to show off a brand new clematis in bloom in my kitchen than to show off a perfectly clean kitchen floor.

I just decided, Hubby cant have both. Yard work done, gardening done, and supper on the table and laundry done. It is one or the other , house ,yard. Hmmmm I pick the yard in the summer...lol

I knicked my stems with the serpentine layering. I have a number of clems that I did earlier in the year and I need to check them as well....

Thanks for the reminder....

I too would prefer to be outside in the gardens. I go through withdrawal in the winter and I enjoy it so much when we eat dinner outside or have our morning coffee outside. DH tells me that I get especially restless come February...

Beautiful color on that clem! Yard? Housework? Yard wins every time!

Thanks, all.

That was Climador's first indoor bloom shortly after I received it from Brushwood in March. I'll add a photo of the many buds that bloomed here in early July. The color didn't remain as in the first photo (above) but changed to what I had wanted and what was on their site - a nice "blue" to my eyes but others might see it differently. While I do realize many people won't allow a clematis to bloom for the first year, I am not one of those people!

Marie - you're right. I gave my husband the laundry job a few years ago and he's good at it - very good. It's only fair when I'm outside working in the heat and he has machines doing the work in the air conditioned house. He also knows I'm not about to cook after working outside for 8 to 11 hours a day (sometimes more) so he has all the menus from take-out places handy so we can have dinner and neither of us has to cook.

Carolyn - I've always had the tremors so nicking the stem could be fatal. Pouring morning coffee is excitement enough around here! February is bad enough but at least March is closer then than in January. They are the days I'm prone to ordering plants and then wonder why I did it come April.

Thanks, Marilyn. Moonfleet from Garden Crossings is actually much closer to the color I showed for the clematis in the kitchen window so I'm thrilled I ordered it. I'll post showing how lush roots on Moonfleet were when I planted it.

pirl, it's great when the DH is on board about helping out elsewhere when we are busy working in the yard. I can now also get help from my DS when it comes to lifting the heavy garden "stuff". After all our gardens are the first thing that our visitors see. They're so wowed by what's in the yard that they don't notice a few dust bunnies when they come inside, LOL.

BTW, nice blooms. I'm having to hold myself back from even looking at websites to place spring orders, as I would be tempted to order now;-).

Reluctant as I am to show roots and play the game of comparing sizes, this is proof enough for me that the clematises from both Brushwood and Garden Crossings (as well as Joy Creek, if you heart can handle the shipping charges) are worth every cent. There is no way a clematis in a tiny cube can match something like this. I had to tease the roots apart to get it planted correctly.

Sorry for the fuzzy photo but I was weary by the time I got to plant it since I had to move out (permanently) hostas, a sedum, and Siberian irises to get back to the fence where I planted it. i began the job of creating a spot to plant at 12:11 and finished at 4:30. Only another clematis person would spend more than four hours getting one clematis in the ground.

Moonfleet's roots:

Annette - did you see the drawing of the layering and did it help? I just wish I'd think of it more often when spring growth starts. Maybe, at tops, it takes five minutes - well worth the effort and the trial test.

It is so nice to have help! I still need help with the heavy jobs but as long as I'm not stuck behind a mop or a vacuum I seem to deal with it quite well.

IF ANY GUEST notices a dust ball or anything wrong, it's their duty to shut up! Who needs them? I've only had one person who gave a deep sigh at what they perceived to be a gross housekeeping omission - I had missed dust in one corner of the wood floor by the front door. After that I refused to be in the house when she came over so I don't have to deal with, "May I have a CLEAN glass", anymore. She gets the glasses after the dishwasher has done the job and Jack has put them away so she can bring her complaints directly to him. She has never planted a single plant in her life and wouldn't know a clematis if she saw one.

Thanks for the compliment.

Now I've been looking online but not buying. I keep hitting Print Screen and saving photos I like so I can think about them before ordering and not afterward as I'm prone to doing.

Here's the before and after of the Moonfleet planting. With the fence in front, the pine at the right and hydrangea and chandelier (hitting my head every time I stood up) on the left, it was a tight spot but the job got done.

Job well done, Pirl! My friend's MIL used to come into my friends home & run her fingers over the appliances & window sills....I would laugh, Marion would grind her teeth!

Thanks, Marilyn.

Back in the late 50's my sister had a neighbor with six children under 10 years of age and her husband would come home and rub his fingers over the top of doorways and the top of the refrigerator, then ask his wife: What did you do all day?

With any luck he will be out of the hospital soon.

ROFL, too funny pirl.

OMG.....good thing I didn't marry a guy like that!

Agreed!

One of the men in my office, long ago, used to routinely check the top of the refrigerator. I'd have put a mouse trap up there.

Today I did two layerings of Liberation since I was working in the area. They're watered in and each is covered with a brick. We'll see if November layering works as well as early spring.

har har! or something worse............
I decided to move "pretty in blue" and cirrhosa freckles. Unfortunately, the plants were gone...I guess the harsh weather this last year was too much. Not even a tiny root left.

I will do the same with Inspiration

Edited to correct name

This message was edited Nov 13, 2011 7:48 PM

Has that ever happened before where clem's disappeared? A good sized rock or piece of slate in front of the plant will help to keep the roots cool and damper than the surrounding area.

I don't use another plant to protect the clematis roots since I fear they will compete for water and nutrients.

It's easy enough to lift up the slate to put down more compost/manure/Epsom Salts, etc.

Good luck with the new layering. Please let us know if it takes.

This is the first time.. I usually surround the plant with rocks and even upright broken pots. I thought the nearby plants would shade it enough...ahh , the learning curve.

It's the pits, right? Just when we're sure we've got it right Mother Nature throws a curve ball.

A piece of bark from a log also works very well.

Arlene

that is a great idea. I think I will try a few with the layering this fall to see if fall works as well as Spring!

Pirl...so far no roots on my layering attempt, just looked and nothing so I did pin it back down to the ground and covered with dirt. That area doesn't get watered so maybe the reason (just precipt. from the sky). But stems of main plant are still green, thinking maybe I should clip back and try to root a few in the house this winter. Maybe I could experiment with water rooting and soiless mix. Also looking for others to join in Cottage Gardening , 2 forums: 1) Seed swap 2) and starting seeds in the garden, which ones. Hope to find a few of you there. Kathy

I hope all of you are successful with rooting new plants....it's fun when it works....

When did you do the layering, Kathy? It takes quite awhile - like months.

Layering sounds interesting. But with me and my single type 3 clem, it's for the future. On the other hand, this little clem (Barbara Harrington) has survived it's first year, in spite of me, and I have you all to thank for the help! ~Jan