Pruning...and chat continued

Oh, hope you had a lovely day, Banana!

Hey, that was a nice surprise! Thanks!
Anna

Happy Birthday Anna. Hope you had an amazing day;-)

Happy belated birthday Anna!

I have a large cement leaf bird bath that my lab bounded on top of and cracked, so it is now around 2 sides of my clem. I put a bunch of pine needles around it for winter, and the garden that it is in is mulched with maple leaves. Located along side the house, it should be fairly protected, especially once the snow flies.

Didn't know about the lime... may have to grab a handful from my farmer friends that use lime next spring.

I am hoping for grand things from Barbara Harrington next summer. Realize Pirl, that it is because of you and the other clem lovers here, that BH DID survive!

I have a circular flower bed that is full of various red daylilies that has a wooden volleyball pole in the center of it. I want to put some fencing around the pole next year, and plant a clem to climb that pole. Not sure if I should look for a reddish clem, which even though I call that bed my "Big Red" bed, might actually be boring - or possibly a different color to accent it. Still hoping to stick with the type 3's for now, until I become much more comfortable as a gardener. Clem suggestions appreciated!

Have a great weekend everybody ~Jan

Your clematis sounds well protected so I hope it comes through the winter without a problem. Last winter I was reading about snow and how there is air (holding warmth) around each snow crystal. It's not as though it's dense and packed as a snowball would be so it does hold warmth.

If you have a pH tester it would be better to test the soil before you add any lime. How nice it would be to have a plant that's cheap enough to use as a test for acid or alkaline soil. Even my Japanese irises are quite happy and expand greatly in soil that isn't acidic.

Wasn't Barbara Harrington a big favorite of DG's former ClematisGuru? I'll have to search for that one and post a link if I find it. You deserve the credit for a great planting job, not any of us.

The clematis wouldn't bloom when the daylilies do so select your favorite type 3 and remember how big they can get. How big is the daylily bed?

Jackmanii is an age old favorite but it does get large. I hope others will post the best of their type 3's for you. I'm attaching a photo of one of our Jackmanii's to show the size but this one is at the foot of one of the compost bins so it gets fed by the compost constantly.

We're due for good weather this weekend so I'll be out in five minutes to start working.

Here's one thread about Barbara Harrington:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/907787/?hl=barbara+harrington

Thanks Pirl! Great idea on the soil test, I may purchase one next year. The article was great too, I enjoyed reading it.

As for the bed, it is not very large, perhaps 4 feet in diameter? 9-12 daylilies in it. Lost count somewhere this summer..... ~Jan

Jan

Rooguchi was a slow starter for me, but finally came into his glory this past year. He is a wonderful blue purple color and I has the longest season of any of my clems. He would be worth a try in your daylily bed. He is an integrefolia, thus would need to be tied to any trellis or obelisk.

The other thing that goes through my mind - red's are hard to match. I think a contrasting color would work well. Perhaps mixiing Rooguchi and maybe a nice white like Huldine (she gets huge) or a nice pink like Comtesse de Bouchaud.

I agree with Carolyn about a contrasting color. Rooguchi is a new arrival (with huge roots), from a sweet friend, so by next year I'll be better able to judge how it does but I've always loved Carolyn and Louise's photos of it.

There is a probe to test pH that Home Depot sells - no need for a kit. Just be sure to thoroughly wipe it off after each use.

Looks like I had better get a bigger trellis for my Jackmanii's...lol

Ha! It's true.

Thanks to you mentioning the cannas I finally got down to cutting it back and bringing it to safety for the winter, Marie.

Another Jackmanii gets about 10' tall but nothing approaching the massive size of the one above. Yet another does cover the light post at the driveway but it, too, tops out at about 10'. Provided I remember to do it, I will cut it back in April and May just to see if I can get blooms nearer the bottom. It's been like this since I planted it eons ago. You can see I do cut it back hard in February but it still has bare (ugly) legs.

Pirl. My canna's are cut back but still int the pots. That I think I will take care of tomorrow.
If I put chicken wire on this trellis do you think I could put the Jackmanii and the Ville de Lyon on it? right now I have climbing roses there but they have not done well. I need to raise the soil level and amend it more, you ask why raise the soil level, well when it is a rainy season it stays real wet In fact if you look into the woods you can see the standing water. We raised our back yard about a foot to help stop it form just running into the yard. But it will still fill my yard when it rains a lot. The trellis also face's north east, should I turn it to a different direction? Keep in mind that my house faces north and the pool is behind the house.

This message was edited Nov 19, 2011 10:45 PM

Marie

It is so pretty - that really stinks about the water. How long have the roses been in there?

here is a layout of my back yard. The trellis is to the right of the pool. We took out 3 trees to the left, so now the roses behind the deck will not lean to the right to get to the sun.

They have been there about 4 years, maybe 5. They do get really tall but that's about it. I am sure the problem is that is stays too wet when we have a wet season like we did this past spring and summer.

Lovely layout, Marie, but standing water for any length of time could be a problem for clematis. The arbor does look as if it could support both clem's. I'm wondering how they'd grow if you potted them in huge pots with lots of compost and manure along with bone meal and anything else you use, and plant the pot over a foot of gravel. I've never had the problem. Would you consider calling your County Extension agent for local help?

I live in an area that has lakes. My front yard is I bet 3 to 4 ft higher than the far back yard. Once you get to the corner of the house it starts to slope down. There are house's behind my fence that are on the same level as my yard. One house that is directly behind that patch of woods had a flooding problem. The dumb butts years ago built them on slabs. They dug up the floor in the home. put in gravel so that the water would have a place to go and flow. Then resold the house. I assume they put in a sump pump too. My neighbor on the other side of the woods, his yard will also flood.

That is why I was thinking of raising the bed putting stone around and then they would not be sitting in the moist soil but their feet would reach it.
Here is what it looked like last year with 2 of the clem's on the back blooming. But this year they did not bloom at all or hardly even grew.

Marie

At this point, I don't think you have anything to lose by raising the beds. I hope you don't have problems with flooding in your home - that could be really bad.

Oh no, my house is about 3 ft higher than the back. When I moved here you would walk out in the yard and then it would slope down about 2 ft. we brought in all that soil to help level off that slope and fill in other places. We have a sump pump in the far back left corner that pumps the water over to the left woods where there is no homes.
This picture was taken in 05 after a snow storm and then heavy rains. This is the far left of the yard and the water goes all across the back to the right where that flooded woods is. This is what happens before the pump can catch up. I think I need a bigger bridge...lol

Marie

that is a lot of water. I am glad your house doesn't get flooded.

Wow! Out here in south central Wisconsin, we get spring thaws like that. If we have a lot of snow cover, and get some really really warm days and it melts really fast, then we get that running water.

I too, suspect going with a contrasting color on my pole in my Big Red bed, will be a better choice. Thanks for those suggestions ~Jan

Phill..a purple would be wonderful, would blend with the daylilies, wether orange-red, red or blue-red. And Pirl......Wow that Jackmanii is spectacular , hope my little babies grow up one day to become that huge. Wow!!! Kudos!!! Ok, I'm headed outside now, ya'll are making me feel guilty, longies are on and lunch is finished, got a couple of hours to get some things done. lol. Have a great all, Kathy.

Loved the photos of the clems.....today smelled like spring, and I hate the thoughts of a yard without flowers for months......

Pretty color, Kathy. Hope you got done with all you planned to do.

Marilyn - today was very spring-like! I worked from 10:30 to 4:30, when it was just too dark to continue. Let's hope for more nice days like this during November and on into the normally cooler months.

I was married on December 29th, & the day was just like today....you never know what the winter will be like.....

We were married 1/1/91 and it was a beautiful, mild day.

Today was a gorgeous day. I had to open up all the windows in the house - Winter always seems so long with everything all closed up. I could hear the children playing in the street and some dogs barking and somebody was mowing their lawn. I couldn't help but to think to myself that they were all beautiful summer sounds! If I closed my eyes I could pretend it was still summer.

I agree that the winter is along time to go without flowers....

Yes! We had the sounds of summer with children playing and the guy next door doing his endless mowing and blowing. It just felt so good to be outside after too many non-gardening days.

I managed to lose a clematis. I've searched over and over again and just can't find it. It will make next May even more interesting.

May seems so long away, doesn't it?

That is when my 2's and 1's are flowering. Right now, all types look brown and dried up - hard to believe only a short time ago, they were green and full of blooms...

Where I come from, they say your married life will be like the weather when you got married. In your case , Piarl, it is true. You seem like all sunshine and lollypops.When I got married in July 13, 1969, in middle of the Summer it was like April, wind, sun, clouds and tunderstorm all in one day. And sure enough, my 7 years with that husband was just like that, one day we loved each other next day I wanted to trow somthing at him. The tird day the police was there to calm things down. Anyway, now all I have to worry about is my flowers, presently I am planting pansies, and covering up my clematis and all my perennials.

My parents got married in 1923 in a downpour that lasted the whole day. They remained happily married for 48 years until my mom died, 40 years ago. Each of my older sisters got married on gorgeous days and both got divorced!

Many of my class 2's have gone brown but the types 1 and 3 remain green.

Carolyn...is that a vitacella, which one if you remember, love those bells. ... Ever thought about a Cyclamen, some are even fragrant and bloom in winter.....Got 92 iris planted, hope I can finish tomorrow. I still have clems to get in the ground, Guess I better figure out where I want them. Was only 40 today, tomorrow in the 50's and mid week in the 60's. Yeah, working weather,lol...

That is so romantic, Kathy. Have you ever tried to move Gypsophila? I have too much of it in the rose garden and I understand it is hard to move due to the deep tap root. I have no choice but to move some because it blocks a path but I'd appreciate any help you can give me...or encouragement. It's a spring job from all I've read.

Kathy

the first one was Hakuree an integrefolia. The second one was Red Beetroot Beauty - an Atragene. I do have some that are vitcellas. I love them too!