Clematis chat - heading into winter

Beautiful camellia Kim. I have only trimmed C. Apple Blossom, since it grew relatively quickly. The others are small, because this is only their third winter in my garden, and I'm thrilled that they remain healthy. I love the fact that they are also evergreen. Annette

I would so love to have camellias. One of those things that will have to wait until I retire and we move south.

There are two types of Camillias, one that blooms in the Fall, the other in the early Spring around mid Feb. down here. These are the latter type. These are the precusors of promises to come.

That double one is awesome!

So beautiful Kim

Nice blooms Kim. I love that double as well. Which one is it? Annette

Thanks all, I used to know the cultivar names of those beauties. I'll have to bring the pictures back to the nursery where I purchased them to retrieve the name. I'll keep you posted when I do. okay?

Mine is blooming now, I dont know what the name is.

Thanks for looking into the name for the camellia Kim.

Today was spent in the garden doing clean up of the bed that has Josephine and planting tulips in the front yard, and Narcissus Billy Graham and tulip Flaming Parrot in front of Josephine. This past spring, I planted Caladium bulbs in front of the same bed, and this evening as I was putting in the tulips and Narcissus, I came across the dormant Caladium bulbs, some of which were huge, much larger that the size of the bulbs that I had originally planted. I pulled them out and plan on storing them over the winter in the basement. Also, I had every intention of planting 2 of the potted clematis, but after I was done planting the bulbs, it had gotten dark. It was a gorgeous day here, and hit 70 again. We'll be getting cold again this week.

Here is Camellia Pink Icicles open, it has been blooming for several weeks.

What a cheerful color....it's foggy & in the 40s here, not gardening weather!

Not here either Robin. wet and chilly.

Major rain here. The rest of the week looks good for gardening but not today. So glad it's raining like this after I moved many Louisiana irises yesterday.

Thanks Arlene on your statement regarding Montana Maylene. The sun/shade condition in the front yard dependent on the season. Early spring, it gets 'full sun' condition due to decidous trees devoiding of leaves. But as Summer arrives, it becomes dappled shade. Many of my climbing roses put out flowers just fine there. But like I've mentioned before it were the thorns on the roses that made it diffult for maintenance/trimming and upkeep.

It's "soupy and grey" out side here too. Like Annette, we've had great weather over the the weekend, but like the rest of us in the SE we're bracing for a cool front heading in our way.

Hi Marie, how is your grafting of the Hazel coming along?

Arelene, those Lousiana irises made a fine combo. Love that colage.

They are beauties!

Thanks, Marilyn.

Kim - here's the Brushwood page on Maylene: http://www.gardenvines.com/shop/small-flowered-clematis-4/clematis-montana-mayleen-145.html

It does say "full sun, partial shade", and with your location I think it should do fine.

Thanks. They are just five of the many I grow here. I love them all.

Hi Everyone, Long time no talk! I was not getting around to well but, did make a few camera visits to the garden. I had great help from a mutual freind of B.Js and mine. and who is an avid Gardner! We are blessed. I cant remember if I mentioned this setback to all of my friends here on the clematis forum, setbacks all look alike!! I apologize for any worry I may have caused. Lee Sherwood McDonald

Hope you're doing better, Lee....

Welcome back Lee, glad you're able to join us. Arlene, thank you for the Nursery Link, I've spent a good part of the day looking into what Brushwood has to offer.... The weather is taking on the look/feels of winter. So I made sure the birds got their seeds and treats. RD, is there heavy snow there where you're?

Lee - I'm wishing you good health and happiness. We miss all of our clematis pals when they aren't around and we did miss you.

Kim - I think your springs and summers are warmer than ours so I really wouldn't worry about the clematis. You can always drop a line to Dan at Brushwood and seek his advice. Tell him your town and state so he can make an easier judgment about it.

Hi to everyone, I have finished all the Christmas cooking so now it is the garden again. I have trimmed the clematis down, should I cover the roots with pine straw. Also, I have some oriental lillies in pots, 3 bulbs each, most of them bloomed last year, but should I wait till Spring to replant them? My pansies are in the pots, thay look nice, hope they will bush out. I have got Skype on my internet, so now I can watch and talk to my sisters and brother, they just had 30 " of snow, everything is on stand still.
sGreeting to you Pirl, my iris you gave me are holding on, but did not bloom last year. What should I do to improve it? Lots of questions today, but I guess I am so happy to be done with the big parties. Will have my vacation from 20 Dec till 8th of January. What is a single lady do when she has to much time on her hands??
It is hard to go anywhere by your self. Etelka

Learn to knit Etelka...that's what I do in the winter....keeps my hands busy. LilyLove, no snow here right now...had an open winter last year, but the year before that the snow was on the ground from Nov. to March....many roofs across the state caved in, ice dams formed on all the roofs...I had some water damage in my family room....hoping this is a mild, almost snowless winter!

Etelka - I think the only place that had you beat, as far as Christmas cooking, would be the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec. There they have the big Christmas dinner in restaurants in mid-October. We were stunned to see everything decked out for Christmas and all the lights. After that the restaurants close for the long winter.

You can't go wrong covering the clematis roots with any type of mulch now.

I'd plant the Oriental lilies as soon as possible. I've done it in December often enough with great success.

How nice that you can talk to your family. Modern conveniences were made for you. That 30" of snow doesn't sound too inviting to me since I'm still transplanting Louisiana irises.

What type of irises did I send, Etelka. I really don't recall. Many won't bloom for a year (or two) after transplanting so don't be alarmed.

Have a great vacation. I'm sure you earned it.

Hmmm, I'll have to think of what a single lady can do...find a friend and go on a trip even if it's just to Florida!

Your suggestion is better than mine, Pirl!

Well, your suggestion is more worthwhile but a few days away could be great fun. Maybe Etelka could do both!

Ok, I know it I am a little late doing this but I finally got those baby Clems from last spring in the ground. I have to say that pinching them back and not letting them grow much, sure paid off. I was shocked to see how big the roots were. One had actually started getting root bound. That one was the Advant Garde that I have been working with now for 3 years. With that mass of roots I am hoping for a great show of growth and maybe a bloom next sporing.

It is amazing what constant pinching can do for a clematis. Now is not too late to plant them if anyone out there has delayed. Just give them a LOT of mulch and don't forget one good drink of water.

I had layered a few strands of Liberation but it was in shade, hardly any direct sun at all except for maybe an hour in the very early morning. I expected not much would become of them and dug them up in the hopes I'd be wrong. I wasn't wrong. They were very scrawny. The Walmart self-watering pot to the rescue! Feeling only one (on the right in the first photo) would be of any value, I still potted up all of them. Right now they're all trying to push out leaves! I'm thrilled.

The initial layering was done 11/18/11 (photo #4) and by April I could tell they were growing (photo #5).

It's certainly worth a try for any you'd like to duplicate for free.

Wow...impressive growth!

It's just so easy!

Arlene, that's a wonderful pictorial demonstration of layering. I layered my Jackmanii earlier this year. The first time the neighbor's son took my bricks. I did it again and labelled the bricks DO NOT REMOVE. I'll have to see how it's doing next spring, provided my bricks haven't been stolen again.

I had one layer by it self one year. I gave that small plant to the neighbor and it has grown all over her mail box now. So I guess just putting in on the ground and soil over it will make it layer too.

Jackmanii is a vigorous grower clem. Hope that it will reward you with new sproutings next spring Annette. It's too bad that kids aren't being taught to respect other's property let's be big or small. If the kid's old enough to read, they ought to be old enough to be kind's to neighboring gardening project.

Arlene, thank you for the pictorial demo. Thank you for sharing your gardening tips and joy with others.

Annette - a kid with a brick just doesn't sound like it could end up being a positive thing. Hope he left his hands off the current bricks and you get a new Jackmanii.

Marie - they can and do layer themselves but sometimes we want more of a specific clematis and that's when we can layer our own. For me it's difficult, having the tremors, to gently scratch the nodes to put that portion of the stem in a nice soft area of compost/soil or plain old manure, to get it started forming roots. So I don't scratch the nodes but do like to have two of them, per stem, under the brick. The reason for the brick is to alert us or remind us that we have a layering process going on and to keep the roots being formed as damp as the clem's want.

Kim - for too many kids respect is a thing of the past, not that they ever heard of it at home. Makes a person wonder what their home life is like. I do love gardening and now I'm on my way out to cut back about 200 Japanese irises to tidy up for the winter. I'll still be out on all the nice days and sunny hours to have fun in the garden.

I checked today, and my brick is still there, and the layered portion of Jackmanii has rooted. The paint pen that I used to label the brick has shown no signs of fading.

The weather here has been in the 30's the last few nights but we warmed up into the 60's today, and I was able to plant Snow Queen by my mailbox and Barbara Jackman in the large cement pot. Both plants have excellent root balls, and hopefully will they'll do well next year.

It was nice to work in the garden today, which helped to alleviate the sorrow that I feel for the families in CT who lost so many loved ones yesterday. It is sad that so many innocent children died, as well as school personnel, and that so many lives have been changed due to one crazed person.

That's good news about the Jackmanii and the planting of the other clem's.

I worked in different gardens today for 7.5 hours and yesterday for 5 hours. It's amazing how much I got done.

Such a horrid event and we're helpless to change a thing. Our prayers are all we can offer.

I was going to cut down Sunset, but I noticed 4 blooms on it, so I will enjoy them for little longer. In the process of planting pansies, so it will look a little bit more colorfull, more then just the evergreen bushess. Etelka

Try to always look at the leaf axils, where the leaves had joined the stem, and see if you can spot the promise of growth (tiny buds - not for flowers but for branches) for next bloom season. If you see them then I wouldn't cut it back. When it's going to bloom you can bet I wouldn't cut it back!

Etelka, you're fortunate to have blooms at this time of the year. The Barbara Jackman that I planted today has it's last bloom open. I also want to start pruning the clematis now instead of the spring time. Josephine is at the back of a bed that has tulips and daffodils planted in the front, and hostas, pulmonaria, and bleeding hearts planted in the middle. It's getting harder to get back there in the spring time when everything's coming up.

As I was planting the last of the tulips today in front of the bed, I came across a dormant caladium bulb, and I couldn't believe the size, I've never seen one this big, and it certainly was not this size when I planted it this past spring.

In the bed with Jackmanii, my iris blueberry Tart is also blooming today, despite the many cold nights that we've had this week. This little iris is really resilient., this is the 3rd bloom that it's put up this fall.

Annette - I also prefer planting any clematises I've potted previously, in November to December. They're just as dormant (for the most part) as they would be in March or April but planting them now does give me the advantage, just like you, to be sure to get the job done and the plant is acclimated very fast.

Wow! That's some fantastic size! Do you remember where you bought it?

Isn't that iris proof enough that they can thrive with the leaves of fall around it? I rescued one yesterday that was growing in a huge area of coreopsis 'Zagreb'. I had to cut it out with a long serrated knife and I did replant it immediately.

No clematises blooming here but several roses, yarrow and verbena. I do have two clematis buds waiting to bloom. I hope they do.

Hey Arlene, I got the caladium bulbs at Walmart to put in pots for the office, and there were some left over so I decided to plant them in this bed with Josephine, and what a happy surprise, they thrived there, with the bulbs really increasing in size, another happy surprise.. It was not my inital plan to plant them there, but I really enjoyed their foliage.

The last picture is a caladium that was bought as a plant, which remained in the pot the entire summer. It's now in my garage, and I plan on preserving all of the bulbs to replant next year. The plants all disappeared towards the end of summer, and I thought the bulbs had rotted, but they had only gone dormant. I need to get some peat to store them in till next spring.

We used to grow caladiums at my last home, my DH loves them, and he was the on that really got into planting them back then. He was quite happy with the way the side bed turned out this year. Annette

They are lovely and what a shock to hear you got them at Walmart! I've only had mislabeled bags and bulbs that did not perform.

I gave up on them long ago when Bill came to DG - that's Bill the caladium guy of Caladium Bulbs 4 Less. His ad (and the 15% discount if you use his special code) are now on Classified Ads.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1289645/

Be sure to check out the "collections". So far I've ordered two collections (and other caladiums) but I may add to my order.