SO many flowers on SO many plants! It's quite incredible.
Spring is here!
I only have 2 in bloom, but there are many buds on all of the clems.
Hi Y'all....I am a huge clem forum fan but haven't been able to post pictures up until now so I don't comment much but, believe me, I admire yours everyday. Here are a few of my Lemon Chiffon:
SO happy to have you here, Kimmy, with your photos!
What a huge and beautiful Lemon Chiffon!
Love that stand of ferns!
I'm sooo happy too and thank you pirl--I love them too and I'm rallying to move the fence "out" so they can spread even more....He said he'd take it to the "Committee." Here are some from 2012 of another clem....there are two of them (identical) and they are "across the lawn" from the ferns.
All so nice, Kim. The bouquet is lovely as well.
Agreed!
Well, finnaly Mr. Hanryi showed his face today after sleeping for two years. I never gave up on him, like all men in my life, I had to plead and prod them to shape up. Etelka
Lazy Henryi! So glad that you're so good with the men in your life and that your patience paid off so well for you.
I like that clear, bright white....I was at Stop & Shop today....they had purple clems for sale outside....price was $40.00! I never even looked at the variety, not worth that price.
This message was edited May 24, 2013 1:05 PM
Whoa, that's a long nap....but very pretty bloom AND yard....
Hi Everyone! I am really enjoying your early pictures, thank you. My wife sent me out to cut some baby greens out of the cold frame and I thought I would take pics. of my earliest clems. It is to cold at 44 and raining 'Miss Bateman' has about 15 white, 4 inch, red anthered flowers open, and I would guess 50 or 70 that will bloom in the next week or 10 days! There is a 'Fire Works' That has one very large bloom at bottom. Well, Have to eat now and going to see the movie Gatsby. Try to send pics pronto. Lee Sherwood
Lee - good going! We're all anxious to see your photos.
Many opened here today even with the rain we've had, on and off, and cool temperatures.
1. Blue Light
2. Crystal Fountain
3. Nelly Moser
4. Niobe looking better than ever before. I didn't prune it at all.
5. Duchess of Edinburgh ready to burst with some sunshine...maybe Sunday.
Very pretty, I love Niobe on the white trellis....
Thanks. There's a red rose there, Falstaff. It probably won't bloom until Niobe is done but I'm very happy with the clematis and I'll continue to allow it to thrive by not pruning it. If I spot dead ends I would remove them but it's one of the few in between pruning groups so it will have to tell me when to give it a haircut.
1. A fireworks (Schubertii) allium, new to me this year. I love it.
2. Dr. Ruppel
3. Mrs. Yuki
4. Multi Blue and Belle of Woking
5. The first Fireworks trying to open in this cold and rainy weather.
I have a few allium, but they haven't opened yet...most disappear quickly from my garden.
Last fall I bought 495 bulbs from Scheepers and got them all planted by about Dec.10th. Now that they're all in bloom or coming into bloom, I can decide which ones I like best. The ones with wiry stems are my least favorite but the blooms may change my mind.
It is cold Lee - what is with that? I think we have only had coffee on the back deck once or twice so far this year. Typically we have been out there since April with our coffee in the morning.
Robin - I noticed that a number of my alliums have disappeared as well. What is with that? Quite a while ago, I decided I was not going to plant any more tulips because they tend to disappear as well. I am wondering if alliums are going to go the same way as tulips for me.
I noticed my Dr Rupple and Alabast are opening. I should get some pictures - I haven't done that yet.
We did get a much needed soaking rain during the last day or so. That should go a long way towards helping my clems.
We've had rain for three long days now and it's boring by now. Had to bring in pots of caladiums, hanging baskets with caladiums and the little cucumber plants. We won't even hit 50 degrees today.
It's only 47 here & rainy....miserable! Love the deep purple in those alliums, Pirl....don't know why mine only live a year or so....chipmunks?
I don't know the answer. One year I potted them and they all rotted by spring so that's one mistake I won't make again. As for the chipmunks, on early morning radio today the plant guy said there is no spray or pellets that work - just trapping them. Sounds like a big job.
Since most of my gardens are raised beds, surrounded by stone walls, I have chippies everywhere.....
For such a cute critter they certainly are disasters in the garden from all I've heard.
They are cute. One of my cats used to come home with the poor chippies and lay them on the doorstep. I knew I was supposed to praise him for doing his job, but it would just make me feel so badly.
This is the first year Blue Light is so splendid. She took the rain and cold fairly well and has more buds and blooms to open. Her friends have started to open also.
The Alliums generally last quite a while and don't look so bad even when dry. Unfortunately the foliage looks much like straw, even though they've been trimmed. The Schubertii from last year never bloomed, so I put in 4 more last September. Hoping for at least one. Planted several others, including a blue one and am anxious to see what blooms. A few of the stems and blooms died before opening, which is unusual for Alliums, but I won't know which ones they are. Any day now the peonies will be vying for attention.
Marcia
That looks very nice.....blooms are coming slowly here....
Great, Marcia! I love the alliums blooming with the irises. We have a few peonies in bloom but none near irises, of course.
Don't know what this one is. Brought it with me from the old house, and some of them I just can't remember the names. It is doing well, though. My Guernsey Cream has really taken off this spring! Lots of blooms, but a lot of new green growth too!
There are too many clematis of that color for me to guess at a name but maybe someone else will recognize it instantly.
Liberation has gone wild with blooms and so many others have given their second and third blooms. Seems like a very good year for clematis.
Hi Pirl, I have been cuting the bloomed away clematis flowers, is that the correct thing to do?
off topic, I have found pictures of lavander growing in Hungary, it is beutifull. Etelka
When I was moving a few clems this spring I noticed this plant shooting up in the ground. I thought well lets leave it and see what it is. a few weeks later I realized that it was a Clem. I let it grow and have been watching it. I looked at the leaves and thought , that leaf looks familiar. I take one over to my Avant Garde to compare leaves, and lo and behold it is the one I thought I had lost. It had sat dormant for 2 years. Like you all keep saying, dont give up hope, it just might come back.
That's a gorgeous photo, Etelka, and the colors in the sky just enhance the lavender so much.
You can cut clematis flowers as you wish. It won't harm the plant at all.
Marie - it's such fun to find a sleeping beauty! Now I have Elsa Spaeth, bought in 2012, so sound asleep there isn't a trace of her left but I won't do anything in that spot in case Prince Charming wakes her up next year.
Hi All,
I've been reading along and love all your beautiful pictures. ;)
Have not posted here since about this time last year. All the new clems seem to be doing great, and thanks to advice from all of you, I did whack them all way down first thing this spring. In fact I got pretty ruthless with some of the older, out of control ones, and it seems to have been the right way to go.
Pirl,
I'm here from the soil forum where we were talking about the meters. Here's the rest of the story. Look what followed me home instead of a meter. http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=110
Arabella, anybody have experience regarding how much shade she can take ?
Hi, citybusgardener! Good to have you back here again.
Arabella is pretty! I'd have bought her instead of any meter! Here's the Plant File page on her:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/91183/
How much sun can she get where to plan to plant her? If she can get 4 hours it just might be enough.
You made me laugh. Yes, on the clem instead of the meter.
She brought along two little friends, the cutest little fuchsias, and a new fancy fertilizer too.
Fuchsias are http://loghouseplants.com/plants/shop/upright-fuchsia-starchaser/
and the fert is http://www.maxsea.biz/products_bloom.html
I don't think I have 4 hours of sun as normal folks count it. But I do mange to get some things to bloom by way of them reaching up and getting sunbeams from different angles as the day goes on. It's tricky. But 4 hours sounds do-able.
I love this Arabella. Her leaves are much like our native salal. http://www.nwplants.com/business/catalog/gau_sha.html
Obviously not related but the best way to describe how different the leaves are. I've read and read about this, but as usual the sun /shade thing is never clear. The late Christopher Lloyd said Arabella was one of his favorites and a best long term bloomer. Quite the recommendation. Now if I can get some blooms off and on with less sun, I'll be good. It is what it is.
Oh, looking at this photo, notice how woody the stems are on Arabella. It shows up better than I knew.
This message was edited May 28, 2013 8:41 PM
Here are a few pics of the ones blooming now.
They are all so pretty...I really like the fuzzy white one!
citybusgardener - the fuchsias are lovely and with your new fertilizer being 3-20-20 you should get tons of blooms. Since the clematis isn't shown as "full sun" you'll get some flowers and I think it was Brushwood's site that mentioned it blooms on and off all summer long - that's a big bonus. Yes, I can see how woody the stems are in your photo. Please post photos as you get blossoms.
Lovely clem's, Marie. That fourth one certainly is laden with blooms.
I have a white (NoID) and this lovely blue ('H.F. Young') open so far. This is the second year for the blue, which shares a trellis with 'Countess de Bouchard', which hasn't opened yet. The white has been open several days, so it's past its prime.
'Countess de Bouchard' opened her first flower this morning, but it is small, grey and looks so sad. It's been COLD and the rain is just not letting up and would not be expected quite this early in the year. It's the amount of cold that's not average for us. If I were a new little pink flower, I would not want to wake up to this either.
The 3-20-20 fert is the next trial to replace the old Peters bloom formula. I've always used this type on my annuals to force them to bloom in my heavy shade. Chemically induced blooms look the same as real ones. I just try to keep it away from the perennials, though a bit never hurts them.
I'm having second thoughts on where Arabella belongs. I have a picture. This half barrel is on one side of my front steps. The plan was to do my replacement of those winter pansies with something that drapes. So I thought if I added Arabella behind the hosta, it could come up to be tucked up to the porch rail, and part of it could trail under and around, a timely replacement for the yearly pansies. I took every thing out last fall so the hosta is new, a split off an older plant, and it seems to like it there. It will fill out.
So I set the Arabella behind the hosta , in the last two days all parts of it turned to face the south. hahaha... the view coming up the steps is the sides of the leaves and flowers. Darn it. I'm giving it a few more days to come to the eastern sun though. What a little stinker.
