Clematis Newbie

I am new to gardening. First home with a big yard on my own. Finding a plant/flower you like is the easy part! After that, it becomes stressful but I'm loving it (I think). Anyway, years ago I was riding down the street in a subdivision and came upon a post/mailbox covered in huge flowers. It was one of the prettiest display of flowers I had ever seen...so of course, still with that vision..I purchased my first clematis. (niobe). I was late getting it planted (early Sept) but roots were able to get somewhat established I think. I purchased two...one for the front of the mailbox post and one for the back. Yeah, I love these things! Anyway, when transplanting to the mailbox, I broke the vine and thought I had lost at least one of the vines. Now that Spring is trying to rear its head, I went down the other day to check on the one I felt I saved and lo and behold, there are three chutes coming out of the ground. I was so happy I about jumped over the mailbox! When the first tendril wraps itself around the wire trellis, I think I'll pass out from excitement. Okay, now to my question/questions. I purchased seedum carpets(groundcover) to help keep the root of clematis cool. I read in an article I should put down a shovelful of compost and mulch over it. If that's the case, when do I add fertilizer. What's the best kind of fertilizer/food for a clematis? I'm a little confused about the different in compost/fertilizer/food. I did use compost as gardening soil mixed with native soil when I planted my niobe.

Congratulations on Niobe! You can put down typical tomato food on top of the earth, above the roots (don't try and mix it into the soil or you risk injuring the roots), add manure and compost. Some Epsom Salts (they aren't "salt" at all) will help. The spring rains will wash the nutrients down to the roots.

They never want to be dry but you don't want them swimming in water either. The compost will help keep the soil moist.

Happy growing!

Thanks! Now, do I add mulch, too on top of this stuff until the sedums spread out around mailbox at bottom? In other words do I add mulch to areas where these carpets of sedums don't completely cover the ground. It's a small round circle enclosed with landscaping tiles ....

You're welcome!

You can put down the manure, food, Epsom Salt and compost and plant the sedum in that mix. It won't hurt it. Planting it out farther, by a foot or so would insure the roots of the sedum won't compete with the roots of the clematis. Do not be afraid of using too much compost: it's almost impossible.

One more question, just for clarity. Is fertilizer another term for food? I'm growing roses, too and there's so much to learn. I look at the shelf in the stores and think to myself...what do people do with all this stuff? How do they use it? I just wasn't sure when to add more food/fertilizer after initial spring feeding/fertilizing?

Yes, it is. It gets maddening to have shelves loaded with individual fertilizers for roses, tomatoes, rhododendrons, etc. Try to buy products that can be used for more than one type of plant. Most plants love compost, manure and Epsom Salts (very inexpensive even at your local drug store).

You can use Google to locate a nearby store that carries Chickity Doo Doo. It's light in weight, granulated manure. So much easier for me to use than those very heavy 40 pound bags of wet manure.

Many plants do not require constant feeding so three or four feedings a year (not late in the season) would be fine. Mine get one spring feeding and then it's up to Mother Nature.

Welcome to the fantastic world of gardening, and also to Dave's garden site.

I think pirl has covered everything you need to know for now, I'd also add that over feeding is just as bad as not feeding, Plant food / Fertilizers / Manures, are ALL plant feeds, they come in liquid, pelleted, Compost like, and even looking like small beads, the main thing you need to do is read the directions for using the products and make sure you use the recommended amount, throw too much feed or water too strong a mix can kill the plants as it can burn the roots, OR cause the plant to quickly grow too much tender greenery and this weakens the plants as it also fights to form flowering buds. Both these activities use up a lot of energy.

Compost is NOT requiring correct doses as it is more a natural product, the good thing about using composted material that is ALL organic, is this helps allow air into the soil, it helps hold onto moisture without allowing the roots to sit in wet soil, it helps to protect the roots from freeze / cold in winter ( IF you have that in your area) and it helps pevent the soil from drying out too fast in hot weather.
Clematis plants ALL like a cool root area and the top growth in nice warm sunshine, I always place some largish stones around the top soil where the roots are, this helps prevent the heat over heating the soil offering a little shade in the ground round the root area, I also stick a clear plastic juice bottle into the soil when planting these lovely plants, you cut the bottom off the container, remove the cap, place the container into the soil close to the roots, leave an inch or two above the top of the soil and when watering is required, or even liquide feed, you just fill the container up and allow the water / feed mixture to soak down to the roots where it is most needed, Sometimes in summer, the top soil becomes so dry that a crust forms and as we water it runs off the soil and the roots dont get a good drink. after a couple of years you can either continue watering this way or remove the container and refill the hole with nice compost.

Lastly, as your plants flower and these fade and die off, CUT away the dead flowerheads as this (called deadheading) helps the plant make more flowers and the plant will flower over a longer period.
I dont prune my Clematis end of summer, I leave all the twisted bare stems alone till early spring when I see tiny new buds begin to form, I cut all the stems by half, this allows air to circulate around the stems and makes the plant form more side shoots making a bushier plant as it climbs it's frame or structure.

Best of luck, try NOT to stress, gardening is supposed to be a nice genteel hobby, we all make some mistakes as we go along but you learn from them, and sometimes we want to grow a plant that really wont grow in our environment but we try and if it fails, so what, it can be replaced by something different.
Kindest Regards.

Fertilizer is a specific group of elements that plants need to live.
They use oxygen (O), hydrogen (H) and carbon (C) in major quantities.
They use nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in large enough quantities that these three are treated individually when you are looking at packaged fertilizers. The label will have 3 numbers. The first number is nitrogen. Mostly, it feeds the leaves.
The second number is phosphorus. Mostly it feeds flowers, fruit and roots.
The third number is potassium. Potassium handles water balance and several other things.

Plants use several minerals in quantities a bit less than N, P and K.
These are so prevalent in the soils that they are not usually part of most average fertilizers.
Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sulfur (S)

Iron is usually grouped with the next group, but is used in larger quantities, and is often lacking in soils, so is often thought of by itself.

The rest of the elements that plants need, they use in such small amounts that they are usually lumped together as trace minerals. Most average soils have plenty of these. People who grow plants in containers, and specialty methods of growing plants (like hydroponics) need to think about trace minerals.

The basic thing about all the elements is this:
If your soil is lacking something, add it.
If your soil has plenty of something, do not add it.
Get to know your soil by chatting with neighbors (they may have the same soil as you), good plant nurseries or doing your own tests.

Compost is not fertilizer.
Compost is usually plant material that is starting to decompose.
It may have been eaten by a herbivore and been partially broken down that way.
It may have been piled up and decomposer organisms been encouraged to live in the pile.
Since it started out as plant material (leaves, sticks and more) all the elements ought to be there. But they are there in small amounts.
Compost is often added to the soil to improve it. Compost if very good at helping soils and the beneficial organisms that live in the soil. It needs to be well blended with the soil.

Mulch is any of a long list of things used on the soil surface for several purposes.
Usually it is plant based, such as bark chips, partially rotted compost, or many other things.
In a cool climate it can keep the soil warmer. In a warm climate it can keep the soil cooler (Clematis would like this). It keeps the soil moister. The better mulches will gradually decompose and add some nutrients to the soil. (Not very much).