That picture was taken in April of 2007.
Can we talk clematis???
I'd have to guess it's an early bloomer for you. Is it the earliest of all your clematis? Also, is the photo fairly true to the color as you saw it?
It's the only clematis I have right now, as my armandii died. Yes, the colour is pretty true. Thanks for your help.
Pretty clematis....hmmm pirl are you wanting one of those now? LOL
ggd I have one question about that clematis- does it climb by itself or do you have to tie it up?
I'll search for it tomorrow.
No, Dawn, not for myself. I have six coming this spring and haven't any idea where I'm going to put them.
clematis will climb on its own if you have the proper structure...you need something for the tendils to grasp....I use chicken wire on my fence and it clings to that. You can also have it ramble through bushes or up a tree....a trellis.
I tie it up just with garden velcro. It's just up against a 4X4 post holding up an overhang.
Chicken wire sounds good. I could wrap it around the post.
Dawn there are clematis without tendrils - thats why I asked because I thought it looked like one of the integrefolias and they need to be supported.
Ooops sorry.....
My Jackmani is right next to the downspout from the eavestroughing on our screened porch. Gets lots of water and is usually happy except a couple of years ago when we had an unusual amount of rain and it showed signs of stress. Had to divert the water flow.
Is there a handy list somewhere of which varieties should be cut back and which shouldn't?
Ann
ViolaAnn
I found this site..with a list ..and on the left column there is a link to pruning explanations.
http://www.classicclimbers.com/variety.html
Cheers,
Carol
Here's a link to an explanation of how plants vine, not just the peas featured. There's a list of plants at the right side:
http://www.gardeners.com/Trellis+Tips/trellislp,default,pg.html?SC=
Thanks for the interesting links, Carol and pirl.
Sandy
Thanks. Both are very interesting.
Am thinking I need to try another Clematis mixed with my almost white one. So come Spring, I'll go shopping.
Ann
You just need to know the group of the clematis.
Group A ( or 1) does not need pruning although if it gets too tangled you can cut it down and it will come back nicely - just wont flower for that year( flowers on old wood)
Group b/2 flowers on both old and new wood so you only want to do judicious pruning of a bit of the old. Group C/3 blooms on new wood so is pruned back hard in spring or fall.
Ann just make sure you put the same groups together otherwise need to prune or not would be a nightmare! Would not want to plant an A and a C together personally!
www.clematisontheweb.com is another great site but you do need to know the name of your clematis ,
ggd - I've looked in many places but haven't seen your clematis. Would you consider posting the photo on the Clematis forum for identification?
If so, please post a link here so we can follow the mystery clematis. Thanks.
Maybe I'd better seek out an ID on the Clematis I have. Wonder if I have any other pics of it. I'll have to search.
Ann
Found another pic which shows the colour better. At least it did when I cropped it. Let's hope it still shows when I post it.
Ann
fancyvan - your link didn't work for me for some reason.
Ann - your picture looks as if there's a faint lavender colour on the edges, is that more the true colour?
Sandy
Sorry I was doing it from memory and the memory was defective!
http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/index.cfm
Yes, Sandy. There is a very pale lavender or blue edge. I saw a few pics, but most of the ones with similar colouring had dark centres. I could probably guess that it is a group B based on others that looked at all similar, but ...
Ann
Here's a good link I found on a clematis thread:
http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemlistsearch.cfm
When you do a search you can look for what you have or what you'd like to bloom with another one you have. If you enter all the fields it's more difficult than if you just enter a color (or two - separate fields) and a month for bloom. Of course there's a huge difference in zones from Canada down to Texas so that's another consideration regarding month of bloom.
My posting was unclear. What I meant was : I have Polish spirit and Jackmanii which I do prune every year. It is all the OTHER ones (the type A ones which includes most of my clematis) that I was wondering about. Is it okay to prune back THESE to get rid of the dead stuff? Thanks Carol for answering my question, I guess I will have to sacrifice the flowers one year if I want to clean them up.
Theresa
According to what I read this morning the ones you're considering pruning back WILL bloom, just later than normal. If I find it again I'll link to it.
I love clematis flowers and have always wanted this plant but, as I didn't know much about them, did not buy one. My friend Rita belongs to a garden club and at their meetings they bring enough pots of plants to give one to each member. One meeting it was clematis plants they were sharing and Rita brought me one that she received. She planted its roots on the north side of a lovely Japanese maple, pulling its vine through to the south side of this tree as its color is pale blue and she thought that it would look well climbing the south side of this maple tree.
Unfortunately, I can never get it to grow more than one or two feet so it never climbs, it hangs up on the sword fern and parts of it grows along the ground. I think part of the problem is that the trunk of the Japanese maple is very smooth and there is no place for the clematis to cling to.
After looking at the beautiful pictures and where these plants are being grown, I think that growing clematis on chicken or other wire against the back fence would be excellent. The plants in front would shade its roots and the vines would be in the sun. I will find one clematis vine this year and give it a trial. As to which one, I am in Zone 6b and would ask for your suggestions about a clematis plant that you like which does not require pruning and is not prone to disease or dislikes quite a bit of rain. Is there one?
Thank you for any suggestions!!!!
Phil
Just two suggestions: if you want to keep one growing in the tree ( I have a lovely one in my Hawthorn) you need to put some wire on the trunk of the tree -I have mine totally wrapped up to the first main branches - so the clematis has something to climb on.
I am wondering which type of clematis you have - almost sounds like an integrifolia which does not clim without help ( tying it up to supports) or will meander along the ground.
Type A does not require pruning on a regular basis as it blooms on old wood. Clematis need lots of water.
Phil I am not good with recommendations but I do grow ALL my clematis up again my fence with chicken wire fencing stapled to the wooden fence - they do excellent with that....I also have other smaller plants planted in front.....Clematis are really easy to get addicted to. You can also grow them up a downspout if you have something for it to grow up (chicken wire or they even sell something you can attach to it for the plant to grow), you can grow them up lamps or even mailboxs...they are so much fun and yes the flowers are just gorgeous!!!