I bought a small plant a couple of weeks ago, and it hasn't done a thing, yet. I doubt that it's acquired even one new leaf.
Can we grow these around here? Or should I attempt a different vine?
Jo
Clematis - am I wasting my time?
Which clematis did you plant?
For the most part, they don't handle our hot summers very well.
Mexican Flame vine, snail vine, orchid vine, rangoon creeper and passifloras do fantastic here.
knolan, where you been!? I miss you. We gotta get together sooner than later!
Clematis do grow here, although it's taken me a while to figure out their requirements.
They like sun, but their root area does not like it, even below the ground. If you can find a place that the roots are shaded, but the flowers get sun, your halfway there. It took a couple of years for the plant to bloom, and even now it's still working on it. Each year I get a few more flowers. It certainly doesn't bloom like you see in the cooler climates. So if your wanting to plant clematis, plan on blooms next year or the year after.
I've added a new one to the list, it's suppose to be a Texas clematis that Vossner gave me last summer, can't remember the name..they bloom bell shaped flowers..
Here is a picture of the ones I have.
Here is a link to that clematis..okay it's not a Texas Clematis but a Texenisis. Vossner did say it grows well here.
http://store.chalkhillclematis.com/crispa1726.html
that site has some good info on it..I found it on the vines and climbers forum...
http://store.chalkhillclematis.com/order.html
Rj
Hi Randy - I'm missing you too. It's been crazy around here. I had a flood in the house in late Feb. (over flow sensor on the washing machine). Had to replace the flooring in over half the house so went ahead and did the entire house. Tile, wood and carpeting....much better. Of course, that meant a lot of rooms needed to be repainted as well (not quite finished with that project) and a few new bits of furniture. You know how one project leads to another.....almost ready to replace the counters and walls in the kitchen. I'm ready to have you guys over though! I'm missing my friends! Pick a day, any day.
Sorry to ramble on this thread.
Jo - if anyone can grow a clematis....it's Randy.
Clematis will grow here, but it really does like cool feet (roots) if you can provide that situation for the plant(s) as rjuddharrison also indicated. My sister grows it successfully in Fort Worth. She generally plants right up against the house (under the overhangs) and mulches well. That seems to help somewhat in keeping a lot of the sun off of the roots, then of course the plants (foliage/vine) grow up and out past the overhang into the sun.
I'm no clematis expert, but I do know my sis likes to start out with large/established plants for the best results.
Yes, as others said before, shade the roots and you are good. Also, give it some time to get established. Mulch well and give them plenty of water until they establish.
One suggestion is to plant a bushy plant all around that will shade it (but is not going to hog it's water). Lightly filtered sun places seem to do well too. Three of mine are planted on a north facing wood privacy fence. I am surprised how well this has worked. They have lots of bright light with nothing above them, a bit filtered through the fence, hit a little sun in the summer when they get to about 4 feet.
indeed, were I to plant clematis again I would start with a larger plant.
oooh..Knolan..
I've been through that- carpet and all. What a pain!
I planted mine right next to the deck steps, so the roots are always shaded and well mulched.
clematis are the strangest plants. don't give up on them. in the hot summer here the vines will appear to be dead. then long about late aug./ sept. green leaves will start growing all along those dead vines. also, i thought many of mine had died last year. i never saw them. i had planted them the fall before. then this spring here they all are. i have several in the ground from last fall right now that are blooming. mulch the roots or grow other plants around them. they are worth trying to grow.
Thanks everyone! My plant is small, and doing nothing even in this cool weather. I think I "am" going to give up since I only have room for one vine. My one vine needs to perform better than this! :)
Again, thanks.
Jo
If this is your first year, I wouldn't be too impatient. I have Rosemoor and it has take 2 years for them to start doing okay. Last year I had some blooms, but they were slow to get going. I really thought they had died, but when I went to redo my flowerbeds a couple of months ago, I found they had huge root systems, so I replanted them and now they are really starting to grow. The blooms are worth the wait to me, but I have them mingling with a climbing rose, so I have something to look at when they are trying to get going.
For what it's worth, I bought a bare root The President from J&P and put it in a 6-8" pot that is about 10"deep. Then I put that in a much larger pot and set it out in front of my front door where I could be sure and see it. Every years it comes back (this is its 3rd year), gets about a foot tall, blooms beautifully - just one bloom - and just sits there the rest of the year until early fall when it blooms again - just one bloom, again - and then goes dormant. It seems to be happy w/its way of life and I am satisfied that it puts out such a large dark flower twice a year. Where I have it I don't want it to grow very big and it hasn't. I must say, tho, that it is bright shade, no direct sun but it is outside and not inside. Sometimes if you don't expect much that's what you get but at least I'm getting something for the watering and fertilizing and I will be able to take it w/me if and when we get to move out of the horrible house. I figure the roots must be getting nice and full!
Ann
Hi , I hope you do not mind me chiming in, but my guess is we are even hotter here than you are and I have clematis blooming everywhere in my yard. They do prefer some afternoon shade here in my climate and I try to keep the roots shaded and mulched.
Here is a link to some of what we have blooming in the desert.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/833835/
I have found it has taken at least 1 year for mine to really take off.
This is yesterday. Bought this last spring and it promptly went dormant. Moved it because of another plant. So far, so good. I don't have lasting good luck with clematis but I keep on trying.
Christi
I picked up a clematis on clearance my first summer here. Planted it that fall. In the spring it grew very little, a couple blooms, and it was done. I just left it be. This year it has doubled in size and is full of blooms, but still on the small side compared to my passis and other vines. But I will keep watching it to see how it does next year.
:) Kim
Jo - hi from another Sugar Lander! :)
Go check out the Clematis forums. There is a lady over there (JeanneTX) who lives in Willis, Tx, not too far from us that grows all kinds of Clems. She can tell you just about everything you need to know about clematis.
Just remember that Clematis are - first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap - vines. For me, it's worth the wait! I planted Claire de Lune last year and she grew a bit of foliage in Spring, but got all brown and dead looking in the hot summer. But I moved her to a shadier spot this year and she's already given me a couple of blooms. This is her creep year, so I'm really looking forward to next year for the Leap!
Good luck.
Yes, matter of fact that's who I go to for Clematis advice...
don't forget to fertilze it. Mine does much better with a weekly splash of 20 20 20 during the growth season.
Just took this today. You don't have to buy the largest but do buy the healthiest. This is HF Young and it's only a year old. I bought the healthiest 4" I could find last April at Lowes. The one with lots of strong growth and lots of roots hanging out the bottom.
This is The President. I bought this one on clearance in early June last year so it's not quite as big. It was not as healthy but it's doing pretty well. It really needs a taller trellis, which I am searching for.
I bought a clematis through a coop last spring. They were very tiny, I think they were in pots about 1 1/2 inches square. I couldn't plant it for about a month and it didn't look very good when I finally got it in the ground. Then a few months later DH was helping me weed and he thought it was a morning glory or something and pulled it out. About an hour later I looked to see how it was doing and didn't see it and asked DH where it was. He said "oh you mean this thing?" So I stuck it back in the ground and said a prayer. This spring we've been so busy I didn't think about checking on my clematis and then one day I noticed this thing climbing the post and it was atleast 2 feet long and it even had branches. I thought clematis were finicky.
I've grown clematis in Bellaire for several years. I've lost only one and I think an over-eager weeding helper did that one in. I grow them up through roses so the roots are "sort-of" in shade. I've had the best luck with, I think, General Sikorski (I lost the name, but it's a deep blue with extremely prominent stamens). The vine looks dead in early spring. I have to admit that I don't always prune it, but it doesn't seem to matter. I've got some blooming now inside "Buff Beauty" rose.
Leslie
I would love to grow a Clematis in the back corner of my yard. I have a perfect place, but I'm concerned about the "Danger" rating. I have a small Dachsund puppy (6 mos) and we've already made 2 trips to the ER ($$$ !!), so I don't want to plant anything she might have a problem with. Does anyone have experience with these and puppies? So far she hasn't been much trouble with my plants, other than dropped twigs, etc.
Cathie
I don't have any personal experience to relate, but Clematis does show up on several lists of plants poisonous to dogs that I found. :-( That's a major bummer. Our backyard is currently a big empty slate, partially because we are waiting for our dog to grow out of the "put anything in her mouth that she can find" stage.
Maybe just put the Clematis behind some stuff so it's climbing up a fence, but she can't get to it? Or put a little mini-fence in front of it that a dachsund can't get over (some of those little wrought iron edgings that look like fences might work for you). Raised bed? Something like that. At least yours is little - mine's a 50 pound mutt! lol.
Here's a list of plants that are NOT poisonous to dogs, for your reference.
http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/HEALTH/pplantsnon.htm
I have a jackmanii that I've been growing for about 15 years. Since it is jackmanii, it took a couple of years to get established. But since then, it's been carefree and blooms lovely purple flushes for me several times a year.
Thanks digigirl! Sometimes the answer is so obvious I can't see it. I've been using the little fencing around my newly planted stuff to keep her from digging...but I was only looking at it as a temporary solution. Don't know why it wouldn't work in the area I have in mind. I've been to several sites compiling a list of "safe" plants, but I hadn't found the site you listed yet. Thanks for the link.
By the way, it's been 20 years since I had a puppy.... WHEN do they grow out of the "eat everything in sight" stage!?
We lost our minds and accepted a 4 month old pup from my sister.
As I remember from the last one it was a good 2 years before she was actually an adult dog. About 4 more to really settle down. Having the same problem with eating everything. He especially likes pecans. 16 month old grandaughter is on a par with the puppy right now.
I'm too old for all of this energy.
Christi
Well, our dog is about a year and a half old now and she doesn't eat *everything* anymore, but she still does go after a lot of stuff. And it has a lot to do with if she's bored or not. If she's bored, anything is fair game.
She gets a rawhide bone almost every day, and we've gone through many, many rope and other chew toys, so that she always has something legal to chew on and that helps. She does seem to be getting better - and settling down - as she gets older, but she's definitely not completely done with that behavior yet.
We're also noticing that she is definitely getting smarter now. She is picking up new commands a lot quicker than she used to.
well Christi darlin, you know Chester has a home with me anytime! :)
I noticed a big difference in clematis growing from zone 8 to 9...there are certainly alot more in 8.
Well, I'm gonna give it the old college try to grow as many as I can here in zone 9! I've got 8 varieties so far, mostly as babies, and there's tons more I'd love to have. Here's hoping I can grow them all successfully!