Two of My Favorite Things!

During the heavy rains we had a couple of weeks ago my prize Clematis became so heavy with water that the wire holding the trellis to the house broke. I looked out the window to see the whole thing leaning way over, and my heart to leaped into my throat! Something had to be done immediately, so out I went to fix it in the rain.

It proved to be a two-man job, so Ross graciously helped rewire the trellis to the house while I held the huge, soggy plant. Then I tied it up as best I could, hoping I wasn't ruining it in the process.

Clematis Jackmanii...tied up with string!



As you can see by this next picture, its now blooming beautifully which makes me very happy :)



In the window box next to it are Pink Morn petunias, ivy geraniums and alyssum. I like the bright pink of the petunias with the deep purple clematis.

You can also see another clematis, called Carnaby, in the corner. It's a spring bloomer. I posted a picture of the flower in a previous post, here



I've planted Pink Morn in a few containers too. I love its bright face!



The blooms have multipied since I took this photo, but a light rain is falling this morning, so I can't take an updated picture until it stops. Hopefully we'll see the sun later today.



The Jacmanii is now completely covered with blooms. It's an amazingly vigorous and showy plant. Is it any wonder that I love it so much?



I bought 2 new clematis this year. Yesterday I planted this lovely one, called Sprinkles, in the new garden Ross made for me. The other is called Regency and is a beautiful shade of pinkish red. You can see the tag in the background.

Clematis should have its "Head in the sun, feet in the shade", so plant something around the roots, or put down a 4-inch layer of mulch to keep them cool and moist. It prefers slightly alkaline soil, so you may need to add just a little lime if your soil is on the acid side. Keep it well watered (but don't drown it!). Like most plants, they need good drainage. My Jackmanii and Carnaby have thrived with all the rain we've had. I prune the plants to within a foot of the ground in early spring. Train the new vines onto your trellis, spacing them apart so the flowers will show better. To encourage the Carnaby to climb this year, I added some nylon fishing line to the trellis. That helped a lot.

Don't prune in the fall...this encourages the plant to emerge from dormancy at the first sign of warm weather, which is often much too early, and the new growth can't take the return to winter that is inevitable in our Northeastern climate.

I read a great article last year about clematis in Garden Gate magazine, and this information is from that. It was a free sample so there's no date to tell you how to find it. There's so much great information in the article that I'd love to print the entire thing, but I can't of course, for obvious reasons.

One interesting thing I learned is that there are 3 groups of clematis, and they are pruned differently, but all in the spring. If you have any questions, you could e-mail me, and maybe I could find the answer in the article for you.

I now subscribe to Garden Gate magazine and really like it! They certainly chose their articles well for that free sample...good marketing strategy there :)