Clematis: Summer clematis chat, 3 by cathy166

cathy166 wrote:
Your Empress looks lovely. The Empress and Mixed Jewel were the same size when they started out, and I have a feeling that the chipmunks did a number on it. I always purchase both, and Empress of India always stays smaller. I am surprised that it still has blooms, so I will keep an eye on it. I usually plant them ingroud, but this year decided to do a window box, and I thought they were doing very well up until last week. So well, in fact, that the leaves are larger than I've ever seen on the Jewel mix. I hope Empress will come back.

We have all been plagued by chipmunks. They have stirred up all my containers with soft soil. I always use fresh potting soil and vermiculite in containers, and it seems to make it easy for them to go after my bulbs even when nothing has sprouted. They have probably ruined about one third of the callas, have disturbed every celosia. They don't (so far) seem to go after plants in garden soil. It was suggested on another thread that I get some milorganite, so that is job number one tomorrow. There were 3 Hilo Beauty corms planted with Miss Muffett in March, and the chipmunks will not leave it alone!