Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener: Are the Giant Nasturtiums stunting my clematis , 1 by getgoing

getgoing wrote:
My first post here so hello to everyone. I am a long time gardener, mostly the container variety except for a couple of years when I had a front and a back yard but I digress. Anyhow I look forward to active participation here. So, the matter at hand - I got two bare root plugs clematis - hf young and ville de lyon from lowes ($8 each, the package said they were 1 year old) this march and planted them in a 12 inch pot. I didn't soak the roots or spread them because i had no idea how to handle plugs and didn't do any research before planting. Both already had at least one green shoot. After a few days I also planted some nasturtium seeds after learning about the so called feet in shade preference for clematis. Eventually i left only three of the several nasturtiums that sprouted. They have grown far more vigorously than the clematis as you can see from the pictures. The hf young had 3 to 4 shoots only one of which has grown to about 3 feet or so. Others are 1 to 3 feet and none are very vigorous. The ville de lyon is only 1 shoot about 4 feet. I could not bring myself to pinching it. :( Hf young now has 3 to 4 bud and just got its first bloom. There are none yet in the other. Initially I was not worried as I read that it is best to let the root system develop rather than encourage growth of foliage and blooms. But then i read somewhere that the whole shady feet thing is bogus (they just need to have moisture for the shallow roots) and planting anything at the feet will only lead to competition for food by those additional plants. So, the question is should i pull out the nasturtium. I have dozens elsewhere so I don't particularly care for them except that these are the biggest but with the least blooms. Obviously they are getting too much food for their own good. Will pulling them out disturb the clematis? I don't want to cut off (kill or maim) the nasturtium unless I have to. I have found that they are ok with transplants as long as they have some roots. Or is it that the clematis are just fine and wouldn't have been any better off without the nasturtium competition. I am new to clematis so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This message was edited Jun 23, 2017 3:24 PM