Hi clematis gurus!
I am not a guru, but I have quite a few clematis, and I planted one in a bad spot. I cannot weed around it in the summer because of the HUGE Russian Sage that's beside it in a corner of house and fence. Poison ivy started growing in the clem last summer, I chopped it off, and of course it's back. The clem is a 5 year old viticella 'purpurea plena elegans', and is a beautiful healthy plant, but I can't leave that awful weed in it!! I have always been afraid to transplant my clems, but think this a pretty tough one. Can anyone give me suggestions for transplanting? Can I put it in a pot until I'm sure I have killed the poison ivy? I think I need to wait until it's finished blooming to transplant - is that true?
Thanks!
Lisa
I have never transplanted a clematis and need help
you can cut it back and move it at anytime, but consider heat and maybe this is not best time of year. this celm wil not come back fast when you move it and will not bloom again that year. i have a big one and last year it got damaged after ti was pretty vigorous, so i pruned it off in late spring, thinking it would pop right back and be vigorous and bloom later. not such luck, it took it's time and did into get real vigorous and not blooms.
i get the sense with this clem, you would be better to move it in late summer provided you can care for it as to water, prune it back to a foot or two from the ground when you move it. it should be fine next season if it gets some growing time in after the move. the plant is so vigorous, that its behavior after the damage and pruning required was a surprise to me.
theother alternative would be late late winter awhen ground is thawed but plant still dormant.
i think mine is 5 years old too!
do you have a lot of clems? what are your favorite performers?
so cool you are in my area. if you are up here n of dublin, (we are 3 miles n of columbus zoo) would love to meet you. the rain yesterday has been hard on the blooms..thanks goodness none today so far and none predicted. we are still sodden and need to dry out!
I know for myself I don't have "that" clematis but I have moved some at this time of year.....all I do is dig a whole as big as I can...move it and put it in a place it will be happy...cut it back by at least half and water lots....for me this has worked. I mean if you have no patience like me...you can still do it....just be sure to fill the whole properly and put bone meal etc...in the whole.....JMO.
Thanks Dawn and Guru! I'm going to have to ponder this for a while, since I really can't decide whether to move this clem to a completely new spot somewhere or not, and I hate to chop it down in full bloom. I have neglected all my clems (only about 8 of them) this spring because I am a daylily addict and was busy making a new bed for the 60 or so new DLs and planting them all! I don't feed and care for the clematis like I should.
Guru, I always want more clematis, but I have a hard time figuring out where to put them. I can see from your posts of your gorgeous gardens that I could get some ideas from you! I do have 3 of them scrambling around with the other perennials - Ernest Markham is climbing over a huge peony, Ville de Lyon is in a big hardy geranium, and Venosa Violacea? sp? is sprawling around a knifophia (sp? again). I have Henryi and Julia Correvon and another whose name I don't remember on a big arbor. Ville de Lyon doesn't bloom much for me. Henryi took 3 years to get going, but it is awesome now. I also have a sweet autumn clematis that I might take out and replace with a smaller one. It has formed a huge ball from lack of pruning on a post on our front porch. I should have known better, because I saw it's parent plant! It had climbed clear to the top of a 20' post and formed a big ball of blooms and foliage up there. I also got Avante Garde 3 years ago. The blooms are not nearly as impressive as the pictures on the web sites. I tried to grow Will Goodwin twice with no luck. I planted Julia Correvon in the same spot, and she took off.
That's my clematis story.
I would love to see your place, Guru, since we almost live in the same county!
Lisa
Here is Henryi:
Dawn, it works for me too.
Lisa, Henryi is taking a long time to establish in my garden too. Yours is stunning.
lisa /mlt come on over. i am here all week. not here next week, but here all weekends.