Early morning surprises

Don't you love it when you wake up in the morning and find the first blooms of a clematis? Today it was Madame Julia Correvon and Etoile Violette.

I've also been waiting for one of my mystery clems to bloom. The plant looked identical to The President - the leaf shape, the margins on the leaves, the stem color and size - all the same. This made sense because I had 2 that from a pack of 3 teeny bareroot plants that I found on clearance at walmart one year. One was dead in the package, one grew very well and is blooming nicely, but the other I didn't see bloom. The first bloom opened during the night, and to my surprise, it's not The President. I know I've seen this clematis before, but I can't think of the name.

Happy first day of summer!

it is a multiblue. it blooms even more double in addition to the big boss on old wood and keeps blooming single like yours for a long time here in my garden. it is still blooming and has been for about 6 weeks. it is the most vigorous of any double or semi double clem i believe.
i love multiblue. it cuts well too for arrangements.

got hot here and humid yesterday,really for the first time unpleasantly hot , so i guess spring is over.

What a pretty good morning picture. That looks like another to go on the wish list.

Great way to welcome in summer! Sure is a pretty one.

I have Multi Blue already - it does bloom well. I haven't seen the single form in a couple of years as I was experimenting with cutting it back after the first flush trying to force a second flush of singles. (It doesn't work in the cold zones.)

here is my multiblue taken within the last week. it surprised me this year as most to all of the old vine was taken off due to damage and unslightly look in the spring, it bloomed far more than i thought it would. this one is about 4-5 years in the ground.

Bananna, you have to like the regular, double form of Multi Blue, because the singles aren't guaranteed to show. I've been trying to force single blooms. Yesterday I beheaded nearly all the double blooms on my older Multi Blue hoping that I will get a flush of singles.

CG - I forgot to ask, do you get singles every year on Multi Blue?

Mine is only 3-4 feet high this year, like most of the group 2s, but it bloomed like crazy. I've had my first one for 5 years.

i get singles every year and a lot of them as the pic shows. the true doubles i get only in the years there are old viable vines, i usually prune them off in the spring die to damage, unsightliness or unrulyiness.......

it is compact, and stays small (4 to 5 ft) for me with my pruning habits. good container clem for some or front of border type.

Goldfinch, what's blooming in your garden?

good to know which ones look better growing up into a tree or arbor and which will work in a bed

CG, Looking back, the vines grew taller when I cut the plant back hard in spring. This year I left many of the vines at 2-3 feet and most of the plant stayed low, although there are a few that are about 5-6 feet. It looks awkward with it's shrubby appearance then having the longer vines. I gotta get that thing off the fence.

Bananna, yes, Multi Blue should be in the border.

For Multiblue:so you prefer to hard prune.If you cut it only 2-3 ft you get long vines coming out of the shrubby form? Just checking if I understand how to manipulate the growth.

My experience has been when I hard prune Multi Blue, it grows nicely up the trellis. If I leave about 2-3 feet of stems, it stays lower, or shrubbier, and there are few taller vines. Of course, the taller vines could be off or allowed to flop back down onto the plant.

That's in my zone. Your experience might be completely different.

i just take off anything i can see which is damaged, which is usually everything. the base of my main multiblue pant is near the base of a medium boxwood which i also trim to keep it sized and i don't even dive under the boxwood to look at the base, based on that i'd say to take it one or two leaf nodes from the ground.
were it a p 3 i would be possessed to check it form the ground, but i am always with the mission to just remove the damaged vines, as i love it when i get the more double early blooms before theses flushes of fab single ones with the bog boss in the center.

Julia..Just gorgeous hon...Jeanne

JuliaJayne, sorry I'm so slow in responding to your question of what's blooming here. Haven't had time to take many pictures lately.

Here is Madame Baron-Veillard and Savannah, a non-clinging Evison/Poulsen cultivar. They're next to each other but not on the same trellis. Forgive the crappy picture with all the background clutter....

No need to apologize, I know how life gets in the way of the important stuff. lol

I love the whole picture, even what you call background clutter. I also love the combo.

It's nice to see your M. Baron Veillard is blooming. Mine actually has buds on it and should start blooming soon. Maybe it will do better this year and I won't have to move it.

I've been thinking about getting Savannah. Maybe it's the perspective in the photo, but yours looks huge.

Both Madam B-V and Savannah were new for me last year. The first year I left Savannah scramble on the ground, but it soon became apparent she was going to crawl out of the alloted space all over the yard - where my DH would mow her to pieces! I managed to keep her inbounds last year but this year I put her on a trellis and she's about 6 ft. tall already. I see I will need a bigger trellis next year. I'll try to get a better shot of just Savannah. The flowers are all on the top half so I will need to plant something in front it to disguise the bare legs. I really like the bright pink color of this one. Of course, I'm a sucker for any pink flowers!

Whatjamean crappy picture???? I think the "clutter" looks beautiful, not to mention the clems!! I would love to see another shot of Savannah as well....never realize that both were so purty!!! Nancy

Thanks Nancy. I have a bunch of non-clinging clems and enjoy them all.

Here is a picture of Savannah. Like I said it only has flowers on the top half but it's still loaded with buds.


Edited to correct spelling



This message was edited Jun 24, 2009 6:34 AM

Here is a close up of a flower.

for one year in ground that is gorgeous! Another must have added to the list! :-)

Wow, what a great clematis.

Goldfinch, I'm curious, did you plant it deeper or plant it at the same depth that it was in the pot?

diversafolia type clems should be planted an inch or so deeper, but not a lot deeper than the current soil level. intregrfolia virtually at current soil level.....
that is a nice looking savannah. i have a young one in, so i look forward to the future seeing that. (it was an ssv plant and is a couple of feet high and bushy already, so i am optimistic)

I planted it just a bit deeper than it was in the pot. I believe I got mine from SSV too - they're always so healthy. You will probably have flowers this year yet too. The picture really doesn't even do it justice.

wowzers!! That is a beautiful clematis!!! Love the colour!

My Blue Light this morning. I cut this one back to the ground this Spring because of all the rabbit damage. I didn't expect it to perform this well this year.

Edited to correct name.

This message was edited Jun 28, 2009 5:46 AM

WOW!! That's a lot of blooms. Looks wonderful.


Edited to say that I love your little fat toady ornament.

This message was edited Jun 27, 2009 8:52 AM

very nice!! I see you have raised the fence in anticipation.

Could that one be Blue Light and not Multi-Blue? She sure is a beauty....so lush looking!

it is blue light, not multiblue. amazzing plant you have there.

Oh good grief - you're right. It is Blue Light. I have it labeled correctly just typed wrong name here. I'll correct in above post. Unfortunately I didn't keep up with keeping the vines untangled on her this year. She is usually extremely wide too.

Thanks all. This one always does so well for me. Bananna, it usually does crawl all the way up the additional fence too.

Dathen, I've got 3 of those fat little toads together there. I like em too!

What a beautiful specimen of "Blue Light"..Mine wilted last year and still haven't seen her..congrats...Jeanne

goldf, how old is that blue light? is it full sun?

goldfinch: Just incredible flowers, I'm so looking forward to see what my new addiction will show.

I so love viewing every ones beautiful clems.

Thanks for sharing.

Janet

Thank you Jeanne and Janet!

Jeanne, surprisingly it has shown very little wilt in it's life. I hope yours comes back. I had Henryi and finally just got rid of it because it wilted every year (for about 6 years).

CG, I think it's about 5 years old and it is in full sun - no shade all day.

Janet, we will be anxiously waiting for pictures of your new clems too!

great plant and beautifully situated. drool drool drool!