Nice shots there, I really like how they will join together on the fencing you have put up for them to climb on.
Dawn how many total clems do ya have?
Janet
A few photo's and my first bloom!!!!
Thanks Janet. In total I have around 18-20. I really got into them when I bought my home 5 years ago.....I would love to have hundreds but my yard is way too small LOL ....My next home will have a much bigger yard for sure!
dawn, i would leave the dr r , just ignore it. when it is floppy and wilty just cut it down. you will get a few nice blooms a year...and maybe one of these years some good steady performance form it.
i spent most of the spring thinking i was cutting mine back, as blooms waned i did for sure. it can be vexing, but brings no harm to your border unless it crowds things to an extent that powdery mildew would be an issue.
you have a nice collection of clems, and room for more than you think!
Ha I wish Guru - honestly though.....I am starting to squeeze in new ones...."squeeze" being the operative word. LOL.
what is on the other side of the fence, dawn? is it a neighbors well groomed lawn, or space for the using?
i know people that started to plant in a neighbors yard with permission when they ran out of space.......always a way to find room to grow more clems.....
Ha I like my neighbours but not that much! My yard is simply inside the fencing. I told you...very small LOL! If I am going to plant clematis I want to be able to see them......you are too cute!!!
HenryI clematis growing on the trellis by the garage door.
Leawood very pretty clematis and I just love the structure you have it growing on! Perfect!
Leawood, great entrance to your garage. Love the whole set up from the structure for the clem to grow on to the shurbs and statue. Now I'm thinking the missing panel on the door is either for a dog or cat? Which is it?
Janet
This message was edited Jul 1, 2009 10:32 PM
Thanks, Janet. The panel in the door is for my two garden sentries - Jake and Ruby. In previous years, I've had so many squirrels (I have 7 oak trees on my lot), ground squirrels and rabbits in my garden that I could not grow certain perennials (rabbits love echinacea, rudebecia and the lettuce, tomatoes etc. I crave). Last year I got my garden sentries as kittens and this year they are big enough to run all the rodents out of my yard and into the neighbors.
Funny, I really like your to sentries. perrrrrrrrrrrfect for the job???? LOL
I also like your face planter that is sitting behind them, nice threesome there.
Janet
Well they have done a great job, so far. Ruby (the black female) is a real hunter - she is eager to get outside at 6:00 am each morning. Jake is more laid back, but he's aggressive at chasing the larger animals (neighborhood dogs and cats) out of the yard.
Dawn,
I just purchased a 'Multi-Blue' and the flowers on my plant are different from yours (at least from what I can tell from your pics). The "whiskers" in the center of the flower on my MB are really big and bushy. Are they like that on your MB? I LOVE my Clematis MB - it's one of my favorites, but I tend to like the small-flowered clematis over the large-flowered clematis.
I think my favorite small-flowered clematis is the straight species of Clematis texensis. It took me almost 20 years to find a plant, and it was certainly worth the wait!
Mike
edited to correct wording
This message was edited Jul 3, 2009 6:50 AM
Mike I not 100% sure that it is Multi-blue...I have never seen it with double blooms because I normally have to prune it back to a foot every spring in my climate. To me it looks exactly like The President. So who knows...maybe the tag was switched? I call it multi-blue cause that is what the tag said but maybe I should be calling it The President.
The texensis sure are pretty. Only 20 years eh? LOL.
Dawn,
OK, thanks.
My plant is young, also, so I have not seen any double blooms on my plant either, but even the single flowers are extraordinary. I checked the back of the flower last night and there are thin, bright white stripes going down the back of each petal (or whatever they are, botanically).
Yeah, only 20 years! (:o) That's not too bad considering that I had almost given up hope of ever finding a plant for sale. The species of C. texensis dies back to the ground each year and so it cannot be rooted by stem cuttings, and that's why you don't see it offered for sale anywhere. The only way to propagate the plant is by seed and it can take 3 years for the seed to germinate.
Thanks,
Mike
Here are some sun filled pictures of The President (again - sorry that is all that is blooming right now LOL).
One is hiding on me....
The one blooming is The President of course....right beside him is Comtess de bouchard which is full of blooms and should be opening soon!
Here is mult-blue smiling in the sun!
Here are my recovering clematis from the hail storm...they seem to be doing well....lots of new growth.....
amazing hail recovery. you will have a nice late summer of blooms, which is nice s having everything bloom early. they look vigorous and healthy. hope fully no more hail!
Dawn:
Natures way of pruning for you, looks like it has made a full recovery. Wonderful to see this.
I just picked up 1 President clem - thanks to all of you showing me yours....LOL
I'm cutting it back as it has several vines and planting at an angle.
You folks are very bad for my wallet....LOL
Janet
janet be careful of the angle planting. in cold zones planting at an angle exposes more root mass to the top and colder ground. the reason the root mass is shaped as it is is that the top of the crown protects the larger root mass which should not be exposed to the top of the soil. i have heard of this being a technique in warmer zones..but you can train the vine where you want it when it emerges in the spring.
i never angle plant and do not recommend it for colder northern zones like ours.
Well, DH talked me into going to the Lake today so I didn't get the new ones planted and the other four were already planted before I started reading about this. Glad I checked in here now I just plant them regular.
Thanks again CG
Janet
my pleasure. when you think about the shape of the root and the purpose of the crown, it seems clear and natural, no?
It must have been nice by the lake meadow.....we had great weather here today.
It was beautiful even with some cloud cover that finally gave way to this afternoon.
Windy which didn't help my sinuses which I'm still recovering from sinus surgery and any cold A/C or wind just sets it off to hurting and drainage again. Sometimes I think I'll never get over this...LOL
I'm a native Floridan and any chance to be by the water is very refreshing for me. Just wish it had been warmer. Can't get over the temps this time of the year.
Janet
Oh Janet - so sorry to hear about your troubled sinuses. That can't be good. Yes I can only imagine that the temps this year would be affecting you in a bad way.
I can't even imagine the difference in climate for you coming from FL - wow! why the move?
Dawn:
I was in Florida then married a man from Kentucky there for 18 years until his company left for mexico, so this company had a position in Tampa and I'm all happy thinking we were going to go back until at the last minute they say they want his job to be in Oak Wood OH, just south of Cleveland. Well you go were the job is when you are our age. Now that company has laid him off, so we are in limbo right now trying to figure out what to do, go back to KY or to Florida. My dad is in Bradenton, south of Tampa and I really should be closer but just don't know. We are giving it till December to make a final decision as to what and where to go.
I love the summers here and HATE the winters. But it is so good to be close to the water and have a breeze. KY not much for water and no breeze unless a change of weather front is moving through, LOL
Now I totally understand the summers up north and winters in Florida...
Janet
Gosh it just seems like ALL our retirees head to Fl for the winter and then head home for summer...it is kinda funny from this end.... I mean they all LOVE Canada but some of them prefer the warmer climates all year round...can't blame them.....I would too.
Sounds like you have some decisions to make......
Honestly though and only my opinion....I can't picture Christmas without snow.....so I do enjoy the quiet and solitude that the winter months so offer and it isn't really all that bad. Some nights we have gone for wonderful walks in fluffy snowflakes and it is only -5C here.....gorgeous nights......However there are many sub zero conditions that enough to frighten you LOL!!! Yes our gas bills can be quiet high LOL...... but all in all I think I love where I live cause I do get to see ALL 4 seasons.
LOL -5C glad you can handle that not this southern gal.
The first year here is just snowed a few inches each day, well I'm thinking ok can handle this, then the next year when we finally found this fixer upper, it snowed over a foot each week..... Made one of my collies so upset that she bloated which cost me 2,000.00 the snow just freaked them out.
We did get snow in KY but only a little, it was mostly ice which is worst than snow and on rare occasions we would get 3-4 foot of snow. Which me and my collies could handle...
Nope I love the warms and being by the water.
Janet
Each to his own right? LOL.....I tell you - you certainly have to be tough to live in the colder zones.....LOL
Just look at all the flower buds about to open on my Comtess de Bouchard...yes now you can expect a million photo's of this one since this is the next gorgeous clematis in bloom for me.
This CDB is 5 years old and she is a blooming machine for me!!! Love her... Her first bloom this season.....
Yes same clematis bloom from another angle teehee!
This one is planted in the front yard and she was only planted last spring. I have her with Scartho Gem and I have no idea how the blooms will look together but if I don't like it I will move Scartho Gem this fall....
A close up
dawn, i love this clem and yours is amazing. mine struggle a bit and never give quite the show i know they are capable of. this year in particular. please post yours when in full bloom, ok? i have to re think my locations of them and maybe do some more in a better location. your looks like it will show the blooms and plant off to full advantage. looking forward to seeing that as they open..here we have some lingering blooms of the comtesse, but it is basically bloomed out. now you see the advantage of being up there in that zone. nice.
Yum, all those buds are fantastic! I love CdB.
Will do - you can be sure i will be posting way more photo's of these 2 plants......I bet in a few days several will be open....yahooo!!