A few pics from a beginner

Well, I think I've finally become brave enough to post some pictures of some of my first clem blooms. I've been very reluctant to do so after seeing such gorgeous photos from all of the pro's and such beautiful, mature plants. But, I have very few people to share in my excitement over my new addiction, so here goes.

I started out last year planting about 5 liners and having no idea what I was doing. I didn't really believe what I read about those million-dollar holes you are supposed to dig. What is funny is that I couldn't imagine why you people would order clems through the mail and pay those prices when I could get them from Lowe's for 5 or 6 bucks. That was before the addiction. I won't even tell you how many I have now, but in addition to the many I have bought from SSV and Uncle Greenthumb, I have dozens in one-gallon pots that were bought either as liners or bareroot from Walmart. I enjoy the challenge of growing things in that way, but like to supplement with immediate gratification as well. I won't even have a place to plant all of these if they continue to live and thrive.

My first photo is one that was bought as a liner last spring and spent the winter on the deck in a 4-inch pot because I forgot about it. I assumed it was dead when I found it this year, but planted it in a large clay pot. Now it is one of my favorites, HF Young.
BTW, please tell me if any of these were incorrectly tagged.
And, yes, I'm aware of many mistakes I've already made and I'm sure I'll continue to make. I just can't wait until next spring and summer to see what my clems that I planted this yr will look like.



This message was edited Jul 2, 2009 12:05 AM

I love purples and reds together. Here is one of my multi-blues next to my Fourth of July rose.

This message was edited Jul 1, 2009 11:23 PM

Tie Dye was bought as a liner from Brushwood this spring and planted Easter weekend. Their liners are better than most, as CG has indicated in previous threads. Having lots of good memories of the 60's, this is one of my favorites and I want to buy more. This was its first bloom, but produced 6 or 8 others. I've given it a partial prune, hoping for more blooms.

Avant Garde is a SSV vine planted around Easter weekend as well. It climbed to the top of the trellis and still has a few blooms. This was its first bloom.

This was taken middle of May. It was a Lowe's liner I let bloom when I knew I was supposed to prune it. It has since been pruned and is putting out new growth. I have learned to love this white one and have several others.

Forgot to say that this is Candida. I can't believe how much editing I'm having to do as I go back and proof what I typed while the baby was taking a nap earlier today. I THINK I read that this one can be treated as a Group 2 or 3 and I was very pleased with the blooms. It grew very fast, also.

This message was edited Jul 2, 2009 12:29 AM

This is a liner, Rouge Cardinal, that I kept in a one-gallon pot for several months until a few days ago when I planted it with a mature RC I ordered from SSV. I'm sure Debbie's vine will win the race within a week or two. (This IS Rouge Cardinal, isn't it?)

After posting this one, I realized that I think I forgot to rotate the photo. My grandbaby was about to wake up and I was trying to hurry.

This message was edited Jul 1, 2009 11:27 PM

Beginner or not you could never tell Sharkey - you have some great looking blooms there! You did a great job! Love all your choices too!

I really like your descriptions.It is great that you have so many lovely blooms. It looks like you have a green thumb, lots of passion (AKA addiction)and that Florida weather is helping. It is especially interesting to me to see how clems do in hot weather zones.

By the time I found my first John Warren bloom open the other morning, it was totally drooping and I just wanted to cry, as I had so looked forward to that large bud opening. I watered it and later it recovered and came back to life! It amazes me how these blooms can do that in this heat when you think they are dead. It has been 98 degrees in the shade here lately, so I'm surprised these clems are doing as well as they are.
Since my crepe myrtle tree offers the ONLY shade in my yard (unless I want to go to the surrounding acreage and plant under pecan trees where the deer hang out), I decided to perform an experiment and plant a few shade loving varieties in pots with the bottom removed. John seems to be happy there for now.

This was taken of Galore in the middle of May. It is one of the liners I planted last year next to the steps to my deck and next to a double red knock out rose. I was amazed at how it performed--the length and the number of blooms. It had dozens and dozens of blooms that lasted for weeks. I have sinced pruned it by half and it is putting out healthy new growth. It is obviously one that I would recommend for beginners. I wish I had bought more than one last year.
BTW, thank you, Dawn and bananna18 (I'm dying to ask how you came up with that name.)

Kermasina was also planted around Easter weekend, another SSV vine. I have high hopes for it in the future.

I planted Gypsy Queen with Jackmanii thinking that GQ was going to be more burgundy, but I fell in love with the velvety purple color. It is definitely one of my favorite blooms so far.

Very nice clem's. I especially like the way the clematis look with the brick on your home.

Very nice.I see why GQ is your fav right now.Taking notes about Galore and Kermasina. That crepe myrtle experiment looks like it is working. I have thought of doing that that but I always have to cut down the extra shoots and that may end up being hard with clems growing through it.
My name is quite boring. My name is Anna, rhymes with banana which I am called at work and 18 is a good number and my BD.After I saw some of the other names people had , I would have preferred something more creative.
I love how you picked your name.I always imagine you walking with rubber boots,ropes and a greek sailor cap!

Don't know why you were hesitant to show pictures - your clems are beautiful! Thanks for sharing them. Very pretty!

Very nice and well done!!..You have some gorgeous clematis..You'll adore "Galore" as he matures..so vigorous and what a blooming fool...Jeanne

and a closeup

Banana18, that's very funny! Actually, I love Greek hats, but I've never owned one. And, my shark fishing was mostly done from our boat, so I didn't have rubber boots, but probably should have. When we took the grandgirls, we fished from the surf to be safer. Now, I'd much rather grow a big clematis like Guru's than to catch a big shark. I keep looking at her photo of VDL. I planted two within the last two weeks. Maybe if I'm lucky enough to be here 8 yrs from now, mine will look somewhat like that.

The only problem with planting under that tree is keeping the shoots that you don't want cut back. I'm sure it's going to be a pain.

Jeanne, your Galore is beautiful. I was very surprised to see what mine did the second year.

sharkey, i just did a loong reply to your posting and lost it with some type of a transmission blip....grrrr

love your clem collection. the avante g and kermesina really show how vigorous a larger root can be, ssv style.
love your clem selection. the purple one that has the white flashes on the sepals, is that shadow on the pic or is it really slashed with white (not the tie dye, it is a purple after that one.????
interesting
look for ward to learning more about your zone and challenges with heat and wether you get a dormant period, which clems love and some clems need to be vigorous and floriferous.

anyway thanks for posting and sharing. my longer response got blipped as i mentioned so will leave it at that....

CG, thank you SO much for your positive comments. I'm so sorry that your longer message didn't come through. I've relied on your advice so much this year and appreciate your help. I'm sure my questions have been on the verge of being annoying at times. Have you noticed that I've quit asking questions about pruning? I'm just going to do what feels right at the time. I'm not one to like dead leaves, so something tells me I will be a heavy pruner. I deadhead all my flowers and roses almost every day.

The bloom in question is supposed to be Rouge Cardinal if labeled correctly at Lowe's. I'm quite sure those aren't shadows. I will check in the morning and make sure. I think that's the photo I forgot to rotate. I believe it's actually more red than the photo made it appear.

I also have a Warsaw Nike I will photo in the a.m. I bought two liners from Lowe's early spring. One is planted on the fence I told you about months ago and the other was still in a one-gallon pot. Both are extremely aggressive. The one in the pot has many blooms. I believe I remember your saying that you recently bought one of these. I'm looking forward to planting that one in the ground maybe in the fall or early spring. I think it has a lot of potential.

I've planted 6 or 8 clems in the last couple of weeks. With this weather, they are growing very well, so I hope to have more photos before fall. We finally got a couple of good downpours this week. There's just something about rain water that my hose can't duplicate that the flowers love.

I did have to prune Barbara H. back when she wilted, so I have had some disappointments, but I've learned not to worry. She has a great root system and I'm sure she'll recover. Also, I planted a liner from Brushwood, Belle of Woking, that has not shown any sign of buds, but I read that it is sometimes hard to get established.

I think last winter was colder than usual here. I know I had to cover my satsuma tree too many times. So, I hope this next winter offers the clems the dormant period that they need. I've certainly invested a lot of time and money gambling that this will be the case.

It's such a joy to walk out with my morning cup of coffee and find a newly opened clem bloom and I've had fun with this project this year. That's what is important. Right? I also hope that my grandgirls will remember these clems and will carry on the tradition one day.

sharkey, i know what you mean. i don't think anyone will carry on my clems but i am only 58 so if i do not move i can have many more years with them..my g kids and daughter and her husband are in south fla.....very tropical and not good clem area.
if i ever move i will move most of the clems. but no plans to move. house too big for the two of us and chihuahua .......
my warsaw nike , which i pinched back two or three times is kind of not growing that much right now, don't know if i will see a bloom this year. would love to see your bloom if you post a pic. i understand it is a lot like niobe and i actually planted mine in one of the niobe displays as i want to see the difference (eventually)...

planted 6 clems this am, luckily most of the holes were pre dug and used the last of my soil mixture...maybe time to stop planting!!!

i have a houseguest , she is leaving tomorrow morning and then i will get back into the photo and coffee routine. also our poopy weather may be dissapating . this morning went out at 630 am while guests and hubbie slept to get those clems in the ground....looks to be sunny today for the first day all week i think....

i laugh every time i think of your hubbies comment about gardening being contact sport, i was covered in mud this morning, but all in the washer and me cleaned up before company got up......

Yes, he can be quite a clown sometimes. But, he was right. The scars are just beginning to heal on my arms and I avoided going to a wedding, as I think I forgot how to dress for public. I now prefer the gardener look, although he probably doesn't. My little toddler grandchild that just left an hour ago kept looking at my hair and saying "Uh-oh." I didn't know it looked THAT bad.

Here is another pic of the one that has the white stripe that you were curious about. I took it this a.m. when little one was helping me water. She got more water on her than on the clems. It has two blooms. The one on the right has a touch of white as well and looks redder than the other. Can you verify that this is Rouge Cardinal? You can't see the SSV vine planted with it, but it has only been in the ground less than a week.

Two wks ago I planted a VDL from SSV along with my VDL liner that had been potted up for a few months. Today I noticed that Debbie's vine is now larger than my liner. Not surprising, though.

Here is Warsaw Nike, aka Midnight Showers? As a liner, it has surprised me. It has 5 vines about 4 ft. tall with lots of blooms. Of course, it could have been labeled incorrectly. I don't trust any of the tags now from Lowe's.

I have another I will post in a moment that I want you to identify. It also has white stripes. I'm beginning to think it is an ingredient I put in my soil mixture. Let me know if these white stripes are not supposed to be on these blooms, please.

Here is a photo of what is supposed to be Jackmanii. I planted it as a bareroot back in early April. I know I shouldn't have let it bloom, as I've been keeping most of them pruned back. Notice the white stripe. It reminds me more of Venosa V, although I don't have one of them. Please tell me if this is Jack.

rouge cardinal has not white. that one you thought was rouge cardinal is very interesting.

sometimes a first bloom or two of a clem look different. my consort had a blue and white first bloom, then they all appeared "normal". however, your two purples do look like they are producing multiple blooms that are different.

every clem i have bought from lowes (only 2)have been mislabeled. lok up a clem called minselik (check spelling too) on COTW.
i will defer on identifying attempt at this time as your climate and the fact that they are newly blooming come into play. but you do not have rouge cardinal and jackmanii as they look right now. how fun for you to watch, wait, research, get some other insights here form those in warmer climates....this is part of the fun of clems. i would love that dark purple one with the white central area...cool...so you might have lucked out!

keep posting.....looking forward to the dialogue on this!

I went to COTW. It is spelled miniseelik, but looks much pinker than my "RC." It's a good thing I like mysteries. I think I'm going to enjoy waiting to see what this one turns out to be. The second bloom has very little white and both are more purple than red at this time.

Which dark purple one do you think is cool? The one impersonating Jack or RC?

The first photo of RC on COTW has a hint of a stripe.

Did you read the recent newsletter from ACS? Do you have Rebecca and is it truly a red?

i have rebecca and it is truly red. attached photo. i planted it (got it from joy creek) in early may, it had several blooms recently and they looked like they would fade in harsh sun as they linger so i am glad i have it (by accident) in filtered shade....bugs have been munching the flower....
i like your "rc", have several rc's from 3 to 7 yrs old an have never had one with white central area. will check out cotw pic on this. i think it is def cool...you will have fun with these clems i am sure.

will get in a lot of garden time this weekend and take control of the buggies and weeds and catch up with all the clems!

sharkey:

Where are you located in Florida, I don't know where you are in relation to say Tampa?

I think for a beginner you have done very well. You certainly have an eye for some very unique clems as well as you care of them is rewarding you with the blooms.

I too started out with just a very few clems as I'm in northern Ohio and I really didn't think they could make it through this north pole weather (this is what I, a native Floridian call it) so didn't get too many. One didn't make it... the other 5 made it. 4 of them from Chalk Hill 3 did return this year one didn't and 1 from the dead pile at Walmart came back. But then the good soil mixed with sweet peat and leaf humus I believe is what is responsible for their return....LOL

I so enjoyed seeing your growing clem collection. Please don't ever be shy to show us more and keep us updated.

Janet

Thank you very much, Janet. I'm probably about 5 hours NW of Tampa. I live about an hour west of Tallahassee close to the Ala/GA line. So, I believe our winters are a lot colder than those in Tampa/Orlando area. I've heard so many times that you can't grow clems in Florida, but I think that applies to South Fla. where the winters aren't harsh enough to give the clems a dormant period. At least, I hope that's the case. If S. FL had the kind of winters we do here, we probably wouldn't enjoy so much FL orange juice. But, I try to be careful how I talk about cold weather because of what our northern friends go through. I actually love our winter weather. When you lived in Tampa, did you grow clems?

Until this time next year, I won't really know if our weather is totally conducive to growing clems, as I only planted a few last spring. But, they did very well this year, so I took a chance and went overboard buying and planting. I've noticed that some of the blooms on the ones on the south side of my house tend to go limp during the worst heat of the day and then come back to life. Amazing!

Today I called Joy Creek about Rebecca. It seems that the availability list on their website is not updated and they don't have one in stock. Whoever I talked with said that his friends in FL said they couldn't grow clems. He also said that he wouldn't want to ship one in this heat right now anyway. He recommended fall planting, which I'm looking forward to. However, I just received an order from SSV less than 2 wks ago. They were in good shape and are growing like a weed.

Sharkey:

When I lived in Florida I didn't grow anything. I've only really gotten into gardening within the last 10 years off and on. Not until this last year have I gone nuts with it...rofl

Your locations sounds like you will be able to grow the clems, as you will enjoy some colder weather, especially since my dad was saying last year and beginning of this year that they were getting down towards the 30's....

Janet

I had to cover my satsuma tree many times last winter. I was told that when it gets 25 degrees or lower, to cover it. I think it was colder than usual here last yr. Right now I think that would feel great.

Sharkey, I am amazed at how fantastic your young clems look with the temps you have been having! Mine are struggling a bit in the heat we've been having. We've been in a drought for over a month (finally got a decent rain 2 days ago), and as you noted in one of your posts, the hose just can't duplicate rain water. I had single blooms on a few of them, but nothing even close to the lovely displays you are having!

I had read so many posts about how difficult clems were to establish, and that age was required to show much performance... but many of your recently planted liners look like pics of some mature plants I've seen posted in the past. Well done! What is the care regimen you are using for your clems (fertilizer, frequency of watering, etc.)? I would love to get some pointers regarding growing in our hot and humid climate.

Hi BG, I haven't noticed you on the forum lately. How are things in LA other than hot and humid? Thank you SO much for your positive feedback, but you're giving me too much credit.

Did you purchase Galore a few months ago when you bought most of your clems? If not, I would recommend it highly after seeing what it is doing here. As I indicated, it was planted last spring as a liner I think I ordered from Koi. I didn't know to dig a very large hole, but I think I dug it as deep as I could next to our newly built steps to the deck. It's thoroughly shaded at bottom by the rose bush. I pruned it by half about a month ago after blooming and now it has grown back with new buds. I'm posting another view of it taken in mid May. If it did this well second yr, I have high hopes for it in the future.

We tend to post our best photos, but I will show you a few others that did okay, but nothing great yet. I still think we should follow the guidelines about potting up the liners a few months before planting, as I can see a difference. As far as watering, at first I was doing a weekly soak and supplementing every other day with lighter watering. Then comes the heat wave and drought and I started watering almost every day worried that I was going to drown them, but also wondering how they would survive in this heat without it. So, part has been a guessing game and some beginner's luck.

I've also tried to follow alll of the advice I've read on these forums about mixing good soil. I use a lot of Black Kow Manure in my mixture. CG's idea for the collars is a great one and I also use the oyster shells. I finally found some plastic edging that can be bent and attached to a second one to make a circle to use as collars. They were very inexpensive at Home Depot and I think will be sturdier than my nursery buckets.

I worry a lot about this extreme heat on the south side of the house. That's where my fireplace is located and I have 4 trellises with a 5th one planned in a few months. It's where I need some "showy" blooms. All of the clems planted there are new, so I'm hoping they will thrive. Barbara H. has wilted and I cut her all the way back. No sign of recovery yet, but fed her the "brew" today.

We can't get discouraged. I'm determined to prove that Floridians CAN grow clems. Let's just hope we escape any major hurricanes this summer and damaging winds. Things have been mighty quiet so far.
Keep me posted on how your clems are doing.

Comtesse is the only one-gallon plant that I was able to get locally from Tally Nursery. It was a disappointment when I saw the roots. They had kept it in the GH through the winter and had not pruned it when I bought it. I pruned it back completely, fed it Bayer 3 in 1, and it survived. It still has a few blooms, but it did not look that great this yr. It's planted with Avant Garde.

I absolutely love the white bloom of Candida. This was an experiement under the crepe myrtle tree. John W. is loving it under here and Candida does too, although John was a mature plant and Candida a liner. I just had to see if this would work, so I will prune her as soon as these two blooms are gone.

I recently added Hagley Hybrid that I bought from SSV to this area.

Both Ruutel and Huldine were two of the 5 liners planted last spring. Huldine found his way over to Ruutel, although planted about 3 or 4 ft away. Neither had many blooms this yr. I pruned Huldine and it's putting out new growth. The first several ft of Huldine is shaded by my black and blue salvia which just wants to take over the flower bed. The hummingbirds head straight for the salvia every day, though.

Sharkey:

Great shots there and thanks for sharing them.

I feel when we are learning that the more we share (although I don't see a bad one) even if they might not be what we call up to par, then the true learning really starts to take place.

Again thanks for sharing with us.

Janet

janet, sharkey i totally agree. when it is a brilliant plant and brilliant start i give the clem and the grower i bought it from all the credit.
when it is a tough start i blame myself and the variety....and try to learn what i can.

there are many ways to kill a clem....let me count them...

Hi Sharkey;,,

Your clematis are looking fantastic... All that hard work is going to really pay off come next spring down there... Your yard is going to look like a wonderland in a different world with all those clematis...

Thanks for showing all those pictures...

Dave

Hi Dave,
How great to hear from you. I should make sure that I give you credit for some of my best clems so far. I think I mentioned in one of my threads that my mature plants came from SSV and from you, but if I didn't, let me give you credit for my multiblues, Henryi, Gypsy Queen (one of my favorites), Jackmanii, and John Warren (also a favorite.) I don't want to advertise for you too much because I want first choice next spring when you have a new supply ready. I will be watching for them.

I'm glad you finally broke away from your GH long enough to visit the forum. I can imagine how busy you have been. Thank you for your kind remarks. Can you believe Henryi still has a couple of large buds? Your vines were just as large as SSV's and grew just as fast. The two Presidents I bought from you most recently are growing like a weed as well. I will post a photo of Henryi since he did so well. It was taken June 7 when the first bloom opened at the top of the trellis.

We still want to build a GH before first frost, but we're waiting for cooler weather for that project.