Hardwick Hall Mid Summer

Well, it is the mid season here. we have had a LOT of rain. that's good and bad. many plants are too wet, blooms do not last long. There are bugs. Have been busy pruning, nipping and tucking on plants and fertlizing. Have some things to share with you.
I'll start right out with the fertilizing system I am testing. It is called the Ross Root Feeder, model 1200C. There is a product for "Prize Roses" i am using. This system applies the fertlizer under the ground. you can also deliver water under ground directly to the root area. it puts well over a gallon a minute according to the company. (i am going to measure the output of water from the unit with my water pressure sometime and will report it) Yesterday i used the system and prize rose product on about 50 clems, all in one garden. (if i kill the clems at lease i can redesign the whole garden) i used it on young plants and mature plants.
i felt confident as the ground was saturated and if i was in error about the quantity to apply or the placement felt like odds would be more forgiving with the wet wet soil. I am not encouraging anyone else to jump into this yet, until i see the results. but all the plants i did 24 hours ago look good this morning. it was easy to use and fast.
i think the "horticultural guy" may be carrying them, even tho they are not on his site yet. i will post the complete set of instructions for how i adapted it for clems if i see that it has a good result over the next couple of weeks and if any of you are interested.
this is what it looks like.

here is the pkt of fertlizer that goes with the ross root feeder.
the good news about the prize rose formula is that it is 15-25-10. if you are like me, there are times fertilizing products seem confusing. actually we are lucky with the standardization of the n p k in the US, not sure if that is a global standardization. recently i read of something that will forever eliminate confusion, at lease it has done the trick for me.
remember the following UP< DOWN< ALL AROUND. the up is the first number (above the ground benefit) the down is the middle number, (meaning roots or underground benefit), and the third is the all around ()meaning good benefit to the total plant health). i think i read this on another site or somewhere and it just stuck with me, a friend who owns a nursery was here for dinner last night and he thought it was a good rhyme, he had never heard it and he said very helpful to people , so that is why i am sharing it. here is a pic of the ross root feeder fertilzer that goes in feeder.
the other news is that you can use a liquid of any type in the feeder for light underground delivery, but more on that over the next few weeks after i have some results form my test to report on.

here is the last of the juuli blooms with sir trevor lawrence, a texensis starting to bloom with it. next year this shouldbe a great combo, as both of these plants are year 1 in the gargen here. esp pleased with the sir trevor as i usually have lengthy establishment time with any texensis.

we also have rogochi in with sir trevor and juuli, but the shot this year of the three was so bug eaten and miserable i can 't bear to post it. but the three together have already gotten rave review from friends.. next year.......ah, gardening is always about next year, no.....

little roguchi, after seeing the mature roogucis out west i am not giving up and in fact and ordering another one, this time from ssv to outpace this liner who is off to a good start.

re lever loops.
they have so been good here this year. i also used some of these lighter green tomatoe loops, from the hort guy. i like them a lot too. and when i was looking for some packing tape i ran across a baggie of the smaller loops in the pic, left over from a long ago christmas.they are ornament hangers, and would be a great loop to tie in a clem vines too.
so there are many choices for us besides tieing. i found my plants like being looped in much more than being tied and the garden looks a lot better without all the random ties showing.

semu, ssv this year. planted in late may. nice show considering how young. it will get a good haircut in a week or two ,before those blooms wane. i want it all next year, a great big huge show, so the after bloom prune is important this year.

CG: Wonderful information; I especially like the rhyme and I'm grateful that you shared it. I sometimes have trouble relating fertilizing info to friends who ask advice about their gardening "issues" when they really don't know much about gardening, it so this will come in handy. Sort of like the first year they creep, second year they sleep, third year they leap "rule of thumb." You are always so generous with EVERYTHING. I've definitely become more interested in clems because of you. kim

thanks kimmy. just passing it on and i know you guys will keep it going too. the sleep, creep and leap theory is one we are exploding with better and better clem plants availaible..check this out. it is a margaret hunt, my second, put in the ground the third week JULY! it was a basic ssv, pruned back selection. it is already over 2 feet tall and so bushy.
there is actually another margaret hunt planted a the same time, just as vigorous. i am testing the ross root feeder system on this one, and can evaluate results in a very comparable way. same plant from same place planted same time a few feet apart.

odoriba, this is one of the hard ones to pronounce believe it or not i was so off and still do not have it right.
anyway, it is prettiest bell shaped japanese clem. this is second year , in that i planted it last spring 07 from joy creek. it has been blooming for a couple of months straight thru. i think it would do even better in more sun, but i am not moving it not cutting down the 40 ft tree nearby.
it is a big joy in the garden for sure.

oops just noticed my bug getta plus in the prior photo. one thing i will say is out west the slugs were HUGE. gross. i men 5 and 6 inches long. i have had some issues with year, minor compared to out there, but they are all like a half inch long. anyway the bug getta works well. i try and prevent with crushed oyster shell etc, but when i see a slug i sprinkle out the bug getta.
here is mrs t lundell. a nice clem off to a good start, planted fall 07.

kullus, one of the last to awaken this spring. this clem has been a wilty inconsistent clem for 4 years. this year, after the late start it has been floriferous and appears stable. glad i didn't give up on it!

just realized how bug eaten those blooms were on kullus. when i snuck out to take pics this morning between rain showers, didn't realize how bad it was. on that buggy note, i hope your gardens are not as wet and buggy as mine and i will save more posts for a sunnier day.

i need to blast a lot of shrubs with a hard hose spray of water, this is the best method to get rid of spier mites (non chemical method) and smaller bugs and then use some bayer 3 in 1 on all the ground covers and hope for some sun to rid the gardens of the buggy feel.

CG, I just can't keep up with you. I'm always "sneak" reading this forum at work so I dash in and out. We have a monster pc at home that's very uncomfortable for me to work at but I really want to rectify that situation soon because I so want to study your pics and information. I have about 15 clem library books at home that I'm wading through but I find your hands on much more stimulating and exciting.
We too have had LOTS of rain. Rain gauge had 22" for June and last I tallied for July was at 16" and we've had more since which is truly unheard of here and much cooler than norm.
I've heard of slugs that big---I saw one here the other day but it was a mere 1" or so. THAT is gross.
I think my favorites are the bell shaped ones......I love the roguchi and think that's one I got from SSV about a month ago. I don't have paperwork here but will report in over the weekend. Again, can't thank you enough for the clem spirit.....kim

Ditto CoCo on everything you said! Many thanks for everything CG. I love all this type of information. So helpful to us beginners and I am now hooked because of you as well!! :-) Absolutely love all the loopies. I got lever loops from HGuy and had to buy more cause I found I used them for everything! I will be very interested in hearing more about the root feeder as well. I am having bug issues here too and that BugGetta is really good stuff. So glad you recommended and I bought it before I saw any problems. I was able to just take care of the buggies without missing a beat. With all the torrential rains yesterday, should I go ahead and top dress with the alfalpha pellet/oyster mixture again? Did it about 2 weeks or so ago, but many days of heavy rain here. I will need to put more BugGetta down also. Thanks for posting Juuli again, such a beautiful color and love how it grows.

Nancy

kimmy, THAT is a lot of rain, not sure how much we have had, not anywhere near that i do not think you must be swimming...or at least your clems are!
i love the bell shaped clems more and more too. the trip out west , the diversafolias and bells were amazing. i never knew rooguchi could be so tall strong and huge. very inspiring.

punkys , i probably wouldn't top dress with anything nutritive again after only two weeks., but more oyster shell if you have any extra on hand can't hurt. this rain is a bummer as far as bugs and soggienes, but we have had a good spring and summer here as far as weather , we can not complain. but i am ready for tose 75 degree sunny days again

guess we have more rain coming.

wait till we see the juuli with the sir trevor and the rooguchi it is blooming together now, but such a small display and some so soggy and bug chewed i can not bear to document in a photograph. but the combo is amazing

so far so good with the ross root feeder experiment. none of the clems i fertilized with it have any visible damage, and i think some have responded positively. too early to tell, but i am very optimistic about this method of feeding and even watering if we get back into a dry condition. we are still drying out from the thursday rains and have a good chance of more by tomorrow afternoon.

intricata harry smith blooming here at hardwick hall.

my angle also in bloom. this clem and the prior post of intricata are two of my favorites.

duuhh, meant my angel above,no my angel. oh well
too early. need another shot of espresso.

this is a young blue angel from ssv that was planted about 4 weeks ago. i did not pinch it back, but it will get a prune down to the first leaf axil next week.

clematis viola has wonderful coloring

dominika just keeps on blooming. a great clem

texensis sir trevor lawrence

och! that photo i posted on aug 7 was a bad one. i was in the garden this morning and noticed sir trevor lawrence still blooming and got a much better shot. here is is , you can see it paired with c. juuli who is back at it again with the blooms. it is the most floriferous first year clem except margaret hunt i have grown. and since it is non vining they are not really competing against each other for who is the most floriferous.

this pink fantasy was a june ssv plant. it is fully 4 ft tall. it was pinched back at least twice in the first month, then left alone. sadly, the little pink fantasy liner is still about 6 inches high, (they are sharing double wide real estate). but we all know what the creep year looks like so no need to show that shot! really looking forward to more action next year with pink fantasy....going to be a great clem.

for those of you wondering what that sad vine behind pink fantasy is, i just saw it on the photo. it is a vine of tie dye that is needing some reduction and relief (r and r) for sure.
here is a new margaret hunt, planted in another location in july. pinched it once or twice after planing and it just HAD to bloom. this one is going to eclipse the first one i put in i think.
2010 here we come!

last falls chalk hill plants gave some disappointments and some yeahs!
this is c. cecile, an atragene that has come on well considering the fall planting date and the size and condition of some CH of those plants we got on sale. i love this one already.

i love to grow the native north american species. they do take some space, but those of us with apace, good to grow them and keep the seeds flying. this is c. virginiana. it blooms before terniflora (sweet autumn), has been in bloom about a month here at hardwick hall.

juuli and rooguchi. good neighbors.
btw, the rooguchi's i saw out at ssv were amazing. they were so large, floriferous and magical. i plan to get a couple more from ssv next year for some other garden areas.
this one is a liner plant that took off pretty well. glad, as i have killed two rooguchis in the last 8 years. but this one took hold, shares double wide with juuli. they like each other.

here is giant terniflora, not yet in full bloom. note daisy dog on wall to right of the terniflora. this one is about 7 years old. one plant , layered, self seeds others. i let a few of them grow.
i always gauge fall's onset with the bloom time of terniflora. this year is not early , or late, just about right.

here is species tangutica. they are not the longest lived clems, but grow rapidly and add a lot to the right area. this is a new one here at hardwick hall, about a year old. i like it in front of a few smoke bush "shrubs", which is really smoke tree they are so big. each spring i hard prune the smoke bush to about 3 ft, and by august it is back up to about 20 ft tall!
i do not get a lot of blooms on the smoke bush due to the annual cut backs. but to let it grow bigger would ruin the border they are in.
love it with the small yellow clem. nice fall look and feel.

clem garden area of the future. have moved 5 large oak leave hydrangea to a better spot and created this small border. right now there are 11 clem holes dug in the area. maybe a few more to come.
it is virtually full sun ,nicely situated.
will be planting it out with some rubro marginata on the rear, so they can leap onto the evergreen trees behind.
there will be several julia correvons mid range and the front will be several asao, which will use the smaller structures and also sprawl on the boxwood edging to the area. not sure what else, haven't gotten that far. but most of the plants are here growing on in gallons till the weather and my schedule are better for planting.
i swore no more gardens, but this is just to the left of the big perle de azure arch, so i rationalized it is not really a new garden, just a necessary extension as the oak leaves were not shown, or performing to their best potential. they are now in a semi shade spot and loving their new space already.

sharley, i mentioned how the diversafolias were liking the bargain structures. here is a heather herschell, post bloom and prune. the shot shows how the lever loop just clips the non vining clem to the side of the flat wood. i had no problems with this form wind or anything.
i have cecile, petite faucon, a young blue angel, heather hershcell, two blue boys, a dominika, tuchka, elsa spath, halina noll. red pearl, a a couple of others on theses structures. 2 to a structure. for 20 $ bargains, i am happy with them.

happy late summer clemming !

Wowee zowee.....breathtaking. Nice photos; lots to see and learn from. I can see why you love c.cecile! kim

CG and others here are a few web sights that have the lever loops


http://www.gardenshoponline.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=128&osCsid=5915552f82757aca93a044275b51fb37 $5.00 a bag

http://www.terrebonnelimited.com/index.php?crn=216&rn=766&action=show_detail $4.00 a bag

http://www.logees.com/prodinfo.asp?number=K7320 $6.95 a bag contains large and small

https://vault2.secured-url.com/SecureWebStorage/Search.asp $4.00 a bag (but i believe it ships fr overseas)

These are just a few sights after a quick search for the loops, as I'm thinking about getting some due to the fact that all of my clems have really taken off in the last month..... don't want to have messy clems now ....LOL

CG your pictures are info and always a wonderful visual learning experience for a novice clemer....LOL
Janet

thanks janet. these are a real mass commodity now and so available. they really helped me. if you lived closer i would hand you some over the fence so to speak.....i had several bags form the hort guy early in the season and then got 1000 and by that time was using fewer. so i am stocked for next year. plus you can re use them when you prune down or clean up the clem.
we have had soakingrains 2 x this week and the clems are responding , just waled the gardens this morning and they are happy campers from the unusual rain for august.

We just returned last night from our quick trip to MD and then NY to pick up the framing for a hoop greenhouse.....

We took the long way home (back roads route 20) and stopped at many many road side garden centers. I miss seeing these places since we all get on the highways to go places now a days. It is wonderful to have the time to take time when traveling to stop and smell the flowers lol...

Strange enough non of the small garden centers had clems to sell.... very sad... there was one center that had a silver lace vine that I've so wanted and theirs had a very well established vine and about 5 feet tall, but their price was too high for me so I'll just keep trying to get one from seed....

We were so dry up here before I left that I ended up having a neighbor and garden member come water my clems while we were gone,,, didn't want to loose them after all the work to get them and plant them with high temps and I was too afraid that even only being gone for 3 days might kill them...

One thing I will say, is that it was wonderful to have them in pots to just move to a shady spot under a tree.

We are waiting still to hear if we are staying in our home or will be moving, and by golly if we are staying then my sweet clems are going in the ground before winter.....

Janet

janet if you move, hope it is closer to me. the greenhouse sounds amazing. what other parts for it do you need? i have a friend with many big greenhouses and he may have some older parts and pieces from some of his earlier greenhouses, so if there is anything you need i can ask him....you never know......will see him today actually, so let me know.
have you had the soaking rains ? we had them thurs and yesterday. clems approved for sure! nice treat for august for them!
thanks for the comments on the pics. here is a close up on sir trevor lawrence. it is really a beauty for first year, planted in fall 08 form chalk hill. a pleasant surprise! next year will be fantastic. and i like that it is blooming later than diana or gravetye beauty, but that may be induced as i was pinching it this spring over and over to get it going!

Alright girl,,,,,, quit giving close ups, that this ones goes on the list...LOL

I really like the color combination that it has very pretty for sure.

All I have to do is add back in the wood base that the metal attaches to. I have 15 feet my top line is 20 feet, I could use another one to make it the 20 but for now I'm good. Once I know for sure if we are staying or going then I'll be in touch. But not to worry for now, thank so much for the offer.

I should know sometime by the end of August.......

Janet

sir trevor lawrence paired with c. juuli is lovely.Looks quite blue in your photo. Also c.cecile is so delicate. Such a pretty form.
Your cone structures with the holes look like some alien invasion without the plants! What did your gkids think?
meadowyck, glad you had a fun trip. Clems in pots can be an advantage in this situation.