Wow, I am jealous! These clematis are beautiful! I am going to try and post a picture of mine tonight and hopefully someone can tell me what I am doing wrong or at least what I need to do to get my clematis looking like these.
Clematis trouble
Welcome to the forum and we look forward to your postings!!..Jeanne
Ok here they are. Every year almost as soon as they start blooming and looking beautiful, they start to dry out and turn brown. The one on the left side of my steps looks worse than the other. When it first happened I thought maybe my husband had gotten a hold of weed killer instead of bug spray. That is what it reminds me of. It starts out with brown spots on the leaves then they trun brown from the bottom up and quit blooming. Any help would be appreciated.
And another.
The other side, (the worse side)
Up close of the destruction going on.
This is how it starts, with brown spots.
Drying out from the ground up.
If it were my clematis I would cut it back to the ground, water it well, add compost as mulch (several inches of it) and wait for new growth and then feed it.
I'll send a link to this thread to Louise (Venu209) and we'll see what she would do.
What you are experiencing is very common..it's called "Brown Legs"..some varieties are prone to this..it's nothing detrimental to the health of your Clematis..that is why people plant other Non-invasive short variety plants in front of their clematis to hide this..It is a drying out of the leaves ..one thing to check is your watering habits..remembering that clematis like to have their roots stay moist..NOT SOGGY ..but moist..when plants lose their moisture they will sacrifice bottom leaves to save the top leaves..I did notice you had a broken vine at the top..just prune down to a viable leaf axil..I am assuming this is a pruning group 2?..which means it blooms on vines grown from previous growing seasons...Jeanne
I came here just now to post a pic of mine, and see if anyone knew what was wrong with it. It looks like that also, dies from the ground up just when it hits peak bloom, every year. The past two years, and this year also, we have received record rainfalls. Plus mine are mulched, so it cannot be getting too dry.
I just can't figure out what it is either, here is a pic of mine.
Thanks for the info. I do not have to water the things I planted in fornt of my house a lot since they are mulched, but I do get full sun all day, so I may need to water them a little more. I will try this and see if it helps. Also, as you can see in the pictures, I moved my multi-colored spirea in front of them to hopefully "conceal" all the brown. Will they always do this? Should I dig them up and throw them out and start new?
Frilly Lily, yours looks just like mine do! Yours is the only one I have seen do this besides mine. I also see where yours are blooming great, when mine start the brown stuff they quit blooming, I just cut them down let them start again. Oh well.
This keeps happening to my clems as well. The first year it was my haku ookan (2nd yr.) and then last year my multi blue(3rd yr.)-neither of which came back. Now my Princess Diana (4th yr), Venosa Violacea(3rd yr.) and my Minuet(3rd yr.) are all doing the same thing.....I had them all lining a wall that is about 20 ft. long. My tie dye and Negritianka that are in different locals seems to be doing OK though...since I know that either trimming them back or leaving them be will result in them not coming back I am pretty sure it isn't the brown legs....any other help??
Fairy - I'd be really tempted to move them. It's just happening too often in the same exact area and doesn't serve the purpose of lots of blooms for you. I would trim them back, dig them up, wash off the roots very well and replant in a spot with amended soil, compost and manure.
The only other choice I'd consider, aside from moving them to another area, would be potting them up after cutting back/washing/amended soil and adding more drainage holes to the bottom and sides of the pot, then burying the pots.
I tried moving mine, did the same there.
Even in containers?
Oh, no I couldn't grow a weed in a container :(
In two weeks I am going to cut mine COMPLETLEY to the ground....again...and move them to another location. I love things that grow up, and since clematis are not invasive I chose to plant them. Does any one have any suggestions for what to plant in their place? They are on either side my steps right in front of my entry door so I want something beautiful. I will try and post a picture on sunday. I want something that will grow up and blooms but not take over.
Moving them is most likely the best choice possible. Dig a much larger hole than you need and use the best of compost and aged manure (with all other amendments) before you plant them.
I'll think about a vine that's not wild but would serve your purposes. That's a rough one.