Well I put it off as long as I could, but the weather is telling me its time. Pool is being covered today, plants will come inside, grass seed will go down and fertilizer , and cutting back the clems is on the things to do list. I did not want summer to end. I want the flowers to keep on making me smile with their pretty colors . It always seems to go buy so fast. I think my soul was born in a tropical place, but my body is stuck in the mid northeast. I dont like the winter when everything is brown and looking dead. The only thing I like to see brown is my dirt in the flower beds. Evergreens do help with them staying green. I think that is why I started planting more of them, to help me get through the winter.
Is there any one else that feels like this? I am sure there are many.
Fall is here.Boo Hoo.
We garden in the house by starting seeds!
Trays and basins of seedlings help me to get through the winter.
I have clematis heracleifolia sprouts ready to transplant into pots.
Macropetala and viticella seeds are on moist paper towels in my frig.
Clematis alpina seeds are on moist paper towels in the living room window.
They will also go in the frig after a period of warmth.
I guess we do what we have to to get us through the dreary time.
Clems are finally cut back. I hated to do it because they were putting out new growth and still flowering. But down they went to about 12 inches.
Marie - Do you always cut your clematis back this early? I keep reading to cut them back late winter (not real sure when that is) - I guess different for everyone. I was going to wait until like maybe Feb or so.
I have read to do it both ways. So since a lot of them were new this year, they went down early. I am not sure if I am right doing it this way, But I know that winter is coming real soon. I am trying to get the yard ready. I still have to get a lot of the figurines that are breakable in the shed. I don't want fallen limbs and heavy snow like we had last year to break them.
I understand. I lost a beautiful blue glass bowl to a birdbath last winter. I should have taken it inside but just got overloaded with things to do. I'm fairly new to clematis and probably don't give them enough credit for being tough. Thanks for your response.
Dathen
I like to fill the house with poinsettias in the winter. It's colorful and festive which the yard lacks during winter.
Dathen, it is suggested to leave the pruning of clems until late winter(late Feb through mid March) so that the plant is not expending energy on new above ground growth right before they go dormant. Pruning tells the plant to shoot up new growth, in the fall we want them to send that energy to root development. That being said, I prune my Mature clems whenever I think they're looking ratty. I consider mature planted in my gardens for at least 3 years or more.
It makes sense. I wonder though what is the rational for trimming down new plants(2 years or less) through out the growing season. I thought that was also to send the energy to the roots.
I just planted a bunch of plants that have been potted since spring and then couldn't help myself so I
transplanted a few for some nice (I hope) combos. Some of the vine broke in the process.Accidental pruning! I hope they will be OK.
I'm leaving mine alone until probably March - it does make sense. The ones I just planted did get trimmed back to about a foot. By the time I got them out of the pots there was only 1 stem left on each one and it looked bad. The roots, however looked great. Here's hoping.
I agree with Louise (venu209) about cutting back the ratty looking clem's. This Jackmanii is in a very small garden around a post light next to the driveway and it bothers me to see what appears to be a dead plant as I pull into the driveway so it will get cut back soon.
