Pinching Belle of Woking

I've heard that. lol Hope other perennials are doing well for you?

Oh, yes! It's lily time here and they are fabulous. This is just one of many lily fields.

Oh how glorious that lily field is! With love hydrangeas in the back drop to boost! Are those 'Silk Road' lilium Arlene?

Thank you. The name is 'Triumphator' and we both love them.

Such beauty! I'm in love all over again. lol Thank you for sharing the picture.

Considering your name, I am not shocked!

That's me, me me! lol

Here's San Souci from last year. It's due to bloom late this week.

Awww, Arlene, now I'm in dream land. lol Such gorgeous lilies! I'm collecting tips to cultivate a lilies garden. Seeing yours inspire me more.

You can dream away a day looking at lilies at Faraway Flowers (DG's own Mainiac/Ramona), the Lily Nook as well as B & D and others.

Here's Ramona's site: http://www.farawayflowers.com/

Updating the Belle of Woking experiment with Epsom Salt - no further shoots emerged. Yesterday I finally gave Belle a new home with lots of manure and compost. I'm hoping she puts on a grand show next year. Considering that she was just a cheap plant from Walmart, I don't know how much to expect but I'm hoping for the best.

Once I put Belle outside for the summer I neglected to keep pinching it. As much as some of us wish we could keep up with pinching/feeding/tending/pruning our clematises, it's just not always possible to ignore other demanding gardening jobs.

The rootball wasn't as packed as I thought it might be. It was easy enough to loosen the roots and get it planted.

For many years I've only used Fafard soil mix and it fell away so beautifully from the roots that there was no tugging required to loosen them.

Here she is during the planting. I packed the hole with manure and compost so, with her new neighbors of Guernsey Cream and Proteus, and being backed up by the giant Jackmanii (due to the compost bins behind it), I do expect a good show by 2013.

Please take notice that there is only one stem, rather disappointing to me.

Wow, fun stuff pirl! She's one lucky clem....I look forward to spring's show. I finally have a digital camera and WILL BE posting photos too. always inspiring, you are ! thanks for sharing...kim

Thanks, Kimmy. Since I don't have a gardening staff and I am not a "guru", I just try to show what works and doesn't work for me.


In my dreams...

The photo credit for Guernsey Cream belongs to TBGDN. My apologies for not mentioning it with the post.

The above collage showed Helsingborg in the mix but I decided not to use it since that one has gone insane with growth and must cover the ground in a 3' square. Must have hit something it loved in the soil.

Here's what I envision the quartet will look like and there is salvia 'Rose Queen' in there since my husband will be raising it from seed from Park Seed Co. Photo credit to them.

WOW, pirl! Gorgeous!....is "Helsingborg" the dainty little bells in the first image that's not showing in the second? I LOVE the salvia and it will be stunning with those clems. I so hope my Lemon Chiffon puts on a decent show since I hope to be able to photograph her. I LOVE seeing all the photos here.

Yes, the little bells are Helsingborg. Maybe in 2013 it will finally bloom for me. I'll attach a photo so you can see the spread on it - just amazing. It started slowly - picture here taken 6/30/11.

It's planted at the base of the juniper. Please note the relationship to the spruce on the right. Helsingborg came from Koi clematis (many attacked Jerome at the time but my plants did well) and it is marked with three purple x's.

Glad you love the photos - thank you!

Photo taken July 20 - look how it spread! It went all the way to the right and down to the end of the garden. I can't imagine my reaction when it actually blooms...someday.

It's just so lush!

I missed that Helsingborg is a clem. When I googled it, I got a town in Sweden. It is AWESOME. I can't wait for it to bloom for you either...kim

I have this Clematis. It is one of my oldest ones I have. It blooms with so many flowers. Just beautiful. I just trim it back some every year . I have a receipe for a brew for clematic and it made my Jacamile come back strong after the very hot summer we had and bloomed til a heavy frost here in Ohio.It includes a bottle of beer and epsom salts and dish soap . I think?? I have to find my notes and get back to you on it. I really works terrific!

We Clem lovers would like to see that recipe.

It's somewhere here on DG and was mentioned while ClematisGuru was around. If I find it I'll provide a link, Marie.

Hi pirl,

How's your Belle of Woking doing these days? I have found this thread very informative.

Katherine

Katherine - I planted it outside late last fall so we'll see what spring brings. So far it's just a typical clematis with new growth, nothing special.

I pinched back my Ville de Lyon yesterday, left two pairs of leaves on its solitary stem.

Should I expect just two new growths emerge from the last pair of leaves, or could it actually start four new leads? Just wondering...

Katherine

Each time you pinch you are "breaking the apical dominance". So instead of one stem you'll get two. Then allow those new stems to produce two more sets of leaves before you pinch again. Do that one more time.

Good luck tomorrow, Pirl!

Exactly, Katherine. Those are Jeanne's instructions. I pinched Belle twice but once she was outside I didn't pinch more only because you know how busy summer can be.

Pam - thanks for the good wishes but I haven't a clue as what's going on tomorrow, LOL!

For any of you who either weren't here when Jeanne was or who would like further reading and threads/comments from Jeanne, here's a link to posts she made and threads she started.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/search.php?st=Adv&forum=&q=clematis&forum_ids%5B%5D=0&limit_poster=JeanneTX&dl=0&dl-rel=0&sort-type=0&sort-order=0&Search=Search+Forums

In a previous post on 4/14 you said were having cataract surgery? I guess something changed? Anyway, I have lots of eye issues, have had cataracts removed in both eyes and recently a secondary cataract in one. Nearly everyone goes through it eventually, so it's really not that big a deal, but it's still a procedure and not just a walk in the park...

Glad if it's over already and glad if you don't need it.

Now if only my Clems were a little farther along...

Pam

Last year I had both eyes done. There will be another surgery for one eye. Thanks for the good wishes. The constant eye drops were the only very minor issue.

It's the cool weather. When we get warmer weather you'll see more growth but when it's too hot you probably won't see any above the ground growth.

Are you anxious about the new arrivals? They take their time to show they're growing.

I've kept them inside becaus of the cold, under lights. They are still in the 5" pots I pit them in when they arrived, I don't have room to pot them up. But today we're going up to the house and I plan to re-pot them using all the good amendments and put them outside. There are a couple that should be ok to plant in places where they won't have any competition an, I'll be able to keep on I on them.

I'm glad your eyes are ok- obviously I noticed the date, not the year.

Pam

Will you be able to harden them off before you plant them? We're due for major sunshine and I'd hate to see them get burned.

Quite alright. I always appreciate good wishes.

Yes, they are in filtered sun now. My plan is to pot up the ones that will be living in them for a while, and plant the others on Sunday. All depending on weather, of course, It looks like we'll be getting some rain Monday & Tuesday, so this is a good time to do it.

Nighttime temps in the house have been in the mid-50's while we were gone and that's what's expected outside, so that should be ok. I'm evicting all the perennials and semi-hardies.

The rain we're due to get will be perfect timing for your clematises.

I should add, about the pinching, I never saw any permanent benefit from doing it since they do get cut back after bloom anyhow.