My three year old clematis vines (Niobe, Wisley, and Midnight Showers) are showing new growth right now. Is this normal? It's nice to see, especially on the Niobe, which I fried with too much fertilizer accidentally earlier this year. But I assume the vines will do their dormancy thing just fine even though they are actively growing again right now?
w
Dumb clematis question
Yes, it's not unusual..especially if they were overfertilized and bit the dust and just coming back .(I've got several that are sending up new vines too)..I wouldn't fertilize them anymore since your zone will be winter soon...Your "Midnight Showers"..aka ..".Warsaw Nike" and "Wisley" are pruning group 3s which means you will hard prune this coming late winter/early Spring and your Clematis "Niobe" is a pruning group 2 and shouldn't be pruned except to shape and keep in bounds..just make sure they are well mulched for the winter and keep the mulch away from the vines..come pruning time is the same time you want to fertilize with either some Tomato Fertilizer or Rose Fertilizer (make sure Middle number is high)....Jeanne
Thanks Jeanne. I forgot to mention a couple things that probably factor into this. My Wisley was broken off at the ground by some critter, so it's entirely new growth at this point, seems like an inch a day. :)
I pruned off all the fried dead stuff from Niobe about a month ago. I don't know if I should have done that, but I couldn't stand looking at it anymore, and I figured that dead stuff was a drain on the plant. But the Midnight Showers has been left alone since blooming.
Glad to know that this is normal and okay. I'm looking forward to pruing according to group and seeing the "leap" from these next year. Since they were new, I left them to their own devices this year.
Thanks again.
w
Do remember that Clematis love to have their roots stay moist...always water well after fertilizing and keep that baby moist....Jeanne