Hi,
I went a little overboard and planted 6 large flowered Clematis that I picked up from a speciality grower. They had been cut down so most only had a few leaves when I got them. I got delayed about a month in planting them. When I planted them I noticed that the soil the nursery used was very high in clay so a couple of them had some root rot and not surprisingly those ones grew very little also. My new planting location is ideal; a raised bed with very well draining soil.
They have been in the ground about 2 weeks now and the ones that were strong are taking off but the runts are very slow and a couple only have one live stem right now.
Also, on a couple of them there was some new growth but then it immediately wilted although it only affected one stem. It happened about a week after transplanting so perhaps it's just shock.
The winters here are very mild but I'm wondering do you think the runts will make it?
Thanks
First time clematis grower
Alex there is a great chance the runts will make it. I bought one on clearance here and then kept forgetting to water it
(in the middle of a major home remodel) I then decided that if I put it int he ground instead of leaving it in the pot I would water it more often. Wrong answer!! Long story short it came up the next year extremely strong (until the dog damaged it) I am waiting to see if it will come back or not next spring.
I guess they are tougher than they look. I was suprised how delicate the stems are. It's amazing a stem that thin can provide for 10' of growth + flowers.
alexh: Keep watering your 'runts' because they won't stay this size very long.... Stems will thicken with age & each time you cut them back, they come back stronger.