My winter eyesore!!!

Hello gardening friends,
My entire front farmhouse lawn is a huge flower bed. Daylilies, tulips and daffodils, peonies(14 varieties) iris (36)roses (11). But this time of year my arch on which grows an antique rose and Ramona clematis on the right side as viewed and Niobe on the left side looks like heck. It seldom has the brown leaves blow off until well into February. Any suggestions as to what to do? Stumped. For 8 years I have just looked the other way and ignored it. But this being the beginning of Iowa winter, it again sticks out like a sore thumb.
Do I dare cut it back part way now?
This photo will give you a better idea of my eyesore!!

I've got the same problem on my blue structure. Lots of dead leaves clinging. Some of my roses show to the center, and to the extreme left the arch in above photo. Any solutions? It's the old-fashioned Jackamini on the blue structure. Help needed.

This is Jackamaii. It is surrounded by babysbreath when in bloom which is now cut to the ground. But now it just flops in the wind and looks like it should be pulled up. When it will be cut back severely in spring, does it hurt to do it now??

Hi jamlover,

Unfortunately, lots of us have the same brown leaf problems during the Winter as you do. Our Clematis have gone to sleep and will not awaken until the soil temperature warms up in the Spring.

It's best if you trim your Group 2's (Ramona & Niobe) lightly after they bloom to encourage a second flush of flowers. Group 3's (Jackmanii) benefits from a hard prune, which is approximately 1 foot from the ground.

Authorities on Clematis advise to prune in early Spring or late Winter. I think that a lot of gardeners were having problems if they cut them back to early in the Winter. Freezing temperatures & a lot of precipitation can affect certain varieties or Group 2's, which can be more prone to Clematis Wilt. If you want to cut back Jackmanii now, I would choose this one because Group 3's tend to be hardier.

Only the Evergreen Clematis, which grow REALLY big, will have leaves that stay green all year long. However, you would probably want to grow them on a fence, as they may topple an arbor.

And I doubt any of the evergreen Clems would overwinter there.

Perhaps you could make a little border to define a bed in which grow your roses and clems? Pruning them now would certainly damage them.

I haven't done it to clems, but with other vines I have lightly used the backside of a leaf rake to "rake" off clinging leaves. What do you think of this, Shirley? Too delicate to do?
K. James

Thanks folks. I hate the appearance when everything else is nipped to the ground. Maybe moving them into a group so the whole spot would have all the leaf mess is the route to take.
I have never heard of an evergreen one.

The most common one is widely grown in the Pacific Northwest, where some folks think it is too vigourous.

C. armandii

There is also cirrhosa, but I dont' know too much about it. From Spain, maybe?
I hope it overwinters here.

I would try and "brush" off the brown leaves with your hand or the back of a rake.....gently. Some of the dead foliage will come off. However, fairly soon Mother Nature may cover them with snow and make them sparkle in the sunlight.

Kenton: Here is an interesting article on C. cirrhosa. http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/iclsframe.cfm?page=page14

Indeed. If an evergreen loosses its leaves, that doesn't mean it's dead!

Kenton that is a great picture of your C. cirrhosa :o)

Thanks Marie. How are your little vines?

I have one that is a no name clematis that has decided to bloom. (I will try and post a picture tomorrow if time permits) The first time it was a deep bluish purple now it is kinda lavender. The poor thing is probably greatly confused since we had the below freezing temps then promptly warmed right up to the mid 70's. I am anxiously awaiting spring to see what exactly survived the freeze.

Same here
The early winter was unusually warm and my clematis that I just planted this year kept on throwing new shoots
now that it is suddenly freezing again, I am worried that they will die without creating buds for next year.

Just a freeze won't hurt. A hard freeze with wind can cause damage, or just a very severe freeze, which I doubt you'll get in Northern Italia.
We're experienceing a thaw here, only just freezing at night. This happens in December, then again in February or so, thank goodness it doesn't last long enough that things will start growing before we dip back to the minimum 0F/-17C.

:)
hmm...I am really uninitiated with the freezes, probably because I'm originally from Pakistan.

What's the different between a freeze, a hard freeze and a severe freeze?

Where I live in Italy has a mirco climate...the temerature does go down to 0F/-17C for a couple of weeks in january...these days it's at around -4C some nights...the ground freezes at night and unfreezes at noon for about four hours...some of the areas on the north side of the house don't thaw during day time (most of my clematis plants are planted there) Should I be really worried about protecting them from cold?

Freeze: just 0C. Hard Freeze, probably -5. Severe is maybe -10 tp -20, when the plant is frozen solid and wind blows, or something like that and shatters it.

If you get down to -17 on average (which is what it is here), you're more like a zone seven.

Most Clematis are truly hardy, and will survive as much as -30C, but the evergreen kinds and a few odd ones will die. I imagine you have the tougher kinds, and they will survive fine north of your house, but will enjoy just a bit of loose mulch (like dry leaves) to regulate the temperature changes. I bet yours are fine.
Kenton

viqarqadir:

Clematis are hardy perennial vines. They will tolerate the cold, as well as, the ground freezing and thawing. The International Clematis Society recommends growing the early small flowering Clematis, which are the Alpinas & Macropetalas. Montanas fall into this Group 1 (no pruning) category too. Montanas are HUGE, so give them a large evergreen or tree to climb. Group 1's are very hardy, easy to grow, reliable, and are resistant to diseases, such as Clematis wilt. http://clematisinternational.com/beglist.html As Kenton stated above, I'm sure yours are fine. Just give them some extra shredded mulch to protect them.

'If you get down to -17 on average (which is what it is here), you're more like a zone seven.' Whoa, I'm thinking that perhaps I need to increase my growing zone from 7a to 7b!!! We RARELY get -17F degrees! It hasn't been that cold in my growing zone for several decades! In fact, a very interesting article was printed on the front page of The Washington Post newspaper recently. Basically, it said that my growing area as shifted South. Supposedly, we are now equivalent to people who garden in North Carolina, which is 7b. (I'm in the yellow shaded portion of the map). Even the plants we choose for our gardens has changed. The article suggests trees that take more heat and have less tolerance for cold!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/19/AR2006121901769.html

Not thinking about the clematis care itself, you could dress up the arbor with some pine roping (real or artificial) and clear lights so it would look nice in the off months. You could even use silk flowers or vines if that is your kind of thing.