These are on my Rosemoor clematis. We've had several warm spells this year, the latest being the last few days where it's been 75+ when our average temp around this time of the year is about 52 degrees. It's not going to be 75 forever. We're expecting light snow on Saturday and a return to normal temps next week. What if we have a freeze?? When our normal weather returns (52 degrees) will the plant be harmed?
This is just a guess, but I think as long as you keep it mulched to protect the roots you'll be okay. The new growth would probably get frost bit. But when things warm up for good, you should have new growth again. I have lots of new growth on mine. We went down to 28° last Sat and Sun. I just covered them with a sheet and the growth was fine. Obviously that wasn't prolonged cold, but it does show you they are pretty hardy.
I had the same thing all week this week, even 11" of snow. I covered mine with double garbage bags & tied at the bottom. I always mulch so that helped I'm sure. I'm always nervous nelly with mine so if double covering sounds weird, it's just me. lol better save than sorry in my book. ;).
edited to spell correctly
This message was edited Mar 5, 2009 4:56 PM
I'm a doting mother too. I go to great lenghts to protect my plants. Better to be safe than sorry. But I have learned through some mistakes that the plants are hardier than I think. It is a relief to know if I miss a night or two due to bad weather predictions, they won't die.
clems kind of know when it ok to get going. and they are far hardier than we sometimes imagine. that said, frost damage sometimes does not show up for a couple of weeks. snow is not harmful in spring...it is the hard frost on tender new growth that is damaging.
the bottom leaves on your plant look like they may have gotten too cold.
i agree with a warm base and not uncovering it till you are pretty sure that hard frost is not going to reappear, at least if you can not get out to do the covering and pampering that sometimes works (i can't with so many clems...not an option)
last year i had frost damage in april that didn't show up for a couple of weeks. this year i am gong to be lightly pruning back after any late frosts to try and keep it from happening a couple weeks later when there more growth to be lost when the damage becomes apparent.
I have a 2-3" mulch on the thing. There was earlier damage from frost hitting leaves, but not on these. Last night it was 22, and they seem okay. The buds are a full month early!
you can prune it back and not let it bloom yet. if it is really that early....
your clem may know that warm weather is just around the corner tho.....
It really is that early. I pruned it back a couple of weeks ago for the same reason. Our last freeze date around here is early May.
between the early buds and the frost damage you mentioned i would prune it back now before the buds get any bigger.
esp with that cultivar, no harm from delaying blooming. i am going to delay some of my blooming this year to try and get my biggest show going a couple of weeks later than normal. this means in late april and early may, before buds form i will be lightly pruning and pinching back (on clems who bloom on new growth) more than i normally do throughout the spring. clems that bloom on old wood such as the duchess of e, or my favorite john warren, or proteus i rarely touch except to remove damaged vines at any time needed.
here is john warren. which i think looks like a brooks brother pin stripe shirt.
That John Warren is beautiful.
wow, that is a lovely clematis. It really does look like a pin stripe shirt. Laverne
John Warren is a beauty!
Well, it got down to 9 degrees last night, and will be 19 tonight. That's probably it for my beautiful Rosemoor vine, at least for all the buds that were on it. :-(
Edited to say: Oops! It was the Versailles. The Rosemoor hasn't budded at all yet.
This message was edited Mar 10, 2009 10:39 PM
My bet is that they'll all be just fine. Plants are used to dealing with all that Mother Nature throws at them.
revclaus, wait till those freezes have stopped and then cut it back. you don't want o encourage more growth now till it is warm enough. cutting it back will be a signal to grow for the plant, so wait a bit if you are still in that kind of weather. clems are amazing.
pirl and clemguru, thanks for all your reassurances. I'm sure the roots are fine. I'll just have to wait a bit longer for those beautiful blooms!
Hey and trust me - they are worth waiting for!
After many freezing nights with temps below 30, and one night as low as 2, here it is after some normal weather. We're expecting a warm week, so it wouldn't surprise me if the thing bloomed! Doesn't look like it has any damage at all.
Hurray! I felt confident all the while that they'd do just fine. Glad to hear the good news.
if the plant is as young as it looks, i wouldn't let it bloom yet! how old is it?
are you planning to plant it out this year, or keep it in the pot?
I'll post pics if it blooms. It's still way too early by about at least a month!
The plant is three years old, this will be its fourth. I only have a balcony, no yard to plant it out in, so it's a container plant. My clems do beautifully in containers. This one's a Versailles, grows to about 3-4' if that much. Blooms reliably every year. This is the first year I've pruned it. Edited to say: this is from last year.
This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 3:28 PM
enjoy your early blooms in that case. do you grow them all in pots or have some in the ground?
No yard, so no ground. All are in pots. I have a jackmanii that's been in a pot going on 9 years.
that is cool. so you provide extra protection for the pots in the winter?
soil in pots must warm up quicker than in the ground. so that might be part of your early action.
No winter protection, but they're close to the apartment wall so they must get warmth from inside. I have one that's exposed to the weather, wind and cold, and it's always later. It gets more sun -- the others don't get any to speak of -- but the wind gets it pretty good up on the 6th floor.
That's lovely.
Blooms are wonderful any time of year!
Well, the proverbial s*** hit the fan last night (s*** stands for snow - lol). First we had a blizzard that left us with a foot of snow, then the weather went down to 7 degrees last night. I had the clem covered with a blanket, but it looks pretty sad. We had very warm temps till a day or two before the blizzard. Here's a before/after pic.
ooh. start over.
things are taking their time here. not many shoots over 1 inch high, but lots of them.
1 plant, an asao is about 2 to 3 inches high with very bronze leaves (common in early leaves and some cultivars). it is one of the ones i planted last fall.
sorry that happened. i am sure you know what to do.
clematis are perennials some of my new ones bloomed into the snow last fall they are not really affected by what you may get now its the -15 F that will cause damage
snow in march is normal and your clematis will be fine
Sorry to read about your snowfall in late March. I would just cut of those poor frozen parts of the Clematis. It will put out new growth when your gardening area finally warms up.
I'm not seeing any Clematis coming through the ground yet. The only activity I have are the ones in containers that I over wintered in the garage. They are doing well.
mine that are outside have buds on them clematis are very hardy vines
shirley you are so much warmer than my zone i thought. i have shoots coming up,about 1 quarter inch to 1 inch ingeneral. except an asao i planted last fall is about 3 inches. the leaf axil buds are really emergin fast. maybe your clems know weather is on the way?
denver just got hammered i heard.
how many weeks till we are complaining about heat wave? oh mother nature.
dont worry be happy perennials take care of themselves
We had another blizzard yesterday, only lasted 3 hours. We're scheduled for more snow tomorrow night and then a heavy snow over the weekend. I don't worry about snow, but as you said, scicciarella, the low temps freeze the new shoots. I'm not worried about the clems that just have buds, and I'm glad to know my frost-bitten one will recover when the weather finally warms up for good. Last year, though, we had a very late hard frost in late May. Bummer! In August, when it's boo-coo hot I'll think back and wish for some cold weather.
I leave them to fend for themselves I trim them in the spring whatever is dead and that is it they usually bloom when they should and give lots of blooms
I'll bet yours aren't in containers!
all of us will soon be out of the winter zone etc.....hope so at least!!!!!
oh I have left perennials in containers before hahahahah since I always try to grow the hard to germinate outside in the summer where I can give them more attention and time since its a few and not a couple of thousand plants, and some have spent the winter on the deck with temps of like minus thirty F and they survived to be planted in the spring if it says good to zone three it will survive anything
I am ready for summer anytime now hahahhaha the spring thing means nothing to us real north people hahahahha it is not till the end of may beginning of june that we can really start to garden but lots of prep work has to be done before then so frozen fingers are the norm
