Sorry for all the questions but since Spring is so near I think I am getting spring fever!!!!!!
1. My pink champagne died back early in the summer last year due to wilt and nothing else happened. She didn't come back and showed no signs of ever being there....is it possible she is gone forever?
2. Do you think 2 clematis about 6f tall is too much for an obelisk or should I just grow 1 on the obelisk?
2 more questions...
Your Clematis "Pink Champagne" might just re-emerge...keep is well waters and wait and see..if mid season you don't see anything then gentle scoot the soil away with your fingertips until you expose the roots and see how they are...I would put 2 on an obelisk..just make sure they are the shorter variety..Jeanne
Kakio, or pink champagne always dies back for me. i have a few, only a couple years old and they have never not died back, but they always re emerge.i would say it is a good container plant or front of border where you can keep an eye on it and await it's return.
i really call it a self pruning plant. the nice thing is that it should bloom low for you when it comes back!
Well Guru I am not sure if it will come back....like I said the whole plant wilted in early summer so I cut everything right down....and nothing at all happened for the rest of the summer either....I scratched at the earth (not far down but just a bit) to see if there was something there and nothing......
that plant is not very vigorous at any rate. if i lost all of mine, i would not replace,even tho i had some good blooms last year.
Awww that is too bad......I never did see her bloom but the photo's of her are so beautiful.....it is the first of any of my clematises to have wilt.....if she doesn't come back to life this spring I will not be replacing her - I will get something different....I hate when that happens. I was so devastated when I finally realized it was wilt......ugh! Oh well....it happens I guess.
Guru do you have Scartho Gem? That is the one I want to move from the front to the back and put that one on my obelisk.
This message was edited Mar 18, 2009 2:26 PM
no i do not have scartho gem.
may not have been actual wilt with your pink champagne. sometimes they just die back.
i wouldn't replace it either. too many more vigorous clems out there to tempt you.
Exactly!!!!
I have had my "Pink Champagne" for 3 years in full sun and she is more beautiful than ever each year and has never died back on me..Pruning group 2's are the ones that have a bigger chance of suffering wilt..but if you can get them to live for 3 years rarely will they wilt again...Jeanne
Gosh Jeanne - yours is just breath taking!!! Look at that colour.....
looks good down there in tex jeanne. ther e are a few clems that, while hardy, may just have a little left after recovering from the snow and winter. but i let them grow on. maybe all p group 2's just need a year in a pot before being set out here in the colder zones! i do know all of my pink champagne plants have been from regular nurserys.
we'll see how they do this year!
Jeanne
that is gorgeous. What a wonderful color!
Oh thank you Jeanne. I have ordered a Pink Champagne and was getting scared. But you came to my rescue. :) You have yours in full sun and the Texas triple digit summers don't bother it? I'm trying to decide where to plant. If it can take that full sun I will put it on my south wall that get's all afternoon sun.
What is wilt?
i think pink champage does better in a climate without a hard winter. some clems re hardy, but it takes them a lot to recover form the winter months.
just my gut after planting and monitoring a few here in my garden. but we will see what this year brings! your is very pretty jeanne.
TG...Mine is planted on my rose arbor with climbing rosa "Tess of the d'Urbenvilles" which does get alot of sun..Remember I do have a sprinkler system that comes on every other day for 20 minutes..she gets her much needed drink of water..I attribute that and my regime for her success..I do use bonemeal when I plant all my clematis BUT I don't have any critter problems living here on the lake...Bonemeal is AWESOME for the roots of any plant and I think decreases the likely chance of what some refer to as "transplant Shock"..I hard pruned her the second season after she was planted as I do all my pruning group 2's to aid in promoting the establishment of their root system,forcing more vines to emerge from the soil and from then on I don't prune them...Jeanne
*Editing to answer about wilt*
Wilt is what is referred to when some or all of the vines collapse and turn brown..when this happens you should prune the wilted vines evenly with the soil as they will never come back..some have stated they think it's cause from a fungus BUT I personally disagree..I think it is from an immature rootsystem of the clematis and it is a survival mechanism of the plant to let that vine die so the roots can survive..that is the reason I hard prune my pruning group 2's the following growing season after having planted them so they can not grow vines or support the vine from the prior season so they can then focus on getting their rootsystem strong and viable...Just my opinion...Jeanne
This message was edited Mar 20, 2009 9:09 AM
CG..for colder zones I would suggest you plant your clematis deeper and to make sure and mulch (Keeping the mulch away from the vines themselves so as not to invite any fungal diseases) them prior to winter...
i plant about 2 inches deeper than potted soil line, but keep continually build the soil up vs letting it erode thru the "collars" that i use at the base of the clems.
have found that some gardeners plant deeply enough but then watering etc wears the soil away.
for me,planting 2 inches deeper then not letting it erode is key. deeper than that, in my garden experience leads to more wilt from the decaying plant material underground.
i have a friend who plants very deeply, even mulches, but 6 months later the crown can be showing from erosion!
we lay in a good bit of mulch and leaves on all the beds and borders (clem areas) as winter sets in. we just have some clems that take a lot of recovery from winter. duchess of e, belle of woking are not as vigorous here, also otto frobel, hakuoken, unzen, and some others that seem vigorous for others.the mulch is being pulled off now and pruning underway.
had some winter damage , broken stems, but that is to be expected.
everybody looks healthy and spring is off to a good start. most of the clems are showing green buds or shoots already.
Dawn I wanted to comment on you obelisk question, Depends on how sturdy it is I guess but I would go for the mix! Last summer in a lovely rose garden there were clematis interspersed and they were just growing up a tripod of stakes about 5 feet tall and then falling over when they reached the top. They looked lovely and I might try it one of these years. Did not have a camera - might go back this year and get a pic if they are still there.
yes fancyvan that is exactly what I would love to try....I love the look of that....we will both have to try it this year and see how it goes....now we just need to decide which clematises to put there LOL
Hah - not sure I have room for that - the base of the tripod was probably at east 3 feet each side. And I still have lots of fence to cover!
Yikes 3 feet?!?! Teehee I won't be going that big then.....mine will be smaller.... Ah yes fences are great to cover....what kind of fence are you covering?
Solid wood fence with lattice on top - only 5 feet high but I just let the clematis flop over at the top. You can see a bit of the fence in this pic - that is Polish Spirit growing over the top and down the outside of the fence
And I could easily be wrong about the tripod. Once I am out and about again ( bad cold) I will drive over and take a look - not far from me.
This message was edited Mar 20, 2009 12:13 PM
pretty fancy van. purple on white look great.
I was just going to say it really "pops" with the white in the back.
Ugh sorry you aren't feeling well...stay in and get rest!!!
I put bone meal around the ones I got last year. The mole apparently left them alone. I will be planting seven new clems next month. Some will get the bone meal, some won't. Depends on how close they are to the mole tunnels. I was also told to plant at a 45 ° angle to help protect the roots as well as planting deeper. So I will plant a little deeper and put the clems in at an angle. We'll see. So far all I've succeeded at doing is a blessing from God because I had no idea what I was doing with Dr Ruppel. The Pink Flamingo and Blue Lights, Jeanne helped me with last fall. Everybody is growing great. Dr Ruppel , blue lights and the NOID are full of buds. Pink Flamingo is just now put on one bud in it's new growth.
Pink Champagne will be planted on the southside of the house then where she will get full sun at least six hours. The afternoon sun. I hope she does ok. I am using watersorb crystals in my holes to help retain moisture in the ground. I'm hoping this will cut down on my need to water as often and help the plants through the heat of the day.
Sounds like you have done a great job there Texasgrower!!! I can't wait to see some of your clematis in bloom! I too have heard (from here I am sure) to plant the clematis on a bit of an angle.....
Have fun planting the new ones!!!
Here's a photo of wilt:
There are three clematises on our obelisk. This is Dr. Ruppel:
Ramona:
Blue Moon and Ramona at the bottom in the shade so it looks darker than it is.
Pink Champagne on a picket fence along with Montana Grandiflora.
Thanks for the pics Pirl. I hope mine never get wilt. Oooh looks bad. Your clems are beautiful. I can't wait to grow Pink Champagne. Although I doubt I'll get much from it this year.
Dawn I will take pics of the clems. Somewhere on this forum is a pathetic pic of my Dr Ruppel taken last fall. Jeanne helped me out with it. Now it's positively full. It's like it's not the same plant. But it's in it's third year, so it has slept and crept now it's leaping. But the new ones are taking off. They were planted last fall.
Jeanne
Gorgeous as always pirl - beautiful!!! I love all the combo's you have and you have so many kinds as well! Thanks for sharing......"yup I just peeked outside and the snow is still there LOL"
I have a neighbor who is a Master Gardener and who does insist her clematies "dies" every year after it blooms and then "returns" the next year. I can't seem to make her understand it didn't die. Some people make me crazy.
If something dies it ceases to exist. It doesn't come to life again. Maybe the master gardener needs to learn the word "dormant".
Sunny and will be in the 80's today. Spring is definately here. Finally.
you texans grow some beautiful clems! with thing just starting to green up a BIT, i am drooling. very pretty ramona also.
wanted to point out that true clem wilt may turn the plant a darker color, really black vs just brown. however, there are many many reasons a clems "wilts back" or "dies back"or "browns off" just tired or collapsed vascular system, over fertilization or lack of water.
if you ever see stems turn black very quickly it is more likely to be the true clematidina wilt. (no time to spell check this morning)
i get wilted stems or whole plants primarily on ramona, pope J P II and lady betty balfour. but they always come back.
i have multiples of each of these in different garden areas on my property and it is true for all of them here at my place.
Hmmm well if yours come back after wilt......perhaps my pink champagne won't since she didn't come back after she wilted last summer? Clems are strange sometimes.
Pirl...your "Mastergardener Neighbor"...obviously doesn't know the difference from going "Dormant" to "Dying"..but as the old saying goes..You can't argue with an idiot and win..maybe she means it "Dies back" to the soil and "Puts out new vines from the soil each year"?
TG..I am so glad to hear my advise helped your clematis to flourish...now with your experience and knowhow you'll soon be a pro!!..I also always plant my clematis at a 45* angle towards whatever I want them to grow up..this buries the nodes deeper and eventually gives you two plants instead of one and makes it a stronger plant...Jeanne
Do you like my Clematis "Huldine"
Or Clematis "Comtesse de Bouchard" & "Venosa Violacea" aka "Stargazer"?
your clems are beautiful jeanne!
i spent most of the day outside with mine, nothing over an inch high, and leaf nodes greening up. but still lots to do.
i love your Huldine. I planted one a few years ago that disappeared. but have another one in now that will be in second year i my garden. and it was a debbie fischer root so it will probably take off.
can't wait for the rest of spring to sprung or what ever the saying is. at least we are on our way!