Here's `Kilian Donahue' I found yesterday at Lowe's. A bit ratty looking, but I think she's pretty.
This message was edited Apr 19, 2009 5:47 PM
Clematis blooms, Everyday
Lily, I just received two multiblues and planted one next to the steps to my deck. It's also next to a double-red knock out rose. I hope mine is as beautiful as yours when it blooms. I love reds, purples, and white as a contrast in a flower bed. I also have black/blue salvia and a midnight blue rose in that bed. Can't wait for everything to bloom at one time.
Thanks all for the compliment, Shirley the stone work is already here when we moved in. lol. We redone the landscape, renovated the interior. Shakey; that sounds likes a wonderful combo.
Here is another view of my front arbor (the Roses are not seen here); spring bulbs are done for the season, I'm working on the annual bed to invite butterflies into the garden.
lily, that pic is magazine quality. I, too, use ophiopogon for border, but in certain areas that are lower or get more water from the sprinkler system, the ophiop. is travelling. do you have that problem? At first I was fighting trying to keep it straight, but I've given up and it's becoming a groundcover of sorts for taller plants. Yours looks very neat.
PS: drives me nuts that people confuse ophipogon with liriope but the fact is they look very similar, are used for similar purpose and both are commonly called mondo. Almost inevitable to get them confused.
Angie, now you've just educated me about those border grass !!! Thank you. Yes, I'm still looking/hoping for sharing that with the 'recycle' org. as you've one time mentioned. I used to call them dwarf Mondo but that is a misnomer, since they have a finer structures, but just as tall as the 'Big Blue' mondo grass.
Here is my 'Fireworks' this morning after much storm/rain last night. I've this vine propped on a miniature shrub rose 'Ballerina'. The rose is sending out buds, I'm looking forward to see the clem and roses bloom concurrently, that's going to be pretti(er). ^_^
Ladies, how do you keep the weeds out of your border grasses? Mine was here at the home when we moved in, and it's full of oxalis. Very annoying! Whenever I try to get at the roots of the weeds, I end up with a bare spot in the border. Suggestions?
Your "Fireworks" is really beautiful! It's already putting on quite a show of color!
are you guys sure that is fireworks? i have one and the bloom is more like a blueish pink margin with the darker pink central bar. however, all these bi colors are hard to photograph. i didn't photo graph a lot of my clems that were young/small/ last year but this year i will do so.
maybe it is the amount of sun too. mine is in full/dappled , maybe that makes a difference?
Okay, now that the question is raised, lol. What do you think that looks like? I've two bi-color clems in containers to the back. At one time I thought I had 'Dr. Ruppel' on both, now I'm confused; one maybe 'Dr. Ruppel' the other is 'Nelly Moser'? You and Jeanne need to help me straighten this identity crisis out of the way. lol.
Here are the mentioned two bicolor vines: Okay, CG, which is which? Or are they one and the same? The one to the left with flowers are slightly smaller than the one to our right. One's color is a little more intense, the right one fades as they mature (thus Nelly?). The more I think about them, the more confused I become. Hope DH didn't call me Demented W. lol.
Adendum: neither of these two vines are as vibrant as the mentioned 'Fireworks' as above>
ooosp; typos
This message was edited Apr 20, 2009 12:07 PM
This message was edited Apr 20, 2009 12:13 PM
i'm going to defer to the southern experts, as the different bloom time and heat etc blooms different. i know joesphine looks a little different here in my area than the recently posted one from southern zone.
straightening out the single bi colors should be fun out bees jubilee, nelly m, carnaby , dr ruppel, fireworks, carnival, sugar candy. etc etc..then the doubles empress, joesphine etc etc.....need sherlock clematis for sure.
but one the one posted first, the white is a bluer white for me with fireworks.
Yuph! You're right CG! "Fireworks" has wavy tempals with a bluish outer edge.
http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=171
fireworks and carnival are my two fav bi color clems.
carnaby number 3
all the rest can be so different based on sun level.
Now, more and more mine so - called 'Fireworks' maybe Dr. Ruppel, especially after I took another close look at Angie's Dr. Reppel posted above! LOL. I'll give. Clematis ... out for today. Thanks all for your input.
Bliss, I have weeds, and after a lifetime of trying everything, I use 3inches+ of mulch, shredded mulch, and I trench around my beds, which really helps with watering when it's dry, fill up the trench, and it's like a watering system - we require so much more water than many areas...with 3 full inches of mulch, i get an occasional weed, or 100, lol, but they are easy to remove...of course the mulch bags say that, but I suppose I'm a slow learner, and, or a cheap gardener, and I had to reach a point where I knew nothing else would work...good luck!!!!!!
Evie, to be effective, you have to get the rizhome/corm (whatever) to get the oxalis out. But when you do, u end up w/ a bald spot. So what I do these days is yank the leaves/flowers as quickly as I see them and that's it. I notice that as the grass gets thicker, it seems to weaker the oxalis. More of a problem during rainy season.
sometimes I do nothing at all and let it be but then, it doesn't look as neat as lily_love's garden.
Sherry, we have the trenches. The problem is that the oxalis really got a good hold in this grass before we owned the home. Plus, it's always rainy season here... so they thrive! =( I'm beginning to consider just yanking out all the grass altogether so I'm sure to get all the corms and then edge the front beds with bricks. That's what we have in the back... and no oxalis. Every time I see oxalis offered at a garden center, I wonder who actually plants this stuff on purpose. Do they realize how much they will be cursing it in a few years?!?!
Angie, and Ev, the grass -- believe it or not -- was a single strand transplanted back in 2004, yup, it was pain-stakeningly separated almost singly when we planted that border. I learned that it took the liking to the rich soil, and sunny border, thus it has multiplied like mad. I've one area, in that very border, nutsedge has found its way there. Yes! Nutsedges which is impossible to irradicate. So the plan is, when the time is right, hubby and I are going out there, take up the border, and restart it all over again -- and if that isn't a pain on the 'hiney' then tell me what is , plus our dogs like to use the grass as a place to cool down on the hot summer days (that portion of the grass isn't shown here -- lol).
Forget the bicolor, what about this? Durandii? vs Jackmanii? I've these climbing up my saucer magnolia to the back and sideyard. Although the two never bloom together, but at least the tree can be coloring up the rest of the season when the early blooms of magnolia are far gone & forgotten.
Ev, we crossed posted. lol. Yes, we've shared almost the same idea. It isn't shown here but my front border, the oposite side has been replaced with stone border. Last year we had the idea to replace the border since the grass is getting so thick, and it takes up so much room, we losing room/spce for flowers to grass. :((
Very nice thread - a regular tour-de-force of clematis. Thanks. I'm going to have to try one.
Definitely not durandii. durandi is a demin blue, herbacoeus climber. i will abstain from speculation regarding your purple growing in the shade, very nice looking. but yes, it could be a a jackmanii of some type. of several others. here is durandi shown with hagley hybrid.
and here is durandi with betty corning. the hagley in the prior photo has a lot of sun, which is why you miss some of the typical hagley nuances.
I didn't know durandi was a climber - I thought it was more of a rambler? At least I think that is what I have read??? Durandi would be a perfect blue colour for my tuteur but I removed it from my list since I thought it rambled instead of climbed.
i have seen it described a s a semi herbaceous climber,,,,it can go to 5 ft, or stay lower. do not grow it alone on a tall support. the pedioles(am not spell checking ) do not grasp , but given another plant to companion with it can get taller than you think.
it has intergefolia in the background an different clones seem to have different characteristics.
mine is a bit of a rambler and i grow it behind a trimmed ow boxwood and with harley hybrid and betty corning in a jumble display. i am hoping it goes higher this year.
grow it on a structure with another clem, with a small structure such as a 3 ft cage type, or to sprawl and maybe more on a shrub.
i would make sure it has some support and then see what it feel like doing. would not grow it alone on a structure hoping for it to be covered.
CG, did you mean denim blue? I'm glad I'm not the only one that transpose my alphabets sometime. lol. I def. enjoy the light shade of blue from Durandii. Too many pretty clems. too little spaces. lol. Thank you, for sharing your pix.
OT; I'm thinking out loud here in regard to the wild oxalis. Does the hybrids Oxalis seeds revert back to its wild form? 'Cause I don't have enough of the hybrids oxalis, but it's the weedy one that is threatened to take over every square inches there is in the yard, whether it's in container, or in the ground. Anyone can offer any thought on this?
CG, rambling vs. climbers, does the 'rambling' describe most Texenesis Clematis? Because the one that I posted above, almost fits into that 'rambling' characteristic. It's roughly 6-7 feet tall, and has not dominate my young S. magnolia tree. I also have another one just like it on this side of the garden, which I allow it to climb up my Crepe Myrtle partially. It's so happen, that the seedlings on this area vines which produced the seedlings that I thought were Jackmanii's seedlings. In short, I've NOID clematis #1 produced NOID clematis #2 (NOID = No I.D.). ^_^
yes i am a little dyslexic and when posting usually do not proof. all texensis can be leggy with a long pedicel (flower stalk) and not a grasping pedicel. a texensis is a tall clem, but i heard heard of them being used a sprawling ground cover due to this. in fact gravetye manor in the uk, where william robinson developed some clems and was the father of the new style "big natural border", who worked with ernest markham....yes ,that ernest markam, used it as a ground cover and let it naturalize in trees and so forth.
please excuse my freestyle liberties when quickly posting. texensis are a great clem to do all kind of thing with due to the non grasping , rambling but tall nature of the plant.
love the idea of no id naturalized clems, that is mother nature at work. but it takes a lot of seedling i am told to bind a new cultivar worthy of replicating. but that does not mean they have less true value and the strengths they have as plants are important to the genus and future generations.
Bermuda grass is what I'm fighting here, but I lose the war with every battle I win! Surely hell must be carpeted with this stuff.
Lily: I believe you confused me with someone else. I'm not using border grass (yet), so I don't want to take credit where none is due.
Lovely clems, everyone!
With your freestyle spelling and my freestyle pruning we make a great pair LOL No worries.
Sorry Hemophobic, I'm thinking of another member that shared similiar moniker as yours....
ok, here's a non clem thread question. i have some hellebores, maybe 5 years old. several types. they are having a great year but the way but the bunches of them are tightly packed and i am wondering if i need to dig and divide after they finish blooming?
i have few perennials left from my cottage garden incarnation and can't remember if i should treat them as other perennials and do so. they bunches of flowers are gorgeous this year, but they seem tight ..i feel like they should be divided, but would rather have someone weigh in than just trust my gardener's gut.
for Bliss and Lily: No comment
Nery, your grass looks like mine (bad word, bad word, mega bad words!!!). I truly despise oxalis. We have the same plant markers in our yard too! =P
CG, I wished I had an answer for your Hellebores question, other than complimenting how yours get to multiply. Mine, but a few that I planted in the back shady garden did never multiply and is on the way to decline after several years. Perhaps, I didn't fertilize it enough.
Grass and weeds intermingling!!! I agreed bad, bad, mega bad! I'll choose stone borders next time around. And that is exactly what I advised my children on the new/future gardens lol.
HAHA, I just realized I don't sound too blissful in my last comment! *snicker* =P
don't get me started on weeds. here it is all about the "little trees"...wild maples or some junk tree and thousands of them coming up everywhere. i pull them every time i am outside and have a helper on it too. round up will be needed on the gravel paths.
the dandis are nothing compared to the "little trees" about 1 to 2 inches high!
Weeds! Many a time, if I can replace a weed for a cultivated flowering plant, I feel like I've accomplished something. lol. Okay, let's get back to our lovely blooms of clematis. So I'll settle this one for Jackmanii, its many buds are getting ready to open.
Guru, the tiny trees are actualy pretty easy to pull up on the gravel paths... at least around here. I have a swamp red maple that is obviously very eager to have a baby. It deposits hundreds of babies every year in our gardens, gravel base of the paths, etc. They're easy to pull up, but it's no fun on the back to be stooped down that long! Our oak seedlings only number in the 10's, but they are usually rooted well by the time we find them, since they come up from the acorns.
i agree, blogging or posting about weeds will go nowhere we want to go. weeds have rights and are responsible for much of what we enjoy , yet they are the bane of garden design. at least my garden design!!
Well, I've hesitated to post a photo, but as a beginner, I'm proud of my first blooms from a clem--EVER! I planted Dr. Rupple and Fireworks last year as liners. (Didn't know what a liner was until recently.) I assume that the darker one is Fireworks??? One stem is finally wanting to climb now. I'm pleased with the bushy growth near the ground. Should I leave the mulch or pull it back?
I planted three others last year. Galore is really taking off and looks good even at ground level. Huldine is growing like a weed. I try not to think about how many I've bought this year.
I bought Comtesse de Bouchaud yesterday at Tally Nursery. It was left from last year and in a 2-gallon pot. I planted it today. Its root system looked good, but actually not as good as those I've bought from Uncle Greenthumb and Debbie. It had a lot of growth, but very leggy, so I actually found the nerve to trim it back. Shouldn't I see blooms this year?
