this john warren is in the latter phases of blooming, but these blooms will hang on for at least a couple of weeks, as the garden has plenty of wind protection and is partial sun.
ClematisGuru's 2009 Hardwick Hall Clematis Garden
perrins pride opened earlier and larger usual. guess it liked the hard winter.
sorry, photo above is sugar candy just starting to open and a little hf young tucked in the bottom. here is the perrins pride bloom.
this plant or plants of the president are looking good and showing no harm form the winter or the weather.
i try to keep the plants on this retaining wall trained low so you can walk by and see them at eye level. this one has cooperated pretty well for being viewed that way.
last but not least , this is little fremontii, a species that likes to be neglected and will never be more than 18 inches high. i pinched it back and took off a couple of blooms when it arrived and a. good drainage, i'm hoping i have the right location..good drainage, partial sun, protection in the winter and a good shot of neglect as far as over feeding and watering.
we'll see, as i understand it is hard to grow. am thinking i should take it out and pot it up......have seen it grown for years in a container, but i do not do much of that and am hesitant to start.....
What an amazing display of the three clematis together! Wowzers!!!
Now I know why I have 3 of the President - such a beautiful clematis and the colouring in yours is gorgeous!!!!
I only had a few hours out in the garden today, and watering was a surprise priority, so lots to do tomorrow. hope to be out there half a day and tackle the jobs i don't want to do. (weed killer on gravel paths etc)
it is hard to not spend time with the clems when they are starting to hit their stride.
thanks dawn. some of my best president plants are not going to be as strong this year as this younger one . this one just happens to be having an "it " year. that trio of bi colors is the one looking peekish on the leaves that you noticed before, but now in full bloom, the leaves are covered by the blooms! they have also gotten a little better from some ironite and epsom salt triage i gave them last week.
always appreciate your appreciation for the clems......they are an amazing group of plants, who i devote my interest in the garden and landscape to with gratitude.
here are my single peonies (the only type i grow) in front of a mature rouge cardinal. i am hoping they bloom together this year, it is a possibility from what i see right now. if so, that is a seasonal gift from mother nature i will appreciate.
Well I don't see anyone can "not" look at your clematis and appreciate their beauty....you have done an amazing job with your clematis.......
What a fantastic trio! and such a good idea to use mock orange as an arch. I guess no plant is safe as a the "low dog" to your top clem dogs.
Anna
thanks guys, formula is
time + work x mistakes = some good clems. if i listed the mistakes or really looked at time in, plants killed and mistakes made i might have given up a few years ago......and that continues this year. it is a continual, and joyous, learning curve.
These photos continue to amaze me! It makes me want to run out and find GROW POWER, ironite, and everything else you've mentioned. And, I'm NOT just saying that. Are these products easy to find?
My first bloom from a young Carnaby just opened and it's so pretty. It's paired with MultiBlue, which is a more mature plant with larger buds about to open.
Your photos give me lots of hope that all my hard work (and expense) will pay off in the future. In less than a week after seeing your photo of John Warren, I've already ordered, received, and planted two of them. You are aiding my addiction! Thank you for sharing these gorgeous blooms. The trio you posted is beyond gorgeous.
thanks sharkey. i know with clems sometimes it is like, toooo slow. but time passes quickly. that bi color trio is stressed this year, from the weird weather and huge downpours. it feels better now that i am handling the water not mother nature. we are a bit dry which i hope doesn't continue, but at least i am not flooding them.
john warren may be my all time spring large blooming favorite. and it does not take as long as some to establish. this clem motivated me too, when it came on well 6 or 7 years ago after just a year in the ground, and i could see the potential. a few years ago i also took a virtual break from buying new clems (or tried to) and just took care of the group i had , trying to create healthy plants. i felt over my head and that i did not have much to show for it and the after bloom period look of the clems was ratty. that is when i stopped buying and started doing more after bloom period pruning and decided not compromise to a healthy plant , that is the goal over and above a bug eaten or bedraggled blooms..
that said, i can't bear to cut the bi color trio down just yet, but i will, even the josey in it. that is why that josey has smaller blooms , the group has been pruned more often that a josey should be. but it is not my main josey and i want them all to be healthy vs it looking bedraggled all season. an i like in the combo that the blooms are about the same size.
a bedraggled plant and one or two lack luster blooms may be a step along the way, but not your ultimate aim.
so hand in there with the clems and concentrate on healthy plants vs blooms and it will all come together. thanks for your clem-ship. when i got into clems it was all solo here except for my books and trips to chalk hill to visit with them and meet mary toomey.....there is much more support now, and i think that is nice.
guru, I love seeing your clematis in situ growing in the garden. I'm finding your photo series very interesting! (-:
thanks tabasco. you are practically a neighbor so come on over sometime and see them.
the josephine blooms on the oldest josephine plant here at hardwick hall are slowly opening. one of the things i like about this clem is how slowly the flowers open, providing interest for weeks on wend, the blooms last a long time. it is a great clem, one of the wonders of the world. this one is about 7 years old and is in a location that does not get as much attention as some of the gardens, as there are no new clems ever, it is kind of solo except for it's companion hydrangea and ivy.
today it looked gorgeous........
as with most early blooming clems, the lower part of the plant produces the largest and first to open buds, old old wood down there on a josey. the entire display here is covered with buds, but many of the ones on the upper part are not open or just starting to open. they will be smaller blooms too.
this is the top of the turrett, just to the right of the mature josephine in the photos above. the "green wall" of the inside of the retaining wall, which makes a fence around it, was mostly planted from cuttings rooted here at hardwick hall, so it is a joy to see them surviving the winters and coming back so vigorously.
basically a "no clem" zone, except for the josey as you enter.......
i generally do not post photos of single blooms vs more mature displays, but this little "carnival" bloom, ahead of the others is so dramatically colored, i can't resist at the start of a holiday weekend....in a few weeks hopefully there will be many more, but here is a beautiful little bi color bloom that we hear little about and very worth growing.
Josephine is gorgeous! It took a lot of willpower not to order it. I am trying to keep to keep to type 3 like you suggested. I am glad it gives you so much pleasure.
Anna
hot weather stressing humans and clems! but we will survive and so will they!
lots going on here. sugar candy is really opening now. this is my largest clem bloom when they have a good year. larger than the huge john warrens. it will bloom for a couple of months......easy clem, no tantums or special needs. love to sprawl thru the evergreen that serves as it's host....doesn't like to be tied or lever looped in, stems wilt if it is "trained".....
proteus opening underneath john warren. subtle combo.
duchess of edinburgh starting to open, the usual greenish sepals. glad there wasn't more winter damage this year and i pruned a bunch of it off by accident in early april. so luckily to have much at all. looks like it will be loaded with blooms.
when these clems establish they are very nice plants. i have a couple of others that have never established in another garden, i am probably going to give their real estate to someone else next year!
louise rowe, twilght tonight.
I hate to say it but I don't think that clematis does anything for me. I honestly don't care too much for the white ones however Huldine, John Huxtable, Silver moon seem much more interesting to me - the others seem to pale in comparison.
Do you find this clematis does well for you?
loiuse rowe is a toughie to establish. i have one in the north fence clem garden that is so so. this one is in a container, i bought it this year and planted it in the container with BUDS STILL ON IT and left them on.i will prune it back hard and move it to the ground in a couple of weeks.
there is a quality to the sepals, reminds me of marmori , that is hard to describe and photo does not do justice. but that said, yes it is a tricky clem, don't know if i can ever get one to come on super vigorous.
it really is a pale pale lavender not white. hard to photograph well i think.
lord neville decided to show up and bloom this year...i don't think he felt like ti last year. the color is fab and the wavy margin around the sepals makes an interesing bloom. perfect clem for the standard sescription, "hardy but not vigorous" .
translation, hard to kill, and hard to get a lot out of too!
the n fence clem garden seating area is finished and ready for the season.
this is the view from the seating area, the clems in this area are coming on well. most of them on this side of the n fence garden are late bloomers,except for otto, which is just about bloomed out. this area has odoriba, mandschurica, luther burbank, frankie (just put in,and pruned back. it is a ssv root, so nect year it will add a lof of eary interest with the blue and white bi colored blooms), ruttel in the sunnier part, wyvale and cote d azur....lots to look forward to.
Lord Neville does have a very pretty flower - in the photo is looks REALLY blue! Love it!
Your sitting area looks like something out of a gardening magazine.....amazing!!!
What a lovely garden! You have wonderful taste. It is very inspiring for new gardeners, like myself, to see such a beautiful space.
I can see why it is hard to force yourself to have a no garden day. It is an oasis. If I lived closer,I would love to see it in person. I am sure it is even nicer in 3D!
thanks for the feedback, clem friends. the big pots have been around here for years. this year i was looking for something inexpensive to put in them (they have held evergreens, tomatoes , you name it over the years)
the ivy towers were seductive as they were only 20$ each at lowes and the small euyonimous (sp on that as usual) were of the 5$ variety, so i was a happy camper, as they can be over wintered in the pots or transplanted out this fall, and this type of ivy is perennial here too, according to the tag.
yesterday was hot again, a few wilted branches from this and that......spent time putting gravel around the base of some plants (will post photo on that later) these are all yesterday shots.
first little Arabella, a small 2 inch diameter bloom, with a very sharp look. it is the first on this plant, as i pruned it back when i put it in a couple of weeks ago. she is just dying to bloom. it is Fretwell's Arabella from the mid 90's, new plant for me. not to be confused with the Victorian, double white Lemoine clematis (which i do not have). got it at brushwood, plants were nice there this year. bigger than liners, well rooted out , they are not on the "daily worry list".
little arabella will be gorgeous next year.
crystal fountain will be great next year too. seems so many things we do in the garden is for "next year" isn't it? guess we have to stop and smell the roses and appreciate what we did last year that is looking good now. but, this clem is a next year beauty, but the form of the flowers is so sharp, i am really going to enjoy seeing her grow and flourish. (put in in fall of 08)
Jan Pawell II ,or as known here, pope john paul II, is a nice bloomer. needs partial shade. this clem can look differently in different sites depending on sun. sometimes almost pale apricot, can bleach to white. this is my oldest one, which travels up a limbed up curly willow , so high you sometimes can not see the upper blooms. here are a couple of her first blooms. a very pretty clem.
gillian blades blooming her heart out. partial shade a MUST for this clem to get the subtle pastel tones of the bloom and have them stay on the plant for a while. tones range from pale baby yellow to the palest lavender....very opalescent and pretty with the wavy margin and delicate look. blooms about 4 inches across this year, average for the plant. this plant is 8 years old, had been moved at least once. vines are delicate and break easily over the winter so hard for me to get a lot of size on it without a messy old vine look, so i keep it cleaned up, even at the expense of blooms and size.
integrefolia rosie in bloom. this clem needs sun,even more than this location provides. may relo her after blooming, in early fall.
some shrubbery at hardwick hall. looks like last year, but fuller, finally achieving the full, tiered effect i was striving for.
last post for this memorial day holiday, shrubbery in the front of the house,achieving the layered look with hydrangeas and alberta spruce. some of my albertas are limbed up due to a mite infestation last year and damaged limbs that were very unsightly. so had to rethink some plantings and go with it.
there are clems within here, that are just coming on. a large nelly i hard prune early in the season to get delayed blooms, a lawsonia, and a prized shirayakahime.
spring pruning of some of your 2's and 3's will delay the blooms. good for an event, or if you just want to postpone some of the blooms. you can also half and half prune them, take some of the vines down to maybe 8 inches in may, so that new growth comes on for later blooms.
happy holiday to all today.
CG - Everything is so beautiful! Happy Memorial Day to you and your family!