I've not been able to figure out the correct pronunciation for her, so I like Mrs. Chummie. She's obviously a happy clem. Hope mine does as well.
How much do clems depend on harsh winters to do well? Could this be the reason that someone from Central FL told me that clems don't do well there? I think it gets much colder up here in N FL. Our weather is nothing like the winters you have in Ohio, I'm sure. I haven't seen snow in many years. The ones I planted last yr. did well this spring, so I'm assuming that my recent purchases will also. Should I hope for an extremely cold winter?
ClematisGuru's 2009 Hardwick Hall Clematis Garden
So so lovely. I have been thinking about getting Star of India too, since my daughter is spending the summer there. I don't know if it would be too challenging for a beginner like me. Well so far , all the online garden sites are sold out, so the decision is made for me.
bananna18
Check out Donahues Greenhouses......I just ordered 3 Clematis from them. Clems are only $9.98...such a deal....and shipping for 3 of them was only 10 bucks....
Deann
http://www.donahuesclematis.com/all.html
sharkey..it is pronounced mrs chumley, with as you know impossible spelling , so i just call her mrs chummie.
i will say that the more clems i have planted the better results i am getting in year 2 and 3. i amending the soil better. we have clay type soil, so only half the soil at the most from the hole goes back in, the other half is mixed with nais posey power compost or bumber crop brand compost along with a lot of perlite or vermiculite , handful of bone meal, alfalfa pellets lately(some use peat..something to bulk up and lighten the soil). have also put in the aged composted manure and oyster shell for texture.
so my soil is way better than it used to be. but another reason is an ssv root, or even 2 of the same type, or a well rooted gallon or bigger root to start. i have been lucky over the years and gotten some well rooted gallons for between 6 and 12 dollars at a local nursery...actually so pot bound you feel like you are rescuing them. when this happened i would buy multiples. they rarely get anything now i do not have, but always check and did get warwaw nike (aka midnight showers) there this spring.
i had a breakthru a couple of years ago and realized i needed to take better care of the plants i was putting in, primarily keeping up the late season watering....late summer i would let down on the deep watering and they really flourished when i kept it up and also when i got more organized and committed on the fertilizing program.
they do take a while to establish in any case. but it is the only perennial that gardeners tend to put one of in...can you imagine buying one penstemon or delphinium and expecting a nice display????? that would take years if you were lucky enough not to drown it, starve it or have bad luck......
there are so many varieties you can grow in the warmer climates, and it seems you can grow any of the varieties i can....
donahues is a good place for small clems and as the season goes on they will probably be more rooted out if they planted them in the little pots at once. they give great , reliable service...and call them, maybe they too will have an end of season sale. that would be tempting.......
ssv is shipping two roots to a box, as always, at 5$ off, the two do not have to be or can be the same variety. this is a great value. i ordered a few more, even tho i swore no more planting a week or two ago. couldn't resist.
Guru- This was an "I can't sleep" early morning for me and I decided to check out this forum. I've been reading often on the clematis forum, but hadn't checked out Hardwick Hall because the thread looked long, and once I start reading I can't stop. I don't know what to say other than "THIS IS AMAZING". I can't imagine the amount of time spent planning and executing those beautiful gardens. This thread has to more informative then the best clematis book out there. I join the many others in thanking you for sharing.
Dathen
dathen, that is so nice of you. thanks you. last year was the first year i did i a forum, and i think i started mid season. it is nice to get my clem addiction out of the closet and share with others.
you are practically a neighbor so if you are in the area, feel free to come over and see the clems in person.
i am glad to meet you and hope you stay of the forum, strong showing here for zone 5 clemmers!
i am out of the garden this week with family, so i will have another round of good and not so good surprises when i get back over the weekend to the garden. like the perspective of missing a few days. good week to be gone with overcast, rain and not sweltering temps forecasted.
sunday i took a lot of photos and particularity like this one of the philidelphius arches which are just starting to open their fragrant white blooms.
Thank you, Guru. I have a funny feeling that I'm going to be here for a while. Can't think of anything I'd rather do than come see your clematis - unfortunately I had several surgeries and can't travel, but I will look forward to getting there some day.
CG, how close is Delaware to Hudson, Ohio? My brother lives there and we will be visiting sometime within the next year.
blissful, about 3 and half hours i think, very direct route however. you would be welcome at any time.
Thank you! I'll have to talk with the fam to plan a good time that coincides with the blooms! =)
Just want to say how much I've been enjoying following this thread. What a beautiful place. Have to ask, CG: Have you been to Hardwick Hall in England?
hey wickerparker...good to hear from you this year. funny you would ask that. my husband is a Hardwick from England. he immigrated to the US and became a citizen many, many years ago.
We have been to England quite a bit over the years, even tho he has no relatives there. most of them went to canada. however, we have visited some nice gardens over there, but not Hardwick Hall.
when we bought our place in 1992, our realtor gifted us with a small plaque that said "Hardwick Hall" on it. we hung it on a not-too-predominant place outside on the house and in jest refer to it as such amongst ourselves.
and that's the whole story.....i want to go see gravetye manor next, willam robinsons garden.......
appreciate your comments on the thread. how are your clems doing this year?
well i am missing the garden, even tho this is a nice visit to a place with no clems. swimming in the ocean and other pleasures with family are good. will be glad to pick up the shears and camera again this weekend however.
here is my beloved perrins pride taken last weekend. if i told you how long this plant took to establish you would think me nuts to have kept on it. the matte, plum sheen of the sepals is so distinctive....it is a clem that should be in wider distribution and more appreciated!
Ok so how long did it take you to establish?
my records show a local purchase,which would have been a well rooted gallon. 2005. i think i got it earlier than that however......but i will say year 1 and 2 and 3 it was like a spindly stem and nothing i could do would encourage more oomph from the plant. then last year which would have been 4 or 5 if there is a mistake on my spreadsheet i finally saw it for the clem that it is....and of course, this year surpassing that.
the slow start could every well have been my mistakes, esp if i did get it before 05 when i am lucky anything grew for me.
CG, my husband's a Brit, too. We drive past Hardwick Hall every time we're over there, on our way from one family destination to another. I've got Hardwicks in my family, too, so we always joke about it being the ancestral home, ha ha ha. Have never had the time to stop though.
My clems are coming, I'm very excited about them, but they're all group 3s so I've still got a wait. Very very excited about my Margaret Hunt -- thanks for pushing me over the edge on that one! Hope you'll show pix of yours when it blooms -- you do still have it, right?
CG - that's such a good thought that we don't buy just one of a perennial we buy several. I think that with vines we think that they will just grow big but that's not really the way of Clematis unless you are talking Montanas. What a good reminder.
You might want to start a new thread. If you don't know how I'd be happy to do it for you. This one is getting very long.
wickerparker, yes, margaret hunt is back and so laden with buds it is amazing. this clem is a show stopper and easy to establish. so pretty too .luminous. will def post. i am really looking forward to her opening up. you might be related to my hubbie, but there is a skeleton in his family tree and hardwick might be an apdoted name some generations back.....not sure, but welcome to the family, huh?
doss, good thought i think i will start a new hardwick hall with this round of blooming which last week and this week is the transition of for sure. it is a looong thread. and glad you appreciate the topic of clems as perennials we expect too much of.
why don't you start the thread on the clems as perennials.....folks are probably sick of clematisguru's POV!!!! when i get back to the garden sunday i shall start the new season of blooms on a new HH thread!
Nobody's sick of your gardens. There is already a good clematis thread going so I'll just wait for you to start the thread. Just make sure that you include a link to this thread so people can go back and enjoy what you've posted so far.
ok, that might be new forum territory for me as you guessed. but live and learn as they say! will figure it out.
thanks doss!
May I ask a question from one of the experts? I read somewhere on one of the threads not to feed your clems liquid fertilizer like miracle grow. Is this correct and why? I have some smaller clems I bought locally and replanted them in larger containers planning to plant them in the yard in the fall with larger better roots. I have been using 1/2 strength water soluable fertilizer on them . Is this a mistake? please advise. Thanks
i'd like to know others thoughts on that too. i only feed organic, humus building fertiizers, with the sometime use of ironite plus liquid for peakish clems. and the very sometime use of my recipe with epson salts, beer and ammonia as a quick boost.
i can only speak for myself and my garden as am not an expert in the pros and cons of the readily availalbe nitrogen boosts.
i know common wisdom which guides many of us is , if it is god for roses, it is good for clems.
sugarblue, i think this would be worthy of you starting a new thread and getting some input to better educate us all.
My doctor recommended that I take iron (with vitamin C at the same time) every day. I tried lots of varieties until I found the one least likely to bother my stomach. From time to time, I grind a couple of the rejects with a mortar/pestle and add the powder to dissoluble fertilizer in water. I hate to throw anything useful away.
Baby rubro got a bit. He is still alive, but not growing much. I pinch the tips off from time to time as ClemGuru recommended, hoping it will increase root development.
you just got baby rubro, right? is it in the ground? it needs good drainage, so if it is in a pot make sure he is not getting too much water? i am sure it will take off after it adjusts to it's new home. it is a great clem....one of the most under utilized clems..so foolproof, so beautiful, so vigorous!
Yes, ClemGuru. I just got rubro. I put it in the ground, in amended soil near a climbing rose. I put a sleeve made from a plastic soda bottle with the top and bottom cut off to mark the place and deter slugs. It is growing a bit, but still small. It looks healthy, not wilting or anything. I am happy that it is still alive. It is with a vigorous rose, William Baffin which blends, hopefully, with the color of the outer margins of the petals. Time will tell.
I may be doing things backwards, but I put my winter hardy flowers in the ground and my veggies in containers. I couldn't find affordable containers for the cukes and melons, so I made my own "grow bags" with black nylon and mesh. I plan to experiment with hypertufa and papercrete container making if it ever stops raining here. I guess we are having English weather here, clouds and drizzle.
Beautiful, foolproof and vigorous sounds perfect for a newbie like me.
garden quilts you sound very inventive and i love that....i would love to do hypertufa too, just haven't made the time. maybe i will this fall.
it's good clem weather for sure in my area too. great year so far.
big thread here. i am going to start a "summer blooms" new thread for Hardwick Hall Clems 09......check it out.