Montana Mayleen

I love the Montanas and unfortunately, they are not something that thrives in my zone. I have read about microclimates and thought that I would try my own experiment - what did I really have to loose other than the price of the plant?

I know there will be years, where the late Spring frosts will get the best of her, but she is planted next to the house - so her root system should be fine. She is on the Southwestern side of the house and my yard is fenced in with a wooden privacy fence which I thought might help. What I had not noticed until well after she was planted, is that my dryer vent is about 4-5 feet away, which has to help. Hubby even built a pergola for her.

Anyway - this is my experiment that I started a couple of years ago and this is my first real flush of blooms on her. I am so thrilled!

Well - would you look at that! She is beautiful!! Good job!!!

That is fantastic! It's stunning.... I want one.

Good for you for experimenting

Carolyn, OMG, you are genius. I tried a montana a few years ago in what i thought was a micro climate, and well, didn't work. but near a dryer vent is genius. i actually have an outdoor area near the dryer vent for garbage cans, but it is all gravel and i don't think i could get to soil there.
i would do anything to be able to have a montana freda or mayleen.....i am going to think strongly about this and what i could do. i think i would have to do containers back there, and this would not give me the warmer zone i do no think. garbage can can get a relo i am sure.....

anyway , genius idea, you could do a cirrhosa freckes there too. what a great idea.....GENUIS. thanks for sharing and soooo pretty. did you at any time have snow on the ground in that area? my graveled garbage area does get some snow build up if we have a good bit of snow......

CG -

Thank you!

We had a lot of snow this past year - the year before not so much. What I was concerned with where the temps. We had temps early on in the teens and then there were days where we were in the single digits and a couple days below 0. So my concerns were more for the cold than the snow - the snow tends to insulate. (Figures most of the country is warmer with this global warming and we seem to be colder!)

I have looked at cirrhosa freckles and I really like that one too. Who knows, maybe there will be another clem experiment coming......

Carolyn, are you enjoying the fragrance? Absolutely beautiful!

GS -

The fragrance is heavenly! You have to get close to her to in order to experience her fragrance. Right now, the lilacs that are all the way on the other end of my property are what I am primarily smelling - don't get me wrong - I like lilacs too!

How much sun can that montana take? Would look great on my arbor, but it gets afternoon west sun.

montana can take full sun

carolyn also look up spoonerii.
it used to be classified as a montana. no longer. i have one that survives (in the ground 3 or 4 years now) but does not bloom. just not warm enough, early enough, takes it too long to wake up from dormancy i guess. if i do it i may dig that one up and put it in that area. but it might have to be in a thick thick container back there and then i could add extra winter protection for the container without disturbing the vine.

you are genuis. amazing. and it looks beautiful. good point re snow vs temp.

What heavenly blooms on your Montana! Good for you for "pushing your zone". Sometimes it's worth taking a chance!

I planted Montana "Reubens" last Fall. It's just a baby, but it made it through our Winter and is now being to flower. I'll take a picture very soon.

shirley, i am amazed by that. of course you are in zone 7 and i am in 5, guess that is a big difference.

i am going to try again. and if the zone here kept the montana smaller, well that would be ok too. maybe for you too. they can get HUGE. my hubbie and i were hiking around big sur once about 5 or 6 years ago and we stumbled on a old abandoned house that was covered with a blooming pink montana.....it was literally taking the house down....so gorgoeus. it was a key experience for me and i will forever lust for a montana because of it.
i am sure the house was abandoned for other reasons and then the montana went wild. i had a pic for a few years, but did not seem to save it.

doss has a really pretty one, she has posted pics before here on DG. hers is big and mature, but she keeps it under control.

kullus now has two, one inch shoots. her neighbor , margaret hunt, a few feet away, is 5 feet tall, with like maybe 20 shoots. and has been in the ground here a year less. we'll see. so far in 3 or 4 years, kullus is one of those clems mary toomey would say, "just don't pay the rent"

How beautiful...I planted "Mayleen" a couple years ago and can't wait for mine to get as old as yours...scrumptious...Jeanne

Very pretty! There are 2-3 montana's that I have lusted after but I'm also in zone 5. I'll have to see if I can find a micro-climate to give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

BEautiful. I love to try and push the edges of my zone. So glad that it's blooming for you. HOw nice that Mayleen is fragrant. I grow Reubens and Broughton star and neither of them really have a fragrance. Maybe on a hot day when the sun is shining on them and if you get your nose right into the flower you can get a slight hint of fragrance. You are right that if you want fragrance at this time of year that the lilac is the way to go!

Carolyn, I have such Mayleen envy. I am also in Zone 5b, and I was thrilled to see a montana in a local nursery. I planted two: one on a chain-link fence that I am desperately trying to hide with ivy and now clematis. And the other is on a trellis against my shed, also a southwest exposure.

Seeing how yours looks after a couple years gives me hope. All I have right now is a single vine coming from the ground and three vines growing up the trellis with literally two blooms!

The clematis on the fence gets more sun and the leaves stayed bronze, but the clem that gets more shade has green leaves. Both have two blooms, lol. I hope there's more to come. Are they really that slow to establish or is it our cooler climes?

Anyway, yours is luscious.

By the way, do you have issues with birds on your Mayleen? I have recently noticed one attacking mine (http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/992239/). Birds generally leave all my flora alone, but there must be something especially enticing about this clematis.

peony8, it may be too much of dormant period for the plant to come out of dormancy and be floriferous. will be interested in your results if there are not warming influences such as dryer vents. i think all of zone 5 folks would love to grow a montana or two. or try again for those of us who have tried and failed. keep us posted!

> it may be too much of dormant period for the plant to come out of dormancy and be floriferous.

I'm not sure what that means. Are you saying long, cold winters are too much for this plant to really thrive?

You're probably right, but I'll hope for the best! Unfortunately, my dryer vent goes under our deck, so no plants there (except pachysandra).

In any case, I discovered today that I am in zone 6a. http://www.garden.org/zipzone/index.php I wonder if that helps at all.

OK, didn't mean to hijack Carolyn22's thread.

well, zone 6 has some options for surviving that 5 does not offer. i am just not up on the differences.


montanas and warmer zone clems can SURVIVE in zone 5 but do not THRIVE. for example i have a clematis spoonieri that comes back each may and grows nice vines through a viburnam hedge, very attractive, but it comes back so late (may)that it is not enough warmth for it to ramp up and bloom any or much.

i do not have experience with montanas in zone 6 , only in zone 5, but the odds are certainly better.

Peony8

See what happens with your Montana. I put mine in knowing this plant was not particularly hardy to my zone, however I am a half a zone colder than you are. I planted it by the house with the hopes that the warmth from the house would enable me to enjoy this plant from time to time. There will be years with late frosts that I know will get the best of the flowers, but apparently not every year as this was winter was a long cold one.

I see you are new to DG - welcome. There are a lot of new friends and good information to be found here. One thing I have learned from this forum is that clematis like to be hard pruned back the first year or two regardless of their pruning types. One of the reasons my Montana took a couple of years to establish was because I pruned her back the first couple of years. I wanted her to concentrate her efforts on developing a good strong root system.

My Mayleen is pruning group 1, so when she is finished flowering, I will just trim back some of the dead branches to keep her in shape.

Here is a picture I took yesterday with her full open.

Again, welcome.

Wow, that looks fantastic! So many more flowers already.

So you're saying that even though this clematis is in the 1 pruning group, I should prune it back hard late this coming winter to encourage growth from the roots? I do have only the one shoot coming from the ground, so it would make me feel better about the longevity of the plant to have more.

I feel optimistic about my Mayleens. We get so much snow every winter, that three solid months of snow cover is bound to have an insulating effect.

Peony8

The snow is a great insulater. We had quite a bit of snow this past winter ourselves. I know about where you are - I have quite a bit of family in the Boston area and it seems like they continually get hit with the snows.

Yes, I would prune them both hard and keep them well watered. Clems like to have the soil on the moist side. I have read on this forum where some will everyday, stick their fingers into the ground by the roots to see that the soil is moist - I don't always do that, but it is an excellent idea. Also, remember they like to keep their roots in the shade and their heads in the sun.

Best of luck.

Carolyn

Thanks, Carolyn. I just remembered that somewhere I have one of those wetness meters, which I bought at Brookstone ages ago. I'll make sure my clemmies are on the normal side every day and give them lots of love (but not too much!)

Hopefully in coming seasons, our Mayleens can arm wrestle for Most Flowers award. :)