I'm in zone 3/4, south Mpls. St. Paul suburbs, and would like to transplant my two clems so they get some more sun. When is the best time of year to do this?
Transplanting established clems
right now if you are going to be around to water them and make sure they transplant well. cut back any growth when you do ti. a few weeks ago would have been good too, depending on when your ground unfreezes. from what i know of your zone, if you get it right now they may be set back very little if the plants are dug out deep enough and the new hole and amendments are excellent, along with that water.
how old are they? and how much growth is showing right now? also what type? you may sacrifice this year's early blooms, or all blooms if it is a group 1 clem, but always good to re site a clem for better long term well being than worry about this year.
Hmm, I think I've had these for 4 to 6 years or so. One has a vine that's about 12 inches tall, the other is only 3 or so, so maybe I caught them early enough this year. I'm not such an expert that I know off hand what types without trying to find the labels for the names. The periwinkle is the taller one and the other we often think "Oh it didn't make it this year." Only to be surprised with new growth.
I'll be putting them on the south side of our compost bin that has an arbor and lattice on the sides where they climb and I have a bunch of Canadian anemones all around for shading the roots. I hope they're compatible.
anemones are acutally in the same family as clems ..they do well together, pretty too. good luck with the move. use it as a chance to improve the soil by mixing half the soil form the new hole with compost, manure, sand if your garden soil is thick.
some clems if moved early and everything improved do not have set back at all. good luck with it. i love moving plants to better position ....rewards should be good.
pinch them back when you move them to allow them to support the root not the new growth.....you probably know all that. have fun!
I thought I had updated this last year but I guess not. Well transplanting has made a world of difference! What a move of three feet can do. Now that they get sun for more hours each day they reach their mature height sooner in the season and bloom earlier and longer than they ever did before.
So glad your clematises are doing so well since you moved them. They will just love being near the compost. My Jackmanii backs up to the compost pile and it's my strongest grower.
ClematisGuru is no longer on DG.
Come on over to the Clematis Forum and join us there. We'll look forward to seeing your clematises.
I can hardly believe I have a bud on one of my clems! In April! In Minnesota!
Well, I guess I can this year. After all we never had winter. Both plants retained live wood above ground. That's never happened before. They're about 4 and 5 feet tall already. I'm gonna go get the tomatoes by this weekend. :~)
Congratulations! It's so exciting to see buds forming.
The lavender one has had 2 open for a few days now!
Terrific! Take photos, please.