I don't seem to have much luck with clematis in my garden except for my Montana Spooneri which is budding all over. Here it was last year. niobe is sprouting for a try this year but no sign of etoile violette, nelly moser or ville de lyon all of which are somewhere in the garden!
I've also planted an ashva patio clematis. I'm trying to grow it on to hardiness so I can plant it with a rose but it's new shoots have just wilted on me!!!
@Rubytoo l saw clematis Margaret Hunt in a garden open under the Hospicare open garden scheme. It was growing up an old wooden step ladder and looked so pretty. I like it's open flowers, they aren't too large. They reminded me of the flowers my daughter would draw when she was little. l would say it's a more lilac pink whereas Hagley Hybrid is more of a candy pink. I've got Margaret Hunt growing with Betty Corning which looks lovely. I have bought many of my clematis as liner size plants but do grow them on in deep rose pots for a year or even two to get a really good root system. They need to be bigger to thrive in my soil which is heavy clay. I also love a bargain and have collected many from the reduced section from Homebase. They always had a good selection with some more unusual varieties, sadly they've closed my local one. The others I've bought from my local garden centre using Birthday gift vouchers. They offer a guarantee for 2 years which l have used to get a replacement for one that died. If you want to borrow a dog to ruin any unwanted plants let me know. She has today ruined a Siberian iris digging a hole whilst under my husband's care.
I went a little further afield and found an Aldi that still had some clematis. I was very tempted by the Montana ones they had but I really don't have anywhere to put one that large.
I bought 3 more of the £1.69 Clematis.
So I now have Etoile Violette, The President, Sunset, Justa, Comtesse de Bouchaud and Carnaby. I've potted them up into 2L pots that I had from previous plant purchases. I'll grow them on in those until they're a bit bigger.
Those add to my collection which already included Madame Julia Correvon (£1.79 from Morrisons) and Jackmanii Superba (cutting from my dad)
Im really pleased with that as I nearly bought an Etoile Violette from a garden centre last year - for the same cost as all of these Clematis plants combined!
Hi @Janie B Thank you for uploading the picture of your Kate. She looks great, seems happy and healthy. Mine is not even a quarter of her size. But I’m hopeful. Covered her with wool pellets to protect her from slugs, keep watering her - so fingers crossed 🤞 it would be amazing if she flowered this summer 😊
@lilysilly Thanks for the info on Margaret, she sounds even better now with your description, we have a Betty C. not romping away yet, I like the sound of your combination. And your description of flowers is nicer than my "gappy" one. Our Margaret has a long way to go too.
No homebase here, but I have bought several good ones at the end of year in the half price sections. We have a good old estate nearby that has a garden centre attached with a good variety of often more unusual plants as well and usual stuff. Clematis are often half price for good plants. One Little Bas, great plant, a repens, novel but nice, still trying to understand it. I might regret the terniflora, it may turn out to be a monster, but hoping our conditions will tame it. A lot of ours are also liners, I grow them in pots for ages, I don't like planting things out we have clay too. But also enjoy growing them on. Also atragenes in pots a lot. seeing @Yvestevies two I think I will keep them there, yours (Yves) look very happy and fantastic size.
@Ffoxglove Your spooneri looks great. There is an interesting article about it on the International clematis site. Just
looked up your Ashva clematis, nice not too big flowers they look very
rich. Sorry you have problems but at least it should not be wilt it says
it is a group three? It still has plenty of time to catchup, did
you check the base for damage or slugs , I was not vigilant with one of
mine the other year, a big snail hid and ate one of mine in the night.
Sometimes they just get bent or damaged at the base, and will recover
even better with the accidental pruning.
@Mr. Vine Eye If you have a Morry's near you they often do a liners selection similar to Aldi. (They are addictive and I dare not count ours.) A lot do well in pots if you look after them. You are in the club already too late.
I have bought some larger specimens sometimes, and experimenting with seeds and have a couple of seedlings growing on. Buckland, Campaniflora, and several double and single seedlings from Macropetala Bluebird.
@Ffoxglove, I bought 2 ashvas and planted them both in the ground last summer, one did very well from day 1 and the other shrivelled up and died as did the free replacement Bought another from a different supplier a couple of weeks ago and it's looking fine so far. They seem to be a bit tricky to establish but I can confirm that they're very pretty as last year's successful one was smothered in flowers.
@Rubytoo thanks for the heads up on that article. It's funny becuase it does flower twice! Second flush isn't as prolific but it keeps going. I'm chuffed with it because I bought it late in the season one year and it was literally the only climber left in the shop... I didn't have high hopes but its done well.
Posts
I've also planted an ashva patio clematis. I'm trying to grow it on to hardiness so I can plant it with a rose but it's new shoots have just wilted on me!!!
I have bought many of my clematis as liner size plants but do grow them on in deep rose pots for a year or even two to get a really good root system. They need to be bigger to thrive in my soil which is heavy clay. I also love a bargain and have collected many from the reduced section from Homebase. They always had a good selection with some more unusual varieties, sadly they've closed my local one. The others I've bought from my local garden centre using Birthday gift vouchers. They offer a guarantee for 2 years which l have used to get a replacement for one that died.
If you want to borrow a dog to ruin any unwanted plants let me know. She has today ruined a Siberian iris digging a hole whilst under my husband's care.
I bought 3 more of the £1.69 Clematis.
So I now have Etoile Violette, The President, Sunset, Justa, Comtesse de Bouchaud and Carnaby. I've potted them up into 2L pots that I had from previous plant purchases. I'll grow them on in those until they're a bit bigger.
Those add to my collection which already included Madame Julia Correvon (£1.79 from Morrisons) and Jackmanii Superba (cutting from my dad)
Im really pleased with that as I nearly bought an Etoile Violette from a garden centre last year - for the same cost as all of these Clematis plants combined!
No idea where they're all going to go though!
it would be amazing if she flowered this summer 😊
Our Margaret has a long way to go too.
No homebase here, but I have bought several good ones at the end of year in the half price sections. We have a good old estate nearby that has a garden centre attached with a good variety of often more unusual plants as well and usual stuff.
Clematis are often half price for good plants. One Little Bas, great plant, a repens, novel but nice, still trying to understand it.
I might regret the terniflora, it may turn out to be a monster, but hoping our conditions will tame it.
A lot of ours are also liners, I grow them in pots for ages, I don't like planting things out we have clay too. But also enjoy growing them on.
Also atragenes in pots a lot. seeing @Yvestevies two I think I will keep them there, yours (Yves) look very happy and fantastic size.
@Ffoxglove Your spooneri looks great. There is an interesting article about it on the International clematis site.
Just looked up your Ashva clematis, nice not too big flowers they look very rich. Sorry you have problems but at least it should not be wilt it says it is a group three?
It still has plenty of time to catchup, did you check the base for damage or slugs , I was not vigilant with one of mine the other year, a big snail hid and ate one of mine in the night. Sometimes they just get bent or damaged at the base, and will recover even better with the accidental pruning.
@Mr. Vine Eye If you have a Morry's near you they often do a liners selection similar to Aldi.
(They are addictive and I dare not count ours.) A lot do well in pots if you look after them. You are in the club already too late.
I have bought some larger specimens sometimes, and experimenting with seeds and have a couple of seedlings growing on. Buckland, Campaniflora, and several double and single seedlings from Macropetala Bluebird.