That's a very confined space and both clematis and roses are hungry, thirsty plants. I would stick to encouraging your GG to grow well and save a clematis for another spot. Bear in mind that climbing roses flower best on short stems produced form horizontal or diagonally trained stems and yours has a way to go before it can spread across the bay. Feed it as Marlorena suggests and keep it watered in dry spells as the wall will absorb a lot of moisture. Apart from regular dead-heading you only need to prune stems which grow out form the wall and refuse to be tied in. As it matures in a few years you may need to do rejuvenating pruning which involves removing old stems at the base to let newer ones maintain vigour.
A group 3 clematis won't interfere as they are cut back hard in Feb/March and then pulled out so you'll be able to see your rose stems clearly.
I'm wondering (after spending far too long on the Taylors clematis site) whether I could also train the GG up by itself, but use smaller variety clematis (like Julianne or Bernadine) that flower from May to October ], but only reach a meter or so in height...as these could cover the lower stems of GG nicely. So many clematis, so little space / money! Need an even bigger garden...I've also got a New Dawn, a Penny Lane and a Pure Abundance to find places for....along with more companion plants. It's fun, but designing two gardens totally from scratch is also rather a challenge at times
How far apart will you be planting the rose and clematis? will they both be on the same side of your bay window? if they are quite close together then you will just have to keep an eye on it and untangle any clematis stems that make a bee line for the rose... they make their way towards anything they can grab hold of, so you just have to keep an eye out.. you don't want your rose strangled when it's not in a position to cope with it.. that's all really.. I'm sure you'll figure it out as you go and if it doesn't work, well you can always move the clematis or plant a different one.. let us know how you get on...
How far apart will you be planting the rose and clematis? will they both be on the same side of your bay window? if they are quite close together then you will just have to keep an eye on it and untangle any clematis stems that make a bee line for the rose... they make their way towards anything they can grab hold of, so you just have to keep an eye out.. you don't want your rose strangled when it's not in a position to cope with it.. that's all really.. I'm sure you'll figure it out as you go and if it doesn't work, well you can always move the clematis or plant a different one.. let us know how you get on...
Well, I know clematis like their feet in the shade, so I suppose I could plant it to the left of the bay, where it's shadier and place GG to the right of the bay, where it has far more sun at its base. Thank you - updates in due course.
Currently, the front garden is a mixture of aggregate, dumpy bags and nothing else! It has been a long haul even getting to this point, as it was all crazy paved, with ground elder everywhere...we're going to build a low brick wall to the front of the boundary, with some cedar slats above for a clematis armandii to climb over. The previous owner left me a grand total of one plant in there - a cherry laurel! Planning to let a much smaller clematis climb over that too. I am so excited at the prospect of being able to order some plants soon, I can't tell you.
I understood you wanted one to grow as tall as the rose which is why I recommended the other two... but using a smaller one to cover the base is actually what I do here... I have a blue one called Burma Star that grows to about 5 or 6 foot, no more... that's at the base of the rose.. it's listed as growing taller but it never does for me so far..
I understood you wanted one to grow as tall as the rose which is why I recommended the other two... but using a smaller one to cover the base is actually what I do here... I have a blue one called Burma Star that grows to about 5 or 6 foot, no more... that's at the base of the rose.. it's listed as growing taller but it never does for me so far..
Growing a shorter one, to cover the stems, sounds like a great idea. It only occurred to me once I had looked at some clematis online nurseries and found out that there were such short varieties. Burma Star is lovely. Perhapss it is less of a headache to plant a more vigorous clematis, like EV or Black Prince, at opposite sides of the bay, so I can keep the clem off the rose until it has established...thank you for all your help.
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I'm sure you'll figure it out as you go and if it doesn't work, well you can always move the clematis or plant a different one.. let us know how you get on...
Currently, the front garden is a mixture of aggregate, dumpy bags and nothing else! It has been a long haul even getting to this point, as it was all crazy paved, with ground elder everywhere...we're going to build a low brick wall to the front of the boundary, with some cedar slats above for a clematis armandii to climb over.
The previous owner left me a grand total of one plant in there - a cherry laurel! Planning to let a much smaller clematis climb over that too.
I am so excited at the prospect of being able to order some plants soon, I can't tell you.
Burma Star is lovely.
Perhapss it is less of a headache to plant a more vigorous clematis, like EV or Black Prince, at opposite sides of the bay, so I can keep the clem off the rose until it has established...thank you for all your help.