November Buds of Clematis and Roses

It is the middle of November, but winter has not reached the Red House yet.  Indeed, several plants are still enjoying their fall flush of blooms, the most noticeable of which are the roses and clematis. 

My little rose bushes that I planted this year are blooming and still have several more promising fat buds on them.

Rosa 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' still blooming

The most surprising November blooms in the garden belong to my Clematis 'Bill Mackenzie', which, while nonchalantly taking over my front porch, has produced barely a handful of blooms in its two year existence.  It has now decided to have a small flush of blooms, perhaps in response to me threatening it with a move to a remote corner of the garden.

The blooms tend to get lost when there are only a few of them, but are quite cute and cheerful up close.

Clematis 'Bill Mackenzie

The Clematis 'Jackmanii' has been going for weeks and doesn't seem to have any plans of slowing down just yet, as long as winter is held at bay.

Clematis 'Jackmanii', still full of buds

But it is the sporadic fall blooms of Clematis 'Guernsey Cream' that are my favorite.  I shall leave you with the opening of one of its buds throughout this past November week.

Clematis 'Guernsey Cream'

 

To see what is blooming in gardens all over the world this November, check out Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by May Dreams Garden.

Persistent Plant Awards

My garden beds are starting to look rather bedraggled after the long summer, and let's not even talk about the lawn!  But I still have a few spots of color in my garden thanks to some hardworking flowering machines.  It's time to give credit to those worthy plants that are still going at the end of the summer.   Beware, this post is photo heavy.

First off is ANNUALS.  Here's a hand for diligently doing your job.

My wave petunias and orange zinnias keep going and going!

Cosmos sulphureus

 Cosmos which I grew from seed are still blooming.

Cosmos bipinnatus

 I have petunias in several different places.  I know they're common, but there's a reason why!

petunias with sedum 'Autumn Joy' that is starting to bloom

On to the PERENNIALS.  Between the coreopsis and rudbeckia, the yellows seem to have it.  All those still blooming, stand up and take a bow!

Coreopsis

Rudbeckia hirta 'Goldilocks' was grown from seed.

Also grown from seed, Rudbeckia hirta 'Irish Eyes' livens up an otherwise dull spot.

The very tall Rudbeckia nitida 'Herbstonne' enjoying a second flush of blooms.

I'll go ahead and put the Dahlia 'Kelvin Floodlight' in this category.  I took a chance and left it in the ground after last year, and it has come back and is still blooming. 

Dahlia bud starting to open

On to my favorite - VINES.  Several of my clematis vines are reblooming, and one never stopped - definitely worthy of a Persistent Plant Award!

Clematis 'Rooguchi' has been blooming all summer.

Clematis 'Jackmanii' starting to rebloom.

the beautiful Clematis 'Guernsey Cream'

the teeny, tiny bell-shaped flower of Clematis pitcheri

Last but not least are the blooming SHRUB awards.  The butterfly bushes are the star of this category, with Buddleia davidii 'Santana' winning MVP of the garden.

 'Santana' has been attracting butterflies all summer long.

The award for 'Most Improved' goes to Buddleia davidii 'Harlequin'.  I thought it had succumbed to fungal diseases from the wet spring, but it's back!

First frost date isn't for a few more weeks, so here's hoping for that these hardy plants keep persisting awhile longer.  An extra special award for any plant that would like to keep on blooming until spring!  A gardener can hope right?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Clematis Seed Heads

  

Some people love them, some people hate them.  After the clematis blooms fade, they are replaced by the often strange looking Seed Heads.  They can look very different depending on the variety of clematis.

Should I cut them off?  Well, that depends on whether you like how they look or not.  Some of them can be quite pretty and interesting (in the opinion of the Red House, anyways), whereas many of them can look quite alien or spidery, which may not be a look you are going for.  If you want your clematis to bloom more, you should cut them off.  This is especially important after the first flush of spring blooming clematis (pruning group 2) if you want any rebloom that year.  It takes energy from the plant to make the seed heads, so if you don't care for them, cut them off and redirect that energy!

Spidery-looking seed heads of clematis jackmanii

Each seed head has several seeds in it.  Each seed is composed of a seed pod (also called the achene) with a long tail attached.

When the seed head first emerges, the tails are smooth and shiny.

Unripe seed head of clematis rooguchi

These seeds are not ripe yet.  As you can see in the picture above, the seed pods are still green.
As the seeds ripen, the tails become feathery.  The feathery tails help the wind disperse the seeds when ripe.

Seed head of clematis Guernsey Cream

You can tell the seeds are ripe when the seed pods are completely brown as in the picture below.  The seed head will come apart very easily.

Ripe seed head of clematis Rooguchi

If the seed head has not been fertilized, the tails will still become fluffy.  However they will be much shorter, and seed pods will not have developed.

Can I plant the ripe clematis seeds?  Absolutely.  Plant them in sterile seed starting soil, thinly covered, and keep moist. Here are a couple links that have more detailed information about planting clematis seeds:
Clematis International Society
Brian Collingwood (a clematis fan who tells about his home trials in growing clematis from seed)
 
There are two disclaimers that comes with planting clematis seeds, however:
(1) The resulting plants will usually have different flowers than it's parent, especially when it comes to those beautiful large flowering hybrid plants.
(2) You might have to have a lot of patience.  Some seeds can take up to 3 years to germinate!  And then it can take another couple of years for the plant to flower.   So you might want to do a little research into your particular clematis to see how easy it is to propagate from seed.
(Propagating by cuttings and layering is starting to look mighty good, huh?)

Happy gardening!

Pruning - giving your clematis a haircut

Group 3 – prune to about one foot tall in late winter/early spring (leave a couple sets of big buds)

Group 2 – prune lightly in spring (just a trim), then after the spring flowering show is over, trim back by about a quarter for good reblooming. 

Group 1 – prune after flowering if it’s getting overgrown

I started with Group 3 and went backwards because most of the clematis that you will find in the big home and garden stores are going to be Group 3 or Group 2.  Each group has it's own general flowering time in addition to the pruning time.

Do I really have to prune my clematis?  Nope, you can do whatever you want.  One Fantastic Gardener I know believes in never pruning and letting her clematis do whatever they want, and they still flower quite beautifully:

Why should I prune then?  Pruning will encourage better and fuller flowering.  For some vines, it also enables reblooming.  Left unpruned most of the clematis flowers will stay at the top of the plant, and they will be sparser.  Pruning, much like pinching your plants, will enable them to become more bushy and full.  Pruning is especially important to flowering for Group 3 clematis, as it mainly blooms on new growth.  If you don't prune those, they'll eventually start looking pretty leggy and ragged.

What are these letters on my clematis tags?  Groups 1, 2, and 3 are also known as Groups A, B, and C, respectively.

How will I remember it all?  I make it easy on myself and pretty much buy only Group 3 clematis, with some exceptions.  Then I can just go through my garden and prune almost all of them at the same time and the same way.  So pick the group that is going to bloom when you want and stick with plants in just that group for one part of the garden.  For several online nurseries, you can search by clematis group or type, making it easier to get the type you want.

What if I mess up and prune the wrong way?  You might miss out on a season of flowers, but the plant will likely be fine and rebound.

GROUP 3:

These mainly bloom on new growth.  They are known as the Large, Late-flowering group.  They usually bloom in summer or early fall.  Prune low in late winter or early spring right above a set of buds to encourage a fuller plant.  However, if you want the clematis to get more height and flower further up (for example, if you wanted all the flowers at the top of an arbor or to get to the top of a high porch), you can prune further up.   Where you prune is where it is going to start branching.

*Some popular Group 3 clematis:  Betty Corning (fragrant!), Comtesse de Bouchaud, Duchess of Albany, Jackmanii, Perle d’Azur, Polish Spirit, VenosaViolacea

GROUP 2:

These generally bloom in the spring on old growth, and then they will rebloom somewhat in the fall on new growth.  Thus you should just give it a light trim if you want in the late winter/early spring to get rid of dead wood and trip the tips of each vine to the topmost bud.  After the big spring flush of flowers, in order to get a bigger rebloom, trim the plant back by ¼ or even ½.  Some varieties just keep on reblooming throughout the summer. Often the double blooming clematis varieties will rebloom with a single type flower.  

If you want just one big flush of flowers in the summer, however, feel free to prune Group 2 clematis just like Group 3. 

*Some popular Group 2 clematis: Arctic Queen, Dr. Ruppel, General Sikorski, Henryi, Miss Bateman, Nelly Moser, The President

Clematis 'Guernsey Cream', group 2

GROUP 1:  These bloom in spring on old growth.  You don’t have to prune them, but if they are getting out of control or in order to remove any deadwood, you can prune them right after they flower.  These are the earliest clematis to bloom.  This group includes the Montana varieties, which can be massive plants full of small very fragrant flowers in the spring.  These varieties might be a little harder to find.

*Some popular Group 1 clematis: Alpina Stolwijk Gold, Armandii (evergreen!), Macropetala  Lagoon, Macropetala Markham’s Pink, Montana Grandiflora, Montana Mayleen

GROUP 4:  Group 4?!!  There’s a group 4?!   A lot of people group these with Group 3, since the pruning is the same.  This is the herbaceous group – they are shorter and look more like a regular plant or a scrambler than a vine.  They are a very hardy group. 

*Some popular Group 4 clematis: Alionushka, Arabella, Durandii, Integrifolia, Recta Purpurea, PetitFaucon, Virginiana

 Prairie Clematis 'Gazelle', group 4

For more explanation on pruning (and for one of the best online clematis nurseries), see Silver Star Vinery. 

For some good pruning visual aids, see Completely Clematis Specialty Nursery. 

The plant that started it all

I've always liked flowers.  I had a little garden patch of my own when I was a kid.  As an adult, I usually liked to put out some flowers in spring and fall as well as throw out some bulbs.  I was a fair-weather sociable gardener.  What changed me into the plant addict that I now am?  Why am I now known as the crazy neighbor who gardens in the high heat of a North Carolina summer afternoon?  (That's when the toddler naps.)

The clematis Rooguchi.

I was looking at some gardening website online when I saw it's picture and determined that I had to have it.  Sometimes spelled 'Roguchi', it is a scrambler as opposed to a climber and blooms pretty much nonstop all summer.  For me it dies to the ground every winter, so I don't have to worry about what pruning group it is in.  Here is a picture a lot like the one I saw that fateful day:

I have it scrambling up an obelisk to give it support.  It gets morning sun and afternoon shade, and the roots are well mulched as well.  I don't give it much supplementary water now that it is established.

Here is it now, still with quite a few blooms and many little white fluffy seed pods.  It will grow to a height of about 6 to 8 feet.  I think I may need a bigger obelisk!

The blooms are only an inch or two long, so it is definitely better placed close to a path so one can see it up close and admire the delicateness and grace of the beautiful flowers.

Beautiful.

Clematis - Bill MacKenzie

There is a monster on the porch of the Red House.  It started out as a cute little baby, but then it grew bigger and bigger.  And now it has gotten a little out of hand.

I had visions of a beautiful clematis wrapping around my porch, gently draping here and there.  But I was unprepared for the result...
I originally purchased a little foot high seedling of the Bill MacKenzie clematis from Lazy S's Farm Nursery online.   Fabulous online nursery, by the way.  Here it is beginning to grow on the trellis next to the porch steps:

And here it is now, taking over the porch:

Note to self:  pay more attention to labeled height on plants.. and maybe measure..

Now it would be different it this monster was covered in spectacular blooms.  However, last year it did not bloom at all, and this year it has given me all of three tiny yellow parachute-belled blooms so far.  I suspect I gave it fertilizer with too much nitrogen in it last year, which caused the amazing foliage display.  This is a type 3 clematis, so I cut it down to about 3 feet tall in early spring.  I think this fall I might move it to a more appropriate location.  I hold out hope that one year it will be covered in delicate yellow bells to go with all those beautiful delicately-cut leaves.

At least this is one monster the wildlife don't seem to be afraid of, as evidenced by this little lizard and the giant imperial moth: