Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Dating Game Continues

I’ve been writing this blog for three years. During that time there has been no other posting that got the response than the one titled “plants and dating”. Mmmmm…apparently it struck a chord with lots of people.

In that posting, I mentioned that my Ramblin' Red Climbing roses which have wintered very well in the past died down to ground level this year and clematis which never seems to do well for me were thriving this year. Just like dating, it can go on for months or even years and then end without warning. You can read the entire posting here.

So the love affair continues with the clematis. What do you need to know to grow them? First full or nearly full sun, good organic soil and most importantly, they like warm tops and cool bottoms. What does that mean? Mulch the soil around the base with wood chips to keep the soil cool and moist at all times. The vines or the top part of the plant like full warm sun.

Here is a picture of one of the clematis blooming in my yard.



I’ve got a new love for white in the garden…something about it is refreshing. There is one color that every garden should have in it and that is the color blue. Why blue? It brings the color of the sky into the garden. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. In the background is the gazebo…note that you can barely see the climbing roses coming up from ground level.

For more information on growing clematis click here.

For more information on the various varieties of clematis click here.

Make your day a good one.

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