Last year, I planted a new clematis (Clematis paniculata, also known as Sweet Autumn Clematis), which turned out to be a very vigorous grower with really amazing flowers (seen in the photo above in September). We enjoyed it so much, all the way through December, as it went from millions of white flowers to gorgeous winged seedpods that looked like little plumed helicopters. I was hoping that it would scramble up on top of the garage roof, but it seemed to want to grow the opposite way, towards the chicken coop and over the gate. So, this spring, as it’s putting on a lot of new growth, I asked Tom to make me some sort of arch for the gate; this way the clematis can grow the way it wants to. Tom went into his wood-store and found some reclaimed redwood, and cobbled together a fetching little trellis.
I’m excited, because this means that the clematis can grow up and over the gate, and across the wire fence on the other side, mingling with the blackberry and loganberry we have growing there. It should be beautiful, come September!
A word about pruning this kind of clematis: Sweet Autumn Clematis belongs to Group 3, which means it blooms on the current year’s growth. It needs to be pruned vigorously in late winter, and the new growth in spring will produce that year’s flowers. Clematis come in three groups. Group 1 includes the ‘Montana’ types and should be pruned after flowering in the spring as it creates flowers on old wood, and you want it to have time to grow through the year after pruning - it’ll bloom the following spring. Group 2 also flowers on the previous year’s wood so should be pruned after flowering in the summer; this group has the largest and showiest blooms.
A great source for clematis (other than your locally owned nursery, which would be best) is Brushwood Nursery. They have varieties from all three groups, and dozens of each kind. It’s hard to choose one!
In other news, I broke down and put the pepper seedlings in the ground. The soil was quite warm, and the plants were getting too tall for the makeshift greenhouse. So far, despite temps at night in the high 40s, they are doing just fine! I’ll wait until early May to get the tomatoes in the ground. The rest of the summer garden can be sown in batches, as I have time and space - beans, cucumbers, herbs, and squash, will all do best with warm soil, but if you’ve got that, it’s just a matter of walking that fine line of nighttime temps.