Okay. I have several clematis leafed out already - I swear that Guernsey Cream is getting ready to bloom. Ramona has just send up new shoots. But Rooguchi and Betty Corning, both new to me last year, aren't showing any signs of life yet. Is this bad or are they just likely to bud out later?

I have quite a few that are quicker to leaf out than others. My Markham's Pink is already blooming and several of my Evisons have their first buds swelling. They will be blooming soon too. I need to run to the store for new camera batteries so I can snap a pic! I would certainly not give up on any of yours. If the area is well drained, you should have no worries!

Okay - I won't panic yet. :-)

I got 20 yards of Chicken 'N Chips delivered today and went to the hardware store and bought a new heavy duty double-wheeled wheelbarrow. Now I'm thinking that I really should go get a cart for my lawn mower. That's a lot of whellbarrows full of soil/mulch to be hauling up my hill . . . this picture is across the yard a couple of years ago - the distance from the dirt pile to the back is about half again this far . . . Whew. I'll be Popeye when I'm done.

Yep, I vote for the cart for your lawn mower.

By the way, I have a Clem question: Say I plant some Clems this Spring; how long before they bloom? Will I have to wait a year or two?

Nope, you'll have blooms the first year on some or all of them... just not buckets and buckets of blooms. I just planted my clems late this past season at this house and I had blooms on many of them and even rebloom on a few. If you plant in spring, you will have a better performance than I did. However, you probably will not see the lushness in growth that we get here in the South on many other plants during that first year. Good growth... yes. Lush growth... no. That will come a year or so later.

It's true that a clem can take a few years to reach it's first bloom, but that's the time from propagation. What a lot of people don't realize is that a 3-1/2" clem from a reputable grower is already two years old. It takes a long time for the root system to develop to a viable size in a clem... but once it reaches that stage, it takes off. Clems are true to the old saying, "First year it sleeps, second year it creeps, third year it leaps."

I'm so excited I went nuts last year and planted 8 clems crossed my fingers and eyes & prayed guess what there ALL getting leaves !!!!! so now I have to go and see which ones are 2s and which ones are 3s don't tell any one but I could wet my pants I'm so excited
Gloria

YAY... Spring is so great! =)

I have been in the yard almost non-stop for nearly a week. Planted okra and radishes this morning, plus a couple more tomato sets.

I snapped a photo of my first blooms in the garden today. This is Pink Champagne, planted as a baby last August (expand photo for better view). I'll try to get a better image when the rest of the buds pop open. I've got lots of clems just ready to burst, so I'm headed to the store to buy new camera batteries. This cell phone camera just doesn't cut it!

Yippee. Our lovely March has turned into a very wet April, but I'm seeing signs of life everywhere. Guernsey Cream and Ms. Bateman are almost ready to pop. And I bought a clem at the local nursery just because it looked too good to resist - Jan Lindmark was so blue and in full bloom. I still have to figure out where I'm going to put her. Apparently she needs sharp drainage, so I'm going to have to amend, amend, amend to get that. Any suggestions for what I should add?

What's your base soil (heavy in clay, sand, humus, etc.)?

The basic ingredients for a nutrient-rich, well-draining soil would include an organic base amended with coarse construction sand, garden humus, bone meal, rock phosphate, dolomite, wood ashes and vermiculite. What you add (and how much) will depend on your base soil.

Pretty nutritious (lots of worms) clay-based soil with about 3 inches of nice woodland duff in the top. I'll amend with manure, compost, finely ground bark, and bone meal on general principle. To get the sharp drainage, would you recommend sand? Is the wood ash to keep the soil base? We have very acid soil here.

Yep, correct on the wood ash lowering the acidity of the soil. The vermiculite is an excellent regulator for the moisture and drainage. I wrote an article about the benefits of adding vermiculite that is posted here: http://cubits.org/Clematis/art... . I think the vermiculite is a more important additive than the sand. If I was amending in your situation, I'd use both.

Evey, are Clems that picky about the soil they're in, or is that just for the most prolific flowering? I'll check out that article too. I'm still trying to decide what to grow on a 4' chain link fence and keep coming back to Clems.

Neither... I just have all of mine in a good balanced garden soil, but I don't use too many amendments at planting. I add vermiculite to all of my plantings... for any type of plants... because of the regulative properties it has. Taking that one extra step during bed prep makes a big difference in maintenance of moisture and aeration over the life of the plant.

There are a few clems that have a bit of history with mildew or root rot, though, and you would want to put them in a location with excellent drainage. Since Kathy posted asking about one of those, I gave her the soil "recipe" I use in areas where I plant those that need extrremely good drainage, such as bearded irises, etc.

For improved flowering, I fertilize my clematis with the same things I use for my roses, and on the same schedule. The only thing I do differently is that I add crushed oyster shells in a ring around the clematis for both nutrients and slug protection... an extra step I don't take with the roses.

Oooh, good idea about the crushed oyster shells. And I'll look into the vermiculite as an additive, though my beds are still too big and too young for me to do that this year, I can still put it on a list. :-)

It sounds like it's a good idea to add both the vermiculite and sand to the planting hole for the Jan Lindmark.

For what it's worth: we have what is called a "modified Mediterranean" climate. It's obviously colder here than in the Mediterranean, but we have wet winters and dry summers like they do and we have the moderating effects of the ocean to keep our temperatures from getting as low as they otherwise would. Lots of conifers gives many of us (on the west side of the Cascade mountains) part shade and very acid soil.