Okay - this is what I want. Maybe if I buy one a year . . .

http://www.jacksonandperkins.c...

Beautiful effect! It looks like they just sell it in one size. I wish the closeup showed a better view of how it's installed at the base. I'm assuming they sunk the bottom two in deeper than the top one to form the tier... but by how much? The top height is 8 feet before you sink it in at all... so would that make the clearance of the bottom one only about 6 to 6-1/2 feet? With roses on it, my son and hubby wouldn't be able to walk through it! =P

I'm thinking that the best way would be to pour little concrete forms (or sink already poured ones) and then bolt it to those so you didn't lost any of the heighth. It's big enough that I think you'd want it high for effect, if not for practical purposes (like with tall menfolk).

What's weird about this is that I can find it with a search, but no by navigating from J&Ps home page. I wonder if this is an old listing and if it's still for sale . . .

Here's a tip... when you call the J&P customer service line, if you act only slightly interested and say you're waiting for a sale to purchase, they frequently will offer you a discount. I've done this several times successfully, never paying full price for any of my rose supports from them. Their operators have some leighway to work with, up to the amount of the annal sale price on the structures. If they happen to have a few of those left, but aren't currently listing it on the site, the discount can be even greater.

Excellent advice. I'll definitely use it!

thanks for the database link. i'll let you know when i get it done.

tell me how to get to your garden tour. and thanks for the tip on j&p.

i want something really rustic. telephone poles or cedar logs is what i dream of for making a walkway. a little expensive for me right now though.

Barb, here's a link to my garden tour: http://cubits.org/Clematis/thr...

You should check out all the gardens in that forum. There are some GORGEOUS ones! My tour is missing several parts of our yard, but I hope to get a lot more photos this spring. There are some areas that were severely affected by the severe weather this winter, but other areas are coming back very well already. The clems are already taking off! =)

I found Autumn Sunset today - a very healthy plant. Now all I need is a support . . .

Glad you finally found it!

And that I remembered. Usually when I'm there, I'm so busy feeling guilty that I only indulge in impulses and not so much on my to-do things. I saw this combined somewhere with Jackmanii, but I think I like the Warsaw Nike combo that you did so much better.

I have a question ...

I am wanting to grow clematis with roses, but my dilemma is that I need to grow them in a container. Can they BOTH be combined in one container. I have a 10 gallon pot that I was wanting to use. Is that possible to do a climbing rose and a clematis together in one container? Or are their roots too extensive to put them both together like that? I know clematis can be fertlized with Rose fertilizer.

Something that I have created in my yard is a cattle panel arbor. It's galvanized steel and we just use the U-shaped fencing nails to attach the bent panel to four posts. I am wanting to grow roses and clematis together on one of my cattle panel arbors as well as the white arbor shown in this photo.

Here is a better photo of the cattle panel arbor in the background. The roses are climbing roses, btw.

I like the cattle panel arbor. Did you have the panel cut or did you do it yourself? How hard is it to cut one?

Why do you need to put the roses/clematis in pots - do you move them or . . . ?

Kathy - I got the cattle panel at Tractor Supply. I had them cut it almost down the middle, but the smaller panels on the cattle panel are not consistent on the entire panel, so after cutting them, one panel was 20" wide by 16' long and the other panel piece was 24" wide by 16' long. I don't need to cut it down in length because I needed the entire length to be nice and tall. No charge for them to cut it, but I did tip the fella. But you could cut it yourself too with those large heavy duty wire/bolt cutters. The panel was only $20 so from one panel I was able to make two arbors, plus had to buy 8 posts. Cost me about $50 for both arbors, plus the cost of the curved nails. Very sturdy and cheap and makes a nice arbor once the vines/climbers cover it.

I need the roses and clematis in pots because my soil (Florida soil) is full of nematodes. I've never had success with roses until I started growing them in pots. My clematis vines also do so much better in pots. So that is why I want to grow them in containers instead of the ground. We also get a lot of rain and standing water, so that causes root rot in the ground soil, too. Just not good soil to grow much of anything in unless it is a raised bed with good bagged soil or potting soil in a container/pot.

Becky, sorry I didn't get to this sooner. I've been pulled away from the computer a good bit over the last few weeks.

I've never grown in a soil with nematodes, but I know all too well about the need to grow in raised beds. Do the nematodes stay lower in the ground, or do they completely fill your raised beds as well? (I'm completely unfamiliar with their habits.) I have many pots that contain both a rose and a clematis, and in a few cases, they have three plants all together. However, with these, they are huge pots and have the bottoms cut out of them so that the roots can continue into the ground once they run out of room in the pot. Would the nematodes come up into the pot if you used this strategy? I think you would find that eventually your plants would start finding their own way out of the pot (via the drainage holes, and possibly crack your pots, if you didn't pre-cut the bottom for them.

Evey - The nematodes transfer by soil, so I would be afraid to cut the bottom off a container. Could the roses and clematis have their roots pruned every year or every two years just like having the vines/stems pruned? That would keep them easier to confine in pots. I believe the containers I am using are 10-12 gallons each. And they are plastic, not ceramic or pottery. They are white to keep the heat reduced on the roots as well. I have had excellent results growing roses in them vs. having dead roses (within a year) in my ground soil. I know you can prune rose roots, but can clematis roots be pruned too? Would root pruning lower the size of the clematis vine growth? Are clematis bothered by having their roots disturbed?

Here is information on nematodes: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG... They can be found in all soils in all states. Sign of an infected plant is failure to thrive and eventually death. Which I see a lot of here in Florida. Anytime I transplant plants to my garden beds ... they don't make it. Most of what I grow now is in pots sitting on pavers, not directly on top of the ground. I have friends who grow some gorgeous gardens all in pots here.

I do have raised beds, but even those will become infected with nematodes over time. I am trying daylilies in the raised beds currently and amending the soil every year to try to keep the damage to their roots to a minimum, but just started doing this. I don't know how the daylilies will do yet over time. 3 years maximum is how long my daylilies will last in ground soil in other areas of my garden beds. It's very frustrating for someone who enjoys gardening. I am also trying annual veggies this year in growbags sitting on concrete/pavers as well.

Nematodes are a real problem here in Florida because the heat tends to dry out the soil which makes it even more stressful on the plants to take up nutrients and water in the nematode-damaged roots. But water also helps nematodes reproduce and spread. So it's a constant no-win battle here. Which is why I have resorted to containers. So far containers have been the only way for me to successfully garden.

In many, many care guides, you will read that clematis roots do not like to be disturbed. However, then you read about how folks have successfully moved them from one location to another, and you read that some premium-size growers grow their stock in the ground and dig them for transport each season. I myself have had no issues with plants that have required root trimming on transfer from pots on the patio into the garden. The only caution mentioned by Raymond Evison was to make sure that you use a container that is at least 18 inches wide by 18 inches deep... which, interestingly enough, suddenly was interpreted by many enthusiasts to mean your planting hole needed to be that big... which is not true! Bottom line, I think you would be okay trimming the roots each season from the bottom of the pot and your plant would still prosper.

For the roses, I know that public gardens down near Orlando noted that roses budded on fortuniana rootstock were resistant to nematodes. I've also found that roses on fortuniana absolutely love our hot/sticky climate. Have you tried any roses on fortuniana directly in your garden?

Here's a link to an excellent article on roses from Leu Gardens (in Orlando)... page 2 discusses nematodes: http://www.leugardens.org/pdfs...

Thanks for all that information, Evey. I have tried fortuniana roses but because of the soggy ground we get here during parts of the summer/fall season, I believe they get root rot. I'm on year 3 of growing several knock-out roses in pots. I haven't had to prune the roots yet though. But they thrive in the pots as long as I fertilize and keep them watered. They wouldn't have lasted a year in the ground here.

I will have to experiment with clematis roots. I have transplanted the 3 I have now twice with no ill effects so far. So I will continue to experiment with that.

Do you think I could plant one climbing rose and one clematis in a large pot together? And then just prune the roots every year in the early Spring?

With sufficient moisture, I think they should do fine. I wouldn't go for the "house-eating" cultivars though... stick with those that are recommended for container growth.

I've learned so much here. Becky, so sad that you have such a problem with nematodes - that definitely cramps ones gardening style, but you have met the challenge with fortitude, so good for you.

I've considered using cattle panels to build a summer tunnel of vines, just for the fun of it. But I need extra hands to set it up, so I haven't done that yet. I like your idea of sinking posts into the ground first.

Evey, great information, as always. Thank you both for the articles.

Kathy