Awwwww I love clematis. NHbabs can you tell me anything about Ville de Lyon. I grabbed one at Fred's and it looks soooo pretty. Both of y'alls clematis are beautiful. Judy

Babs your photos are fantastic!! I've never seen avant-garde like that before ! It's so unique!

I passed up Arabella once at Home Depot .. they had trays of them and I went back the next week and they were all gone ! Yours are so pretty I wish I had snagged it . Little bas is beautiful in that shrub ! What a great combination!!

Prettypetals, V de L is a fairly large clematis, so give it something good-sized to support it. Mine blooms earlier than many of my type 3 summer blooming clematis and lasts at least 6 weeks, perhaps longer. I have photos of mine from early June to mid-July. I assume your season and perhaps its length will vary since our climates are so different. It is one of the earliest clematis I bought, and I still really like it.

Lilyfinch, I really like Avant Garde, but the flowers are quite small, perhaps 2" across, so plant it somewhere that you can enjoy it up close. The leaves are smaller than most as well, so I wasn't aware that it was as fine-textured as it is until I planted it in my garden. The shrub for Little Bas is Hydrangea paniculata 'Quickfire'.

I don't have a picture that I can post, but my favorite clematis is Huldine. It's a white clematis with soft lavender on the undersides of the flowers. It gets huge - at least 8-10 feet. I have around 4 of this variety in my garden.

Bella I am glad you love huldine ! I ordered one from bluestone and have no idea where to put it. I had it marked for a trellis that is in full sun until 2 pm then indirect sun . Do you think that will be ok ?

I also have bourbon , happy jack , jolly good coming . I hope I like them all ! :)

Lilyfinch, full sun until 2 pm should be fine for any clematis since it's more than 6 hours of sun, including the brightest sun of midday.

And just in case you don't know, Bourbon is a type 2 prune, and the others type 3 (hard prune). It's easier if they will be sharing a trellis if you have only one pruning type intermingling.

Oh, such lovely pics - I do love clematis. I adore Dr Rupple - I need to get one for my current garden.

Nancy.

Thanks Babs !! I was hoping that would be long enough sun . I have both roses and mophead hydrangea growing pretty well there so I thought I may be ok ! I have separate trellis for each but may look for a cheapy type 3 to pair up with the bourbon . Like one from the boxes they have now or what they get soon . The others sound like they need their own trellis ! :)

A few of mine, most are closeups.

Dr. Ruppel

Proteus

Silver Moon

Westerplatte

Gurnsey Cream

Haku Ookan

Montana Wilsonii scented, like chocolate

Tangutica

More to follow :)

Annette

A few more.

Blue Bird

The Vagabond

Vyvyan Pernell

Mrs. P.T. James

Montana Marjorie

Durandii

John Warren

Fair Rosamond, violet scented, good for a shaded area

Annette

Really nice photos, Annette! I particularly like Proteus, which I've never seen such a great photo of, and Westerplatte, but all are gorgeous.

Thanks Babs, I've had Proteus for a long time in fact I started a thread when I had to move it, it was an all day operation LOL. Here's the thread for those that might not of seen it...

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1887806/this-is-what-i-did-yesterday?n=14

The single Proteus flower above is from one of the divisions from the above thread planted in another spot. Proteus can have single, semi-double or full double flowers.

Annette

dhadley, your morning glory is a gorgeous color. How did you get it to climb the pole?

So funny, When i planted it i thought it was clematis and look what grew!! That is what drew me to this post lol I put gardening stakes slanted towards my lamp post and then as it grew towards the post and got taller and taller i directed it With the help of gardening wire cut in long lengths resembling ties on a bread bag . I tied them loosely here and there up the post and it worked!

Here's another hint as to what to use when trying to get a vine to climb up anything, crazy glue and short pieces of jute, I use this method all the time hold one end of jute to surface, a drop of crazy glue, jute across vine, hold jute and another drop of crazy glue. I did spray each drop with an accelerator so it dried immediately, makes an almost invisible trellis :). I used this method to get my golden hops started up the this tree trunk. Can you see the jute two thirds up the trunk on the right hand side?

Annette

Will that work with making ivy climb a waii instead of invading my grass?

What kind of Ivy, I ask because English ivy has it's own little sucker feet as does Boston Ivy whereas Virginia creeper might need a little help. In any case this will work to get almost anything started. I have a wooden fence on top of a concrete wall, English ivy planted at the base and it needed no help at all. We use a hedge trimmer on it every spring, looks a little ratty for a couple of weeks but then fresh new growth takes over. This keeps the leaves small and no berries for the birds to scatter around.

Annette

That looks so pretty. I am not sure but I think it is English Ivy. Once I get started on the wall, it climbs. I have small trellis' trying to direct it up to the wall but sometimes it doesn't cooperate !

Annette , thank you for taking the time to share your photos!! You really grow a lot of stunners . If I had to pick favorites I'd say bluebird and Guernsey cream really look beautiful! But they all do!!

in addition to my bluestone order I have coming from joy creek : princess Kate (yay !!) prince Charles and Margaret hunt.

plus last year on clearance I bought Niobe , will goodwin and two no tags and they all came back . So I'm excited to see those as well ! :)

also I'm probably being impatient but my Safire indigo hasn't returned yet and it's making me sad . Hope he pops up soon

dale I love your morning glory!! Good luck with them this year!!

Cathy, that's beautiful.

Cathy, is there any chance that your clematis might have gotten the label mixed up before you bought it? Your photo looks more like my HF Young (creamy yellow stamens) than my The President (reddish stamens).

When I lived in England, I used to grow lots of Clematis. Looking at all your gorgeous photos, reminds me of them. They are lovely, thank-you.

When I moved to Crete, I thought that I would try some of the viticellas, which seemed to be the most likely to be happy here. One thing I hadn't thought of though, was the light. Whereas, under the cool, blue light of England's latitudes, the dusky, rich, but subtle tones of the viticellas made my heart sing, here, in the clear light of more southerly latitudes, they looked muddy, or simply disappeared into the background.

http:http//i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss112/daisyincrete/113-1.jpg

I am going to take the liberty of posting a corrected link to Daisy's photos which are always a joy to look at. (just an extra 'http' ended up there.) http://s567.photobucket.com/user/daisyincrete/media/113-1.jpg.html

I wonder, Daisy, if some of the white clematis would work for you since they wouldn't have the color issues of the ones you tried? You have other whites and pastels.

Daisy - Thank you for the color observation. Clematis 'Hagley Hybrid' looked muddy here mid coastal Calif. despite being a lovely clear color in some northern garden pictures.

Lily - first I should qualify as a pastel lover. No strong contrasts in my garden. My rescued 'Comtesse de Bouchard' hasn't bloomed yet. Do you know the names of the 2 in your 2nd pic?

'Ville de Lyon' has opened its first bloom. YAY! A winner. It's much closer to a pretty rosy color than I expected. I like it better than 'Asao' which was a favorite with my garden friends. 'Rouge Cardinal' was just plain drab wine here. I loved 'Cezanne', a short one for pots. 'HF Young' (big flowers) is an eye catcher and excellent with pale pink roses. I will replace 'Ramona'. Just about the lovliest clematis ever.

Ville de Lyon - first year, first bloom with petals still undercurled. love it.

Asao

Rouge Cardinal - just not a fit with my colors.

Cezanne - suitable for pot culture. I think it drowned over our enormous rainfall this winter. Worth replacing.

HF Young also may have drowned this winter. Very attractive for pastel lovers. Debating whether to replace or try Mrs. Cholmondeley with less overlapping petals and a pink bar? Look forward to pics of yours.

Iris gal I love your clematis! Ville de Lyon is gorgeous! I hope your comptess de Bouchard is spectacular! I hope to stumble upon it locally . I don't have it here in Nashville .

My two are andromeda and cezanne . They are halfway up my trellis already ! They play well together, I like the combo. Why do you need to replace Ramona ?

Daisy I very much want to see your photos but it's not working for me ? Anyone else having trouble? Help! :)

cathy I love your photo!! What a great clematis. The rose is beautiful as well!

Lily, thank you for the names. Ha! You do have Cezanne. Should have recognized it. Love Andromeda. I lost Ramona thru carelessness. Too small a pot for too long?

Try this for Daisy's pics.
http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss112/daisyincrete/113-1.jpg

I have but two. A Jackmanii and this one that was here when we moved in 30 years ago. Not sure of the id.

tj