WHEN I TALKED CLEMATIS PRUNING recently with my friend Dan Long, we didn’t spend much time on some of my favorite Clematis of all: the non-vining types that act more like perennials or even like lightweight shrubs. I wanted to be sure to spread the good word for “non-vining” Clematis, too (that’s ‘Floris V,’ a form of Clematis integrifolia, up top), so that you might consider making space for them among your other perennials, where they will happily scramble and lend extra interest to a planting. [read more…]
vines
the other clematis: charming non-vining types
April 25, 2013 By 8 Comments
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fear not! how to prune clematis, with dan long
March 11, 2013 By 33 Comments
ONE OF MY FAVORITE lines ever in a garden book: vintage Christopher Lloyd, the late daring plantsman of Great Dixter in England, in his Clematis manual. “An unpruned Clematis looks like a disemboweled mattress—a painful sight,” he wrote. Indeed. Yet so many of us go into denial and paralysis mode when approaching our beloved vines during spring cleanup. “Now what was I supposed to do with this one?” we say, scratching our heads while not-so-accidentally turning away to some other task, and leaving the botanical sprung mattress innards just hanging there. Boing! I asked Dan Long of Brushwood Nursery, a.k.a. gardenvines.com, to help me (us!) get past our “pruning fears and misconceptions,” as he calls them. The story, plus pruning diagrams and a podcast full of more vine-growing tips. [read more…]
the rex begonia vine, cissus discolor
August 13, 2012 By 7 Comments
ONE OF MY 2012 TROPICAL PLANT PURCHASES is starting to scare me. The so-called Rex begonia vine—no begonia at all, really, but a gorgeous grape relative from parts of Southeast Asia and Australia—is not going to fit through the door this fall if this lusty behavior keeps up. Meet beautiful Cissus discolor, which I intended to overwinter indoors as a houseplant…oh, dear, what was I thinking when I trained it upward instead of in an easier-to-carry-in hanging basket?
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cardinal climber and its cousins, annual vines that are hummingbird favorites
July 15, 2012 By 35 Comments
IN SCALE, SHAPE, AND COLOR IS SUITS THEM—and it suits me, too, since I’m likewise mad for red, the way ruby-throated hummingbirds are. I’m happy to accommodate the Northeast’s only breeding hummingbird species in any way I can, enjoying their high-energy antics from spring through fall, and since they find the so-called cardinal climber positively irresistible, I always make room for the flashy little morning glory relative in the garden. [read more…]
slideshow: name that flowering clematis vine!
June 26, 2012 By 24 Comments
I HAVE A LOT OF PLANTS (and a lot more that used to grow here somewhere live on in memory). I even know most of their names–except when it comes to the Clematis. Why didn’t I label those? In the process of trying to put names to vines that are exploding all around me right now, I made a little slideshow for the record. Hey, if it’s on the internet, I can refer to it any time I forget who’s who again, right? [read more…]
