IALWAYS MADE A BEELINE to see Dan Long and his Brushwood Nursery booth of climbing plants at a big annual spring sale nearby, but in the event chaos could never pester him long enough to ask all the questions I had stored up—which Clematis I was pruning wrong; what vines I could overwinter indoors; what climber would play nice with what other intertwined. Thinking (as I am) about adding more vines to the garden this year? My Q&A with Dan may help with some choices, growing tips and combination ideas—plus I am offering two $30 gift certificates to kick off A Way to Garden’s 2012 giveaway season. [read more…]
vines
giveaway: vines q&a with brushwood’s dan long
January 4, 2012 at 7:56 pm
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clematis ‘roguchi,’ summer-into-september star
September 9, 2011 at 10:46 am
YOU’D THINK WITH SO MUCH WIND AND RAIN that the high-fliers of the garden—the vines—would have been knocked off their pedestals quite literally. Somehow in spite of it all, vines like Clematis ‘Roguchi’ have managed to hold their ground—er, airspace. A look at one somewhat upwardly mobile hero of the sodden September garden. [read more…]
clematis: sexy seedheads, but where’s the seed?
October 13, 2010 at 5:38 pm
TALK ABOUT A CURIOSITY ITEM: The seedheads of certain Clematis certainly qualify as botanical oddballs. Did you ever wonder, as I did today passing by the ripening ones on my Clematis tangutica, just which part in each of those wild wig-hats* is the seed itself? [read more…]
the sunny disposition of clematis tangutica
September 6, 2010 at 5:19 pm
MAYBE IT’S THE EXTRA-DRY YEAR that postponed its bloom cycle, but suddenly my Clematis tangutica cultivar–looking like not much but a tangle of vines and leaves for months—has gone mad with flowers. The bumblebees and I had grown impatient, but now all is forgiven. [read more…]
partners in twine: vines happily climbing shrubs
April 26, 2010 at 12:54 am
PERENNIAL VINES SEEM TO JUMP OUT OF BED when spring arrives, look once around, then quickly grab onto the closest neighbor–thorny or not–for support, as if they know they’ll soon be too tall to stand up straight on their own. What’s a few scratches, compared to falling flat on your face? [read more…]
i know what birds like: 11 backyard-habitat tips
September 15, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I KNOW WHAT BIRDS LIKE. Boys, perhaps not so much (tee, hee), but birds—well, there I’ve got the knack. As many as 60 species that I can identify visit me each year here in the garden, which was originally planted for attracting them and seems to have succeeded. Fall is a perfect time to add some bird-friendly plantings, since many are woody plants, and also to provide for the most important thing off all: water. Big surprise–it’s all about keeping them fed, watered and sheltered in every season. Here are the essentials: [read more…]
high on vines: intoxicating garden climbers
June 29, 2009 at 9:17 am
J ACK IS A JUNKIE; KIWI VINES ARE HIS CRACK. He knocked down that little Clematis to his left in the process of capturing and subduing his desired prey: the young kiwi vine that’s now half-hidden beneath the subdued cat (above). Yes, some species of kiwi are like catnip, and though Jack thinks that’s the reason to add more to the garden, I’m high on other vines that are coming into their season, from vivid Clematis tangutica to (not yet, but soon) Codonopsis lanceolata. Some favorites (both mine and Jack’s): [read more…]
in praise of honeysuckles (aphids be damned)
June 8, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I WAS SHOWERING MY HONEYSUCKLES TODAY, and not with affection, exactly, but with the stiff spray of a hose-end nozzle, washing off the aphids who might otherwise deprive me and the hummingbirds of the enjoyment of these showy vines. I grow three kinds of Lonicera: two colors of the American native L. sempervirens, a reddish (above, avec aphid) and a beautiful yellow, and a rose-and-orange heckrottii hybrid called ‘Goldflame.’ Their moment is now. [read more…]
up and over: more clematis on more shrubs
May 17, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I AM IN THE BUNK-BED STAGE OF MY GARDEN CAREER: stacking plants on top of one another, layering the hell out of every square inch rather than making one more king-sized bed I don’t need and can’t maintain. Nowhere is this more on my mind lately than with the opportunities to use vines. At a plant sale the other day, all the seller had to say as I eyed an unfamiliar yellow-flowered Clematis was, “A customer told me he was growing those up his winterberry hollies.” I was sold. Give me some of those…and those, and those, too. [read more…]
