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September 9, 2008

a less-common autumn clematis

Filed Under hot p(l)ants, vines | 14 Comments

MANY OF US GROW OR HAVE GROWN SWEET AUTUMN CLEMATIS, C. terniflora (also sometimes labeled C. paniculata). Though sweet-smelling enough, it is anything but sweetly behaved, and it’s hardly the only choice among Clematis for fall interest.  Frankly some of the others, particularly the C. tangutica group that includes ones like the guy above, hold far greater interest for me both in flower now and also later, with their silvery, fluffy seedheads. Read more

August 17, 2008

it’s time to play ‘name that vine’

Filed Under annuals & perennials, hot p(l)ants, vines | 11 Comments

SOMETIMES I WONDER WHERE I GOT ALL THESE CRAZY PLANTS. This one, for instance, which just started blooming in the front yard. What the heck is it? Read more

July 10, 2008

garden tip: first, make things worse

Filed Under 'woo-woo' (essays and such), annuals & perennials, tools & techniques, vines | 52 Comments

I’M BUSY MAKING BAD SITUATIONS WORSE THESE DAYS, which is exactly what has to be done to bring any garden from now to a visually pleasing high summer and fall. It’s not unlike cleaning your closet: Things have to get pulled apart and look a lot messier before they get better. Really. The butchery around here extends beyond the huge swaths of beheaded bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum), above. Want the hit list? Feeling brave? Read more

July 6, 2008

some favorite clematis

Filed Under vines | 30 Comments

WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis lately (above), I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, which the vivid purple ‘Polish Spirit’ is doing a good job festooning all by itself, but in lots of other places where things are looking a little dull. Read more