skip to main content

Hooray !! My 5 year old Polish Spirit is blooming.

14 years ago

Finally, my 5 year Polish Spirit has some blooms. They are nothing to brag about since they are mostly on the top.Maybe someone can tell me why. I hard prune every spring and the the botton of the vine is full.I am really not complaining since I have waited for blooms for years and I had determined that this summer would be the last chance before I dug it up.

Lois

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

jeanne_texas
14 years ago
Congrats Lois..I've thought about your question from the last time and since you live in such a short growing season zone..I've wondered exactly what month are you hardpruning and are you always fertilizing with rose or tomato fertilizer?...Jeanne
pump_toad
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks Jeanne. Yes we do have a short growing season and I prune as soon as the snow melts and there is enough growth to prune. I will confess,however, that I use a organic rose fertizer and don't fertilze alot. The soil here is very heavy rich soil and most of my plants are not fertilized and grow beautifully.
Huldine and ET are loaded with flowers!! Betty is my favorite and the bloom has ended but I usually get a second flush of flowers from her.
Lois
Related Discussions
correct pruning of my Polish Spirit
Q
Comments (5)
Polish Spirit What my experience has been is once they reach the height of whatever I have them on is that they flop down and continue to grow and bloom. Here is a link to my Ramona last year and she had reached the top and flopped back over and just kept on growing and blooming. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/clematis/msg051911444274.html Kate I prune my 3's back to about three or four leaf section from the gound. Please note most of my three's already have 10 to 12 runners of vines coming from the ground due to the prunning I give them yearly anyways. I was giving a Polish Spirit about 3 weeks ago by my mom and it is a two year old plant and I potted it up and pinched out the top and probably will continue to pinch most of the summer on it. It's still a very nice size plant. Sandy
...See More
Help to decide between Polish Spirit, Bonanza or Galore?
Q
Comments (5)
I would choose a non-purple variety given the ones you already have there. All but Abundance are purple/blue (though VV also has white). How about another pink or a white? Viticella/type 3's that would fit this would be: Mrs. T. Lundell Margot Koster Comtesse de Bouchaud Hagley Hybrid Tentel Madame Baron Veillard Alba Luxurians If you need to choose one of those three, Vesuvius (Galore) is a great, strong grower, though Polish Spirit is a tried and tested cultivar.
...See More
Polish Spirit a dud??
Q
Comments (9)
I bought a little bare root Polish Spirit at WalMart last year, planted it directly in my garden, and it produced a few dozen blooms the first year. This year it's covering a 5 x 7 trellis and covered in blooms. It's my first clematis, but it's done so well I added 4 more this spring. This spring I followed advice here on pruning group 3 clematis and I cut it back to about a foot high when the new buds started showing. It immediately sent up several really sturdy new shoots, and was 7 feet high within a few weeks.
...See More
Something eating holes in my lower Polish Spirit leaves
Q
Comments (12)
Alina, I have seen the same thing in some of my clematis--ie the lower leaves turn paler and yellow and finally brown out. This has never been due to lack of water and I attribute it to the fact that some clematis just develop this way. Those bare legs are just a hazard with some clematis cultivars. In some plants, the older leaves are covered up by new leaves and the older ones just turn light and fall off. If the clematis in question is growing very vigorously then perhaps it could be a nutritional deficiency where the plant doesn't have access to or the ability to take up nutrients fast enough to keep up with all the new growth.
...See More
buyorsell888
14 years ago
If your Polish Spirit dies all the way to the ground every year and you have to wait for it to grow to have something to prune off, I would skip the pruning. Nature is doing it for you.

Nothing wrong with organic rose fertilizer and not using it a lot if you have rich soil.
flowergirl70ks
14 years ago
My Polish Spirit bloomed also, 4th year. Most of the blooms on top like yours. I have it on a trellis with Prince Chas and Venosa Violeuca(sp)Those 2 bloom early and PS is just now blooming,I would say about 20 blooms. I prune in March and use rose fertilizer and mulch with compost. I was ready to dig this year also, it must have heard me threaten it. I bought mine from Song Sparrow along with the others.

Related Stories

GARDENING GUIDES 5 Sweet to Spirited Pink Roses for an Enchanting Garden

By J. Peterson Garden Design

Whether you go demure or daring, there's a pink rose here to make you flush with garden pride

WINTER GARDENING Branches Bring the Winter Spirit to Container Gardens

Add dimension and drama to winter pots with branches from austere to downright colorful

COLOR Color of the Year: Off-White Is On Trend for 2016

By Jennifer Ott Design

See why four paint brands have chosen a shade of white as their hot hue for the new year

COLOR How to Use Marsala, Pantone’s 2015 Color of the Year

By Jennifer Ott Design

Pantone digs deep and goes earthy with its selection. Here are ways to make it work in your home

KIDS’ SPACES 5 Teen and Tween Girls' Rooms With Fresh-Faced Style

Youthful and light, these girls' bedrooms show an age-appropriate mix of playful spirit and design-savvy sophistication

HOUZZ TOURS Houzz Tour: From Old Stable to Minimalist Guesthouse in England

By Vanessa Brunner

Its interior bays once held racehorses, but now this all-white and wood home holds fascination as a modern part-time home

LANDSCAPE DESIGN Great Design Plant: Old Fashioned Smoke Bush

Balance garden color with this shrub's cool blue-green foliage, luminous when backlit and sporting yellow-green flowers in spring

BEFORE AND AFTERS Old Hollywood Style for a Newly Redone Los Angeles Bath

By Becky Harris

An ‘NCIS’ actor gives her 1920s classic bungalow’s bathroom a glam retro makeover

HOUZZ TOURS Houzz Tour: Recycling an Old Cabin in the Sonoma Wine Country

By Karen Egly-Thompson

Knotty cedar planks combine with Cor-Ten steel in a new modern home with a view worth raising a glass to

HOUZZ TOURS My Houzz: An Oregon Cottage With 21 Flavors of Color

By Sarah Greenman

A profusion of paint colors plus inviting porches and gathered pieces create a welcoming feel in a retired couple's 100-year-old home

Sponsored

More Discussions

Could this be Jackmanii Superba?

11

Atragenes, Alpinas for the south?

11

Anyone grow Brother Stefan?

6

Recommend a clematis for zone 6b please

7

Pruning of type 2?

1