Please advise me on buying mail order clems, in August.

13 years ago

I finally bought a house and have room to plant my collection of antique roses from the 1800's, and before, and I'd like to plant 2-3 clematis, that were introduced in the 1800's or species clem, with the roses.

I'm looking for a clematis named

"Etoille de Violette" to grow with a lovely old yellow climbing rose named "Marechel Niel".

-The problem is that I wanted to buy from silverstarvinery.com because my neighbor raves about the size of the plants she gets from that nursery but they stop shipping in June.

would it be better to wait 9 months to buy from silverstarvinery.com or should I take a chance on a more distant nursery that ships smaller plants? I live c. 10 miles from San Francisco, Ca. and am concerned about the condition that smaller plants will arrive in, if they were shipped during the hot month of August from back east or the midwest.

Is there another clematis nursery that sells large rooted plants, as silverstarvinery.com does, and that ships year round? I live in a frost free area and would like to take advantage of this climate, and I'm eager to start planting.

Thanks very much,

Luxrosa

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

buyorsell888
13 years ago
Have you looked around locally? I found it locally here. I have had to mail order very few and haven't had the best luck with mail ordered Clematis.

Joy Creek Nusery in Scappoose OR does mail order and they are thought of highly on this board.
summermusicz4ia
13 years ago
Agree with BOS. If you buy a gallon pot locally you will get a nice size plant and save due to no shipping costs.
Related Discussions
Please recommend mail order source for BB,Conelia and others
Q
Comments (15)
I just got Cornelia from Countryside Roses. They and Nor'East miniatures had the nicest plants by far that I purchased this season, and I bought from several of the popular bare-root antique rose vendors. The plants were bigger than bands for the same price or less, with larger root systems and much healthier than those from some other sources. This was my first time buying from them, and I couldn't be more pleased. I just wish they had more gallicas, damasks, and albas, and they would be my sole source for new roses.
...See More
mail orders should not be planted in ground? why?
Q
Comments (30)
At the risk of sounding like a big idiot, I think that while the many people who advocate potting up baby clems are speaking from a lot of experience, I have to say, there are undoubtedly also those out there who have a lot of experience and say the opposite. I have grown (and killed) my fair share of clems, and I've concluded that in my garden you almost have to really try to kill them if they're planted in the ground, whereas killing them in a pot is way easier. It might depend on your soil, your zone, your latitude, your average rainfall, and most definitely on your style of gardening. If you're the tough love kind of gardener then you might want to put them in a well-tended bed, but if you're a meticulous sort they may do better for you in pots. Under our hot Ozark sun, nothing is really ever safe in pots unless you're there monitoring it all the time. If you put them directly in the ground, they will take a break for awhile (to put down awesome roots), and you may think they are not thriving. It may be next year before you see any real growth, but when they get going, look out. They will not suffer performance-wise from spending their baby days in the ground. It always seems to me that wilt affects the bigger plants that are growing a bit too fast, and don't have the root system necessary to support all that top growth. I have never personally seen a baby clem with wilt. But I have not seen it all, I realize. So, FWIW... When you're just starting out, it never hurts to try it both ways (like all of us seem to have done), and then you'll learn what works best for you in your garden.
...See More
Mail Order Report Card
Q
Comments (17)
I bought a Shaina and Waterfall from Fantastic Plants. Both are much healthier than what I've seen in nurseries around here, AND more expensive. The man was always very helpful and fun to talk to. There seemed to be very minimal damage from packing and shipping, just a couple of twigs here and there were broken. I would have done worse damage hauling them in my car. I'll buy again, if I can find some more room.
...See More
Ordered Serviceberries By Mail
Q
Comments (43)
Serviceberries around here are fruiting heavily. My older Regent Shrubs have so many fruits now, I just can't believe it. The small Regents have fruit too, but not much of course, since I only put them in last year. So far I have seen the Mockingbird, Robin and Orioles eating the Serviceberries. The fruit is much larger than they were last year, I think because the shrubs had time to mature. The fruit on the small shrubs is much smaller. Anyway, there are no Catbirds here this year so I have been able to eat lots of the fruit myself. Last year the Catbirds just about camped out in the Serviceberry Shrubs and would eat the berries all day long as they ripened. Fruit on the Grandiflora is not ripe yet but I did eat some fruit off the Honeywood Serviceberry. It does taste slightly different from the Regent and not quite as big. I like the Regent better. Really, I think Regents are the best of the shrub Serviceberries and they only grow about 6 feet tall so never get too big. They set an amazing amount of fruit and start at an early age.
...See More
iris_9
13 years ago
Last June I ordered Huldine and Sweet Autumn Clematis from Digging Dog Nursery in Albion, CA which is on the Mendocino Coast. I live in central CA where we have very hot summers so I was apprehensive about ordering them in the summer. Our local nurseries just don't have much variety or I would have bought from them. The plants arrived in excellent condition although the containers were small. I potted them up in 1 gallon containers and didn't plant them in the ground until the weather cooled in the fall. They seem to be fine, although growing slowly. I also bought Perle d'Azur from Digging Dog at the SF Flower & Garden show in March and it too is doing fine.
katie
13 years ago
I live in Grass Vally and make at least one trip a year over to the Marin-Sonoma area to go nursery hopping. Some of the best nurseries I've ever seen are there such as Cottage Gardens in Petaluma and Sonoma Horticultural a little further north. They both have one gallon clematis although their stock may be low this time of year. Another wonderful nursery to visit is Sonoma Mission Gardens in Sonoma.

I do not plant clematis if the temperature gets above 80 to 85 during the day. For this reason I will not plant here until mid September. They still have a long fall to get established.

Katie
bob414
13 years ago
I agree with Katie about Cottage Gardens and Sonoma Horticultural Nurseries. If you are up to a 40-50 mile drive to the Petaluma area they have gallon sized clematis at good prices. $13 each at Cottage Gardens and $12 each at Sonoma Horticultural. I was at Cottage Gardens last week and they have a good supply of gallon sized plants. I haven't been to Sonoma Horticultural this year but they usually have a good supply in the Spring but run out of many varieties this time of year. You can google them and get their phone numbers and call to see if they have a particular variety.

Please advise me on buying mail order clems, in August.

Comments (5)

buyorsell888

summermusicz4ia

Related Discussions

iris_9

katie

bob414

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US