Hi, Sherry and everyone. Let me introduce myself since I only just became a member here (I have been a regular reader of this forum for some months and have learned much valuable information). My name is Kathy and I currently live and garden in north Houston, TX. Since Sherry asked for more Florida/Gulf Coast folks to chime in, I decided I really ought to become a member so I could post messages as well. Although you don't yet know me, I feel as if I know many of you from reading this forum. I especially value Sherry's experience, since I figure that we must have very similar climates. Therefore, I decided that I could let her know my experience with clematis here in Houston. I live in an area with many large pine, oak and elm trees. We have cut down quite a few large trees on our half acre lot (still leaving about 35 large trees), but one still gets a lot of shade from the neighbors trees. This shade is dappled shade, so there is some sunlight filtering through. I realize that many would think that you couldn't grow roses and clematis in this little sun, but I do. They would probably bloom more in more sun, but they still bloom quite a bit. I have decided that the sun seems much stronger this far south, and that seems to make a difference. I also garden organically. The first clematis I planted here (5 to 6 years ago) was 'Prince Charles'. It is on the north side of my garage, so it gets limited full sun in the summer. I didn't know when I planted it that I should plant deeply, so I didn't. It has a long bloom cycle and then will repeat again on new growth later. If I prune it after the first bloom cycle, I can get a third bloom cycle out of it. It grows on a 5-6 foot tall circular metal tower between the rose 'Ducher' and a red turk's cap. It will get some brown leaves lower down during the summer, but this doesn't seem to affect blooming. I cut it back low every February, but it doesn't yet grow as many vines as the younger ones planted more deeply. I also have 'Inspiration' (also called 'Zoin') growing next to the rose 'Kathleen' trained as a climber on a wide arch. This one is more of a semi-climber in that it doesn't have very many climbing tendrils, but uses the lower canes of 'Kathleen' for support. It is planted in a very much amended soil raised bed where it gets maybe up to 4 hours of full sun. It blooms for a really long time and doesn't seem to get any brown leaves lower down. It grows a greater number of new vines every year - I had learned by then to plant deeply. On the other side of this arch grows 'Emilia Plater'. It also puts up more new vines every year. It can cover a good bit of it's side of the arch (it is planted next to a baby 'Blossomtime') and blooms for a long time, with multiple cycles. On another smaller arch, I grow 'Rooguchi'. It probably gets no more than 2 hours of full sun daily. It dies completely to the ground every winter. It gets badly crisped leaves every summer, but blooms prolifically anyway. New last year were 'Bonanza', 'Blue Boy', 'Venosa Violacea', 'Minuet' and 'Mikelite' sharing a tower, 'Mrs. T. Lundell', 'Sputnik' and 'Pink Delight' sharing a tower. All did about as expected for first year plants (not a whole lot of flowers) except 'Blue Boy', which didn't bloom at all and grew very little. I have a row of mostly tea roses planted about 8 feet apart along the fence here. I have put these iron towers in between and a little behind these roses. This area would get no more than about 3 hours of full direct sun daily. I would second daisyincrete's book recommendation of "Trouble Free Clematis the Viticellas". I bought a nice used copy, and it is also one of my favorite clematis books. One of the nice things about this book, is that there are photos of similarly colored clematis blooms side by side. For instance, one photo groups 'Etoile Violette', 'Blue Belle' and "Polish Spirit' in the same photo. This allows you to compare bloom size, shape and color of similar varieties. Another nice feature of this book, is that every full page entry for a particular variety has four photos - a single bud, a single bloom, a closeup of the leaf and a photo showing a larger portion of a vine with many blooms (this allows you to see how the color changes from newly opened flower and fades for the older flowers). I currently have seven new plants coming for this spring. Yes, Sherry, I think it is quite easy to add this plant obsession. Plus, there is the added bonus that clematis grow vertically, take up little garden space and look lovely combined with roses. If you can't think of enough combinations on your own, many online catalogs will give you new ideas. For instance, Brushwood Nursery suggests 'Chatsworth' would be a great choice for growing through a dogwood tree. Guess who has a group of three young dogwood trees that would love a clematis companion? I'm sorry for such a lengthy post, but I hope that maybe you'll find something useful in this long ramble. Kathy

The Greenspot and Patmore's are the two nurseries in Brandon. As far as I know neither of them do mail order, they are just local nurseries. Lindenberg's and McFaydens are based out of Brandon. Both do mail order as their businesses. Lindenberg's has a small outlet store where I can buy the perennials at regular price and then reduced come the beginnning of June. (Pretty soon, yah!) But, McFaydens closed their local retail store when new owners took over about 1 1/2 years ago. So, there isn't even the large spring and fall sales available to go to anymore. The clematis that Lindenberg's carry are in little 3 x 3 inch pots and that is the size McFaydens used to carry. I tried some of them when we first moved to the acreage and I thought it was just me...that I could never grow clematis here on our acreage. But, when I bought a few 1 gallon pots miraculously they all made it and I will always buy that size again. As far as the varieties available at Walmart or Canadian Tire or Home Depot...if you see one you like, buy it, take it home and google the variety. If it is a zone 3 or 4, keep it. If a zone 5 return it. They have no problem with returning plants. I have done it. The clematis in Walmart and Canadian Tire and Home Depot are just the same size in the gallon pots as the ones at the Greenspot (which are double in price) and so, I would rather pay the 1/2 price. Just me :) Brenda

Hi Duxetrng, I just got a new michelia alba it comes in a 10 inch nursery pot. I have a 12 inch terracota pot and a 14 inch. Which one wood be bette? Thanks Savy

there is a plant propogation book i have wherein the author describes his own mist system. that author has a large black coil of hose in the roof of his greenhouse so that water can be heated before reaching the mist nozzles. that's at least one vote for using warm water and keeping the cuttings reasonably warm as they root. just thought i would toss that in! lol. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mosaic z8 LA (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 11:59 With such a setup you could probably root roses under mist all winter here in Louisiana. And then as an added bonus, you could save on your power bills all summer by using it to steam your veggies :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: tammyinwv z6/WV (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 16:05 i have been unable to find the mist heads even within an hr from my home.Someone mentioned here they found them for .50 each.would anyone be willing to get me a couple and mail them? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: wild_garden virginia z6b (My Page) on Sun, May 11, 03 at 16:32 at my lowes store the mist heads where in the indoor gardening area next to the register, i doubt the people at lowes would have even know what to look for. it was with the drip irrigation supplies, as i said in the indoor gardening area next to the big outdoor area where they sell trees and things. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mist heads supply source Posted by: RoseHawke 7b AL (My Page) on Mon, May 12, 03 at 10:37 For you folks that haven't been able to find the heads locally, try going to this site: Dripworks or here's a direct link to one of the pages with some heads:Misters . I just a couple of weeks ago ordered some irrigation supplies from them and received them quite quickly. About 4 days if I remember correctly. Haven't had a chance to put it together yet, which is probably just as well as the flood we had last week would've probably washed everything down the creek ;-). I also have the Melnor timer, and it does seem a bit confusing about its ability to do a mist cycle, but what you're doing is programing it to do one cycle (on in the am; off in the pm) and punching in a choice of watering pattern, in this case the off for 10" on for 2" pattern. I believe the idea behind the pattern was/is actually to help prevent water run-off when doing overhead watering by allowing the water to soak in between the on phases. I bought this particular timer though because when I looked at it my mind said "Ah! Mist!" (heh), even though the reason I bought it at the time was to keep a new patch of zoysia sod watered until it rooted in. My batteries did last all season last year, but it was only opening that valve 4x a day for 3 weeks, and then 1x every 4 days for a couple of months. I can see where a misting pattern of opening and closing that valve many times during the day may eat batteries, but as ShamanSherpa pointed out, it's still cheaper than a $100+ misting timer! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: patclem z7 (or 6) TN (My Page) on Fri, May 23, 03 at 8:32 Regardless of how much water it wastes, etc, I decided to experiment with misting. I am TERRIBLE at rooting cuttings. I've tried baggies. I've tried jars. I've tried special cutting trays with plastic domes. I've had one rooted cutting out of probably 50. I had the same problem finding true super-fine mist systems in the south. None at Lowe's, none at HD. They're not popular here because they don't have the same evaporating effect they have in less humid areas of the country - they make you wet here. Here's where I found mist heads. They didn't charge me anything for shipping. They were super-good to deal with online. Web Page - Phone/Fax 888-693-0578 Local/Fax (719) 495-2266 Qty: 4; Sku: 6W401; Product: Monarch Misting Nozzles M-1; Amount: $7.40 Qty: 4; Sku: 6W519; Product: Reducing Tee for Monarch Misting Nozzles; Amount: $4.40 You have to go to Lowe's or local hardware store and get a hose adapter, timers, 1/2" PVC, PVC caps, etc. I have mine set up with 2 mist heads, and about a 6' diameter section of my grass is soaked! I don't have mine on a timer yet. Results? I don't have any yet, except none of my cuttings have turned black yet. PS - I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH THIS BUSINESS IN ANY WAY! Here is a link that might be useful: Mist Heads -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: fuselighter 7/WA (My Page) on Thu, May 29, 03 at 21:41 I am so excited about the misting bed. I went out and bought all the supplies today. Total cost was about $15 (my husband had PVC and elbows left over from installing the sprinkler system). I would like to go to an intermittent system eventually, but for now I am going with continuous. The water bill is not an issue because we have an irrigation system (there is an annual fee but it is not based on usage). I set the whole thing up in about an hour. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: debbinard Z4CO (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 10:54 Shamansherpa -- I could not open your picture! I live in Colorado, it gets very warm middle of June (up to upper 90's) and stays low humidity. We are on outsidewater restrictions 2xweek, so I'm not sure this method would fly. Am wondering how visible this is, or if inside is an option under lights. At any rate, I would like to propigate some rose cuttings now (is this a good time?) My daughter in law is moving and would love some plants from a rose with sentimental value. Is the rooting hormone used just the usual or special for roses? Thanks Deb -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mytrid Zone8b Florida (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 13:48 Deb, Maybe you could call your water extention office and see if you can get special permission, exsplain to them how little water it uses. Yes you use rooting hormone, there are many available. Dip and grow I here is supposed to be really good. I got some of the more exspensive stuff from a friend whom bought it threw rose imporium on line. But you can always use something like dip and grow. Deanna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: rose_enthusiast z7 TX. (My Page) on Sun, Jun 1, 03 at 15:47 Hi there Deanna! It seems to me you've managed to help a lot of people with your invaluable info. And I would like to thank you for inspiring me to start a misting bed to root my cuttings. I have one question to add to the many others you've been getting though... What rose company is it that you get your rooting hormone from? Is it Rose Emporium or the Antique Rose Emporium? I would like to purchase this product as well, since you and this company are using this to successfully root your cuttings. Thanks Again, Carlos -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: mytrid Zone8b Florida (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 03 at 1:31 Carlos, Thank you but we should all thank AngieAnders, she is the one who did all the research and work to discover this method and then post it here for us last year! She truly diserves all the credit. I just wanted to keep any new people aware that have just started rooting this year. Best of luck all and don't forget to post your sucess! Deanna -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: epiphany z5b PA (My Page) on Tue, Jun 3, 03 at 9:28 I found the Arizona Mist system which is by Orbit as mentioned at Wal-Mart. It has 12' of tubing, end cap, six misting heads and hose adapter for $14.95. Of course, it is once again cold and wet here,......all of a balmy 56°. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by: auntnana 6 TN (My Page) on Thu, Jun 5, 03 at 13:06 I ordered the misting heads mentioned above from Dripworks last year and they don't put out a fine mist as much as they do a fine spray/droplets. And even though I had a pressure regulator on there, I kept having a problem with the heads blowing off! (Their drippers work perfectly by the way so it's nothing against the company) I ordered foggers from Misty Mate this year and they put out a super fine fog. Perfect for propagation. They are a litte more expensive than the ones from Dripworks but worth it. And if you ask they will ship the misting heads for $1.50. I went to HD and bought a 10-24 tap and drill set (3.00) and drilled holes in my 1/2" cvpvc and the heads just screwed right in! I bought a Melnor timer at HD for $39 and it has 1 minute spray options so I've got it set for 1 minute every 10 minutes. Can't remember the model number but it's not the one on the HD website. I hope to finish my new propagation box soon. I built one on a stand this year so I can move it around easily. Wouldn't you know, HD has plastic sheeting made just for greenhouses that I used! It's not the real thick heavy stuff either. It's only 4mil and is crystal clear see-thru! Hopefully I'll be finished this week!