Wow! They're doing rather well. I'm curious about how tall your support fence is for Polish Spirit. I have one in a 2 gal. pot and thought it might get 20' tall, but if it can go sideways on a fence that would be good to know. I like the color.

I am blown away !! These look so beautiful. You must really be enjoying them !!

Thank you Lilyfinch and erasmus...very kind of you both.

That railing is for safety for one side of a deck. From the base of the PSpirit to the top of the railing is 5 feet and this clematis has gone 6 feet left to right on the railing.

Beautiful!! I’m envious, my clematis are stingy with their blooms.

Gorgeous!! All three :-) A healthy blooming clematis is a thing of great beauty....my favorite flowering vine!

Always supportive 'gg'...thank you.

Do you have a favourite or two of clematis?

LOL!! Whatever happens to be blooming at the moment??

TBH, I am not having a good clematis year :-( My florida 'Sieboldii' experienced wilt this season and a couple of others - all of mine are in containers - didn't respond well after winter. Not sure why....it was a very mild, almost non-winter. But my new this season Taiga is doing well, Durandii just finished its first flush and Ramona is in full bloom now. Still waiting for any of my type 3's to shows signs of flowering, especially Sweet Summer Love and My Angel.

I've been applying alfalfa tea liberally in hopes to reinvigorate those that are performing weakly. And I have plans to plant a few actually in the ground!!

Absolutely stunning! I've been trying to find a clematis at a nursery in my area for the last few weeks, but no luck. I guess I need to start looking earlier next year!

I had been eyeing up yukikomachi at brushwood . I passed on it bc it seemed like one that would fade immediately and the pics may have been “enhanced “ but it appears not . I do actually have some light shade for it but didn’t want to be disappointed. I think I’ll add it back to my wish list . It’s very lovely !!

Lilyfinch "yukik" is one of my 'special' plants.

I do recommend the flowers. I just wish this clematis was more vigorous (for me?).

lovemycorgi, in a normal non-COVID year, by the end of May your choices of clems in SE MI will be limited, and there may be none at some places. This year, with the garden centers ordered closed at first, when they did open people who normally don't even plan a garden were there with all of the regulars - lots of things sold out that normally would have been on sale later in the summer to get rid of them. I couldn't believe how empty the places I usually go to were in June, when there had been lots of stock earlier in May.

Anne

erasmus, I have admired Pr. Di for many seasons but I have no space for another clematis. How long have you had yours? Is it a vigorous climber ie how large does it get?

I think this is year two for Princess Di. I grew it on in a gallon pot for awhile, then planted. I can't say much about how big it will get but from what I've read it is very vigorous. This year it is about 4' tall and maybe 4' wide. It has several vines. I went overboard buying clems the last few years and am not sure where I'll put them all. I'm intrigued with the variety of shapes of the blooms.

Beautiful!! Polish Spirit especially caught my eye. Very nicely grown clematises!

Rouge21, how large are your polish spirit blooms? Mine bloomed for the first time and they are like 1.5 inch. Same with Chelsea. I wonder if they will be larger next year or whether I have the right plant. Beautiful deep indigo purple color.

Hello totoro, from edge to edge directly across they are about 3.5".

Rouge, beautiful clematis. Love that Yukik. I can never seem to get them to thrive. Yours are thriving for sure. What is your secret? Do you fertilize? This is one blooming now. Does anyone know which it might be. Lost the tag.

Rouge, come to think of it this is year three for Princess Di. The first year I grew it on in a pot and planted in the ground in fall. The following year it got established but didn't bloom. This year it had its first blooms.

Sounds like Polish Spirit has pretty good sized blooms. Would you say it has more red in the purple than Etoile Violette?

Another photo not posted:

What is your secret? Do you fertilize?

I only show you the "good" ones ;). I have a couple that aren't thriving eg Piilu.

I never use "fertlizer" for any of our perennials or shrubs or trees...homemade compost for sure.

Gardengal, I will try alfalfa tea on my clematis. Our soil is so sandy and lean even after 40 years of mulching, composting, etc. heavy feeders just don’t thrive. Do you have a proportion for the tea?

I never really measure but typically it is 4 cups of alfalfa meal to 5G of water.

I just buy a bag of alfalfa pellets at the feed store and throw handfuls at the base of my Clematis regularly....

And I used to have pet rabbits and used their partially digested form of alfalfa throughout my garden :-) I miss both the bunnies and their poop and just make do now with alfalfa tea.

Rouge, your clematis are beautiful!