On 2009-05-12 18:58:34 +0100, Judith in France
said:

On May 12, 10:38*am, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 12 May 2009 02:27:02 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France



wrote:
On May 12, 8:16*am, bob wrote:
On Mon, 11 May 2009 15:33:15 -0700 (PDT), Judith in France

wrote:
On May 11, 6:37*am, bob wrote:
I posted around a week ago about a couple of young clematis being
eaten up. * (Rebecca and Henryi - if this is relevant)
I found and evicted a family of snails tenanting a hole in the mort
ar
of a flint and lime wall behind the plant and whether they were the
culprits or not the feeding frenzy seems to slowed or even stopped.
But the plants seemed to have either stopped growing or slowed so m
uch
that progress is almost imperceptible. *A couple of slightly chew
ed
flowers have taken much longer to open than I remember with other
plants and while most of the leaves are erect (a few have wilted) t
hey
look dull.

When I bought and planted these last august - small, about 70cms hi
gh
- they seemed to settle in quite well and put on a little growth
before the season end. They started out promisingly this spring
pushing up again. *

There's an established clematis which looks very healthy only 4 met
res
away growing through a petiolaris . *The two infants are about 10
cms
from a wall with just a wire network for climbing.

Could there be a problem here? *Are they just about to peg out?

Should I give up on them and try again asap or might patience be
rewarded? *Perhaps a feed or some remedial strategy?

Thanks for any insight.

Bob, you may remember that I posted recently that a clematis I plante
d
last year was dead. *I panted a new one, next to the "dead" old one
and put a few slug pellets there. *A few days on, the old one has p
ut
on new growth; it wasn't dead, just eaten by slugs and snails, but no
more! *I am glad I didn't pull it up, have you tried, pellets and a
feed?

Judith

No I decided, for the mo anyway, not to use any chemical because it
appeared to me the feasting had abated after I cleared out a load of
greedy snails from a nearby hole in the wall.

What feed would you recommend? *I've got some bonemeal, also some
concentrated tomato feed.

Until it is well established, I use a general purpose feed, diluted, a
capful to a gallon of water and drench it, after that I dont feed
clematis as they seem to do very well without it.

Did you plant an evergreen clematis, Judith? My daughter now has a freshl
y
imported one in N Staffordshire.
GBP 10 in Holland and up to twice as much in UK.
--

Martin

No, Martin, it's not evergreen. The nurseries here are very scant on
clematis. I once bought 3 from Charlie, they were reasonably priced
and perfect when they arrived. Charlie, as you know, specalises in
Clematis, we don't have anyone here like that; neither do we have a
Ray or Sacha. Mutters, How much is a small 1 bedroom cottage in
Devon? Too much!

Judith

Maybe you don't have Clematis locally because few survive winters in
your part of France? Not many are evergreen anyway and the best known
is C. armandii which is on the tender side. Charlie will correct me.
At present I'm delighting in a white Clematis montana which is going
up a telegraph pole in our garden and spreading itself lavishly into
shrubs beside and behind it. There's a sort of langorous voluptuous
beauty to it that personifies spring.
--
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials
South Devon