On 01/02/2014 22:52, Charlie Pridham wrote:

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
On 01/02/2014 09:35, Charlie Pridham wrote:

"sacha" wrote in message
...
Charlie, or anyone who knows it, can we grow this here? It's terribly
pretty, imo. If so, do you have it?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

It needs/likes a continental climate best but will grow in our milder
soggy climate with attention to slug control, grow it with a bare soil
area around (i.e. no ground cover) During winter this Clematis will die
back to ground level, so in early spring (now!) start with liquid slug
killer every 2-3 weeks on dry days (ha ha!!) until the shoots are well
above ground, after that it is just like any other Clematis. You may get
lucky and find a place that it comes back on its own but I have found
that the slugs eat the dormant buds below soil level during winter and
without help it dies out sooner or later.

Charlie, have you thought about a light sprinkling of Metaldehyde
around the plants?
This wont break down quickly and is deadly to slugs and snails.
David @ a yet again rain blasted side of Swansea Bay

One of the folk I have got to meet and make a friend of through plants
is Mike Brown, until recently he held the Herbaceous clematis
collection, sat in my kitchen he was trying to persuade me that I should
grow what he considers wonderful plants, I explained that all previous
attempts to grow them had failed, he then told me his regime of slug
control, and I thought there were perhaps less stressful ways of
gardening! So you are correct, it would work well, but will I get around
to doing it? I will stick to the viticella group which seem fairly bomb
proof.

Incidentally most of this viorna group are easy to raise from seed but
very difficult from cuttings, although divisions are possible, so they
are not that easy to get hold of.


Charlie,
What I use is Metaldehyde 99% such as you can get from
https://webshop.fishersci.com/insigh... SetPosition=0
I mix a small amount in a runny mix of wallpaper paste which can then be
applied from an old washing up liquid bottle, the paste dilutes into the
soil leaving a very fine layer of the active chemical, a little goes a
long way.
It's a good way to put down a thin barrier round plants or an area.
David @ what is for a time an almost wind free side of Swansea Bay