over the last few years i have collected quite a few clematis , but i have decided to dig them up, it really greives me to have to do this , but my garden is not pleasing me any more , every year the clematis grows really lush , with lots of really big buds and just when they are ready to bust into bloom those nasty little brown and cream snails eat the stems and the whole lot dies, at first i thought it was clematis wilt, but over the years i have found out it is those snails that are doing the damage, and it does not help that i am having trouble with a low growing heart shaped weed that is taking over my garden, and those snails are hiding in the leaves of that weed , and i just cannot seem to get rid of that weed so the garden is full of those nasty little snails that eat my clematis , after the clematis dies back they look so messy all over the garden with dead buds all over them,

i have had enough of it and i am soo sad about it

What are you doing in the way of pruning the clematis? It's the new growth the snails like, and although they can climb, most damage is within a couple of feet of ground level. I find that if I can get my clematis above about 3 ft high (if necessary by growing them in a pot in the greenhouse away from snails) then they are OK. It's a matter of making sure they have dry woody stems up to about 3ft, so, obviously, never pruning them lower than that.

these clematis have been in the ground for about 3 or 4 years and they were getting quite big, one was all over an obolisk about 6 feet tall, and another was growing through a roderdendron about 7 foot tall , and the others were all about 4 feet tall .
i have noticed that the snails only seem to go for the big flower type.

The ones that are early flowering like the montana they seem to stay away from ,and the ones that have to be pruned alot with a smaller leaf and flower they dont seem to go for those either, but its the big saucer flower ones that they always go for .

Ah, right. I grow only the small flowered ones - the alpinas and some of the later flowering ones - and I have to make sure their new growth is well above ground level. Looks like you'll either have to tackle the snails (which has a lot of downsides) or abandon the large flowered clematis.

"kay" wrote in message
...

may;925871 Wrote:
over the last few years i have collected quite a few clematis , but
i have decided to dig them up, it really greives me to have to do this
, but my garden is not pleasing me any more , every year the
clematis grows really lush , with lots of really big buds and just when
they are ready to bust into bloom those nasty little brown and cream
snails eat the stems and the whole lot dies, at first i thought it was
clematis wilt, but over the years i have found out it is those snails
that are doing the damage, and it does not help that i am having
trouble with a low growing heart shaped weed that is taking over my
garden, and those snails are hiding in the leaves of that weed , and i
just cannot seem to get rid of that weed so the garden is full of those
nasty little snails that eat my clematis , after the clematis dies
back they look so messy all over the garden with dead buds all over
them,

i have had enough of it and i am soo sad about it

What are you doing in the way of pruning the clematis? It's the new
growth the snails like, and although they can climb, most damage is
within a couple of feet of ground level. I find that if I can get my
clematis above about 3 ft high (if necessary by growing them in a pot in
the greenhouse away from snails) then they are OK. It's a matter of
making sure they have dry woody stems up to about 3ft, so, obviously,
never pruning them lower than that.




--
kay

Use a liquid slug killer in a spray on a dry evening, spray up the plant as
well as on the ground around it , you will only have to do it once.


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

In message , may
writes

not sure if its a weed but its driving me CRAZY, its a low growing
heartshaped leaf with a very small purple flower in early spring.


and it has taken over ALL OF MY GARDEN, it grows through all of my
rockery plants and even tries to climb up my low growing
roderdenrons, it has taken over my pot plants and everyspace it can ,
i have lived in the same house for 34 years and i have never had this
problem before .


i am having to dig up my rockery plants just to try and get rid of it


its got the stage where i am thinking ok you win

Viola riviniana (dog violet)?
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In article ,
may wrote:

not sure if its a weed but its driving me CRAZY, its a low growing
heartshaped leaf with a very small purple flower in early spring.

and it has taken over ALL OF MY GARDEN, it grows through all of my
rockery plants and even tries to climb up my low growing
roderdenrons, it has taken over my pot plants and everyspace it can ,
i have lived in the same house for 34 years and i have never had this
problem before .

It's not ground ivy, Glechoma hederacea, is it? See, for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glechoma_hederacea
http://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=3026

If so, it's a common wild plant, and is fairly easy to remove by
pulling, but murder to get stop from taking over. It has a
fairly strong smell when the leaves are crushed.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

No, it's the violet - see the other thread.

Hadn't thought of Campanula (the one with the very long name and the slightly opn bells did you mean?) - mainly because I have difficult with campanulas because of slugs, so can't imagine any becoming a weed! Ad, thinking about it, May wouldn't be having trouble with a campanula either, bearing in mind her snail problem!