Clementis flowering head question.
 

Hi,
My Clementis has flowered beautifully this year with a good number of
flowers. However, during the breezy period last week many of the petals
from the flower were blown away leaving a rather naked looking flower
head. What would the best thing to do, pinch off the heads ? Any advice
would be most welcome !
Thanks !

I would leave them. You are highly unlikely to induce repeat flowering by deadheading anyway. Theywill look good in the winter and the birds will appreciate them.

On 31 May 2005 15:07:21 -0700, "
wrote:

Hi,
My Clementis has flowered beautifully this year with a good number of
flowers. However, during the breezy period last week many of the petals
from the flower were blown away leaving a rather naked looking flower
head. What would the best thing to do, pinch off the heads ? Any advice
would be most welcome !
Thanks !

I assume you mean clematis. If so, then yes, remove the remains of the
flower.
With most plants, not just clematis, leaving them to set seed will
stop further flowers forming. Cutting off the old heads may encourage
it to make more flower.
What variety is it? Perhaps its flowering period was over anyway, or
you may be lucky and get more. It would take more than a "breeze" to
blow the flowers off, unless they were ready to drop anyway.
Get a good book on clematis (from shop or library) and read up about
flowering periods and pruning methods, as this will ensure you get
good flowers in future.

Pam in Bristol

Gandalf wrote:

I would leave them. You are highly unlikely to induce repeat flowering
by deadheading anyway. Theywill look good in the winter and the birds
will appreciate them.


--
Gandalf

Thanks very much. The flowering season for that variety. I'll follow
your advice and leave the heads alone.

Have just been to my bookshelf and The "Gardener's guide to growing Clematis by Raymond J. Evison" has this to say:

" Some clematis growers prefer to remove spent flowersheads to encourage further crops of flowers, especially with the early large-flowered single, double and semi-double clematis. Certainly, if the old flowers are removed with a length of stem with 2-3 node, new growth will appear and a further crop of flowers will be produced. When this is done, it is important to keep the clematis well watered and fed. The only drawback to this is that the attractive seedheads on this group of clematis will be lost. A compromise can be achevied by removing 50 per cent of the spent flowereheads,retaining the remainder to develop into the fluffy flowerheads which are also important. This is particularly to be recommended when clematis are cultivated in containers."

On 1 Jun 2005 04:46:18 -0700, "Uncle-C" wrote:

Thanks very much. The flowering season for that variety. I'll follow
your advice and leave the heads alone.

Sad decision!

Pam in Bristol

does it say why this is to be recommended, is it because he was a fan of the look of fluffy seedheads, or more to do with collected the seed? Can't see why whether they're grown in a container or not would matter?

Personally i'm with Pam, and when my early flowering varieties drop their flowers i'll be cutting back to get a second flush of flowers later in year, far more attractive than seedheads imo