I am known for my brown thumb.
Plants under my care either die or almost thrive. Because of the survivors I will not claim the black thumb and the ones that wither on the vine, well, I can’t grab the green thumb prize.
When we first moved into our home I spent the first summer plucking things out of the flower bed. I left a few weeds to see what they might become and discovered I had been murdering columbines by the bushel.
I put a Clematis in the southwest corner of the north flower bed more than a decade ago. It lived and bloomed.
Each year in October or November we cut the brown dregs of the summer growth back to maybe four inches above the soil.
In June when Montana weather grudgingly gives into summer, the vine shoots up and almost appears to grow before our eyes. Six inches during the night is not unusual.
In August it begins to bloom. Purple. Mostly four petals, sometimes five. It bows its heavy head of purple.
Last fall, I don’t know what happened but we didn’t cut the vine back. We left it and I thought I’d go ahead and clip it at the end of May when I put in the summertime flowers.
In late April some leaves began to come back to the vine. A few at a time until new growth appeared probably four feet up.
For at least a decade we have been cutting this back and I have to wonder how big it might have been if we’d only let it go.
It looks fairly scruffy and I suppose we’ll be able to figure out what is really dead in a few more weeks. We have only given this poor vine three months of growth. This year, I wonder if it will bloom in June or July and take over the porch like Kudsu in the south.
Enjoy the scruffy photos of my unfettered Clematis.
Don’t Touch Anything Sharp!
Comments
One response to “Clematis Ever After or My Brown Thumb”
Hi Sally! Thanks for commenting on my blog. I’d keep a close eye on that clematis or relocate it to somewhere that won’t damage your house. It looks like you’ve already got some damage to your bricks and the vines will grow under that and may end up doing more damage.
If you have an old shed that you don’t mind being covered by clematis, go for it! lol Otherwise, be very careful and well, you might want to clip it (or somehow try to contain it). Good luck!