Clematis alpinas
Joy90
Posts: 35
Here are my piccies which wouldn’t post last week!
I asked if the withered leaves show that are dead? But baffled because one or two shoots still on there are green!
alpina Willy and alpina Ruby. On a 6x6 foot trellis south facing.
i had several kind replies but want to check out with my fellow bloggers.
By the way we are due temps feeling like minus 12 here next week. As of Tuesday minus by day and night! Will my clematis survive?
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When I lived in Belgium I bought my clematis from 2 brothers who had a clematis nursery and who labelled there plants with info on frost hardiness in degrees - http://clematis.be/fralpina.html
They reckon all their alpinas are hardy down to -30C and I Am Red Robin certainly is but I did have 2 younger alpinas wiped out by a -25C Siberian blast one year. As yours are shooting already it may be worth putting some horticultural fleece or windbreak fabric on the windward side for the next couple of weeks as extra protection.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
As the wind is from the east it will be tricky but I will try tomorrow the trellis faces due south. They have looked like this all winter since December when the green started to diminish. Near the bottom of the trellis there are no green bits at all. I thought I’d put mulch on there of leaf mild too. It’s so flipping cold but no frost.
Put some protection on the north side if you can so the fresh new foliage doesn't get blasted. That's what happened to mine and they never re-grew. They will naturally be bare at the bottom but, once they're established and growing strongly you can encourage leaves and flowers lower down by judicious pruning but not until they have produced several stems.
The other thing to do is plant things in front that will disguise the bare legs.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
I don't think they are dead at all. According to the rhs website they are deciduous plants not evergreen as you thought in your first post.
Thank you. I will wrap them up today! As it is minus 4 at the mo
Just protect them from the coldest winds. Make sure they can breathe.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
i have put a fleece top to bottom on the north side only of the trellis but the wind is from the east and nothing I can do about it . However lucky that across the road in the east is a large hedge with trees that gives protection and we have a7foot high fence on the east side of the garden too.
Tuesday and Wednesday appear to be horrendous here in terms of weather but nothing else we can do now!
You've done all you can so just have to wait and see. Worth the effort a, once established, they are very good clems.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Picture not loaded, what have I done wrong ?