Early last year I planted one Clematis alpina "Willy" that I purchases as
one of those little 2" pots grown by Clearview and sold at Walmart. I've
had great luck with these little starts and my C. alpina "Willy" is no
exception. But it has behaved strangly, It bloomed last year, a couple of
all white blossoms so I thought it really was not an alpina "Willy" so this
year I planted an alpina "Constance" next to it thinking the purply pink
blossoms would look nice mixed with the white. Both plants are doing well,
the "Willy" really took off this year and is approaching 6' tall. Presently
both plants are now blooming and my alpina "Willy" really is what it is
supposed to be. Now I'm baffled, does anyone who knows more about clematis
than I, know why the same plant bloomed white last year and properly white
with pink sepals this year?
A second question I have is how and when to transplant alpina clematis? I
need to move one so that we can move a fence to build my garden shed.
Terry
E. WA. zone 4
First year blossoms can sometimes be different - I don't know why. I
know with double flowered types, sometimes the first year will just be
single blooms. The coloration on my Sugar Candy the first year was off.
This year it looked like it was supposed to. And I had that happen once
before with one of my Ramona's. The first year the few flowers were so
dark I thought they sent me a President instead.
I think you could transplant spring or fall when it's dormant. I tend to
lean toward spring in my area, but clematis seem to start sending sap (or
whatever you call it) up their vines very early. Expect that
transplanting will set your plant back and try to get all the root, or
(depending on size) as much as you can. Cut the top growth to about 1
foot and don't expect blooms that year unless it's a Type III, in which
case you might get some. Don't let the roots dry out at all while you're
transplanting and make sure it receives enough water until it starts
growing. I've transplanted some and they've done fine, but I did have
one die because I think I wasn't as careful as I should have been.
Karen in Pittsburgh, PA (zone 5b/6)
On Tue, 14 Aug 2001 21:25:23 -0700 Terry King
writes:
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Thanks Karen, that just what I needed to know.
Terry
E. WA. zone 4
