Monday, February 18, 2013

Well that's a fine mess I've made…

May I present “the hydrangea”…

In case you’re just tuning in: the hydrangea monster is going away (to a very good home) and in its place will go a Schefflera delavayi, Clematis tibetana var. vernayi (with a nice metal screen for it to scramble on) and a Schefflera taiwaniana (which is getting too much sun in its current location). Last Friday I began cutting back the hydrangea in preparation for its move. And that’s when things got complicated.
The hydrangea had always been a wintertime eyesore so a few years ago I had the brilliant idea to grow an evergreen vine through it, Clematis armandii ‘Snowdrift.’ After several years of struggling it’s finally taken off. Now I realize this photo doesn't make it look like that was a terrific idea but normally I would have woven the vine back around the hydrangea once its leaves fell and things would be looking good. Anyway this brings me to the problem at hand. What do I do with the clematis?

I didn't realize just how huge it had gotten until I started unraveling it from the hydrangea (the twine rectangles in the lawn is my experimenting with the different sizes/shapes of sod I might remove, as discussed here).

As I work I've created a lop-sided hydrangea (love the sun-spots)...

The clematis stems are fairly brittle so I've had to work carefully…and it’s about ready to burst open with its fragrant blooms so I didn't wan to disturb them.

Even though I've been referring to the clematis as a single plant there are actually two, one on each side. This is the base of the biggest one as it emerges from the ground and loops around...

As if digging out and moving the hydrangea wasn't already a big enough job now I've turned it up a notch or two by attempting to save the clematis…even though I’m not sure what to do with it. I think I have a genetic predisposition to save every bit of plant material that I can.

So now I have to get the rest of the vine off the hydrangea without breaking it, gonna be fun! I’d love to hear any advice you might have. Have you tried to dig up a mature clematis? How did it go? Oh and hey guess what, another gardening season has begun!

23 comments:

  1. In my limited experience some clematis are much like yuccas. They'll move o.k. if you get enough soil around them and forever more you'll have clematis in the spot where you originally planted it. If the clematis dies of its own accord, which only happens when you want it to grow in a spot, you'll never see it again. Maybe you could bring in a plant psychiatrist to pursuade the clematis that it's depressed and it'll do the sudden clematis death thing by itself. My goal is to finally chop down or limb up the trees in the parking strip today. I hate to do this but something has to go.

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    1. So did you make it out to the parking strip? I guess I should go check your blog for pictures!

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  2. P.S. In watching Pam's presentation about her new book, I thought I recognized a familliar Portland garden. Could it be?

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    1. Yes it could! I am honored to have my garden included in her book. When she was here before the Seattle fling in 2011 she took several photos some of which she used in her book. How cool is that!?

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  3. I'd definitely try to save the clematis too, as I have a hard time purposefully killing plants.

    If you don't think you've done a good job on digging the clematis, take several cuttings and try rooting them as backups.

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    1. Have I ever mentioned how much I suck at cuttings / rooting / propagation? I do!

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  4. Oh dear, you do have your work cut out for you. My inclination faced with this task would be to take/root cuttings as Alan suggested, and then cut both Clematises back to a couple of feet above the ground, and then just dig the old hydrangea out while trying to disturb the Clems' roots as little as possible. I wouldn't even bother trying to untangle all the stems. Yes, it would mean giving up the new growth, but they both seem to be quite vigorous and healthy and I bet they would bounce back. But what do I know?

    Or wait...are you trying to dig up the Clems too? I would definitely cut them back if I was going to dig them up, and then cross my fingers that they survived.

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    1. Evidently you know quite a bit Alison as most people agreed with your course of action!

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  5. I agree with Alison. Forego the blooms and cut back the clematis and don't waste another minute trying to untangle the vigorous vine.

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  6. Last year I got very frustrated with my clematis (same variety) at its unhealthy look. I just chopped it down to a couple of feet intending to dig it out and compost it. This was the same time of year (Feb. March) just before blossoming. I got lazy, left it for a few weeks and it started to grow more compactly and with much healthier foliage. Now it's never looked better! Go figure. I agree with the folks above, cut it back, then maybe dig it up if necessary.

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    1. I see several of this kind of clematis around town that look ragged and ugly as you describe. That only makes it harder to cut the leaves of mine cuz they look so good!

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  7. My Armandii was immediately successful, producing clouds of fragrant white blossoms, then went all scraggly on me and has never done as well since. Having just untangled a wisteria vine that was choking some roses and an espaliered Pyracantha without ever redeeming itself by blooming, I can't imagine accomplishing that task without destroying the vine. I agree that it's hard to give up on those flowers. Maybe you could just drape your salvaged vines over that trellis for now and cut them back after blooming..

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    1. After reading everyone's recommendations I think I'm going to have several vases full of flowers as long as it blooms soon! (as in before I get out there to hack it off)

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  8. Loree, I moved my Clematis armandii more than once, both times cutting it back to the ground, it came back just fine. I finally shoveled pruned it this fall (a victim of Fickle Gardener Syndrome)because I needed a spot for a passion vine. Maybe you let it bloom and put off the Hydrangea project ?

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    1. Tempting but there are too many things in the soil around the hydrangea which I don't want to mash getting it out. The longer I wait the further out of the ground they'll start to poke.

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  9. I can't imagine that you could successfully untangle that Clematis without damaging stems, so also suggest it's perhaps easiest/best to also cut back the Clematis. Those extra long stems of Clematis will be near impossible to rearrange in any way that won't initially look ugly. I probably would have waited on tackling that Hydrangea until after the Clematis had bloomed...

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    1. You make a good point (near impossible to rearrange in any way that won't initially look ugly), one I should have thought about but was blinded by the beauty and wanting to save it!

      As for waiting not possible as there are too many other good things wanting to start sticking their noses out of the ground around the hydrangea...

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  10. Nice work on untangling the Clematis, not always an easy thing to do! It would be fine to chop the clematis back down to just 2-3 feet of woody stem then dug up with a decent sized rootball, it should reshoot back. Often it produces much bigger leaves too for a season or two before it reverts back to its usual leaf size. But by untangling it you have a decent sized plant already and you get to save the blooms this year which is a nice bonus :)

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    1. Bigger leaves! You guys certainly know how to get my attention.

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  11. I've found that Clematis are pretty easy to move. And like most vines with a well developed root systems to support it, the rest of the plant recovers quickly.
    I'm envying you being able to work on your garden at this time of year, I'm itching to start cleaning up my Clematis, which I can usually do in mid-March. Good luck with your garden reno.

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    1. Thanks Barry...I feel very fortunate to live somewhere that allows me to garden in February!

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  12. As a former owner of between 75 and 100 Clematis in my old garden moving them is definitely possible. Your best bet however will be to cut back almost all of the top growth and let it start over. Once they have been unraveled it is very hard to reattach them in any way that looks natural or appealing.

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