Dear Helen: Are there nonvining types of clematis?
Dear C.L.: Yes. I have three in my garden. The one I bought as a plant, about 10 years ago at a local nursery, is Clematis recta (ground clematis). It bears clusters of small, fragrant white flowers in June and July, and grows 90 to 150 cm (three to five feet) high.
C. recta is a bit floppy, best staked or attached to a support, or trained to clamber modestly into a shrub.
Mine covers the base of a climbing rose trained as a tall shrub. My plant bursts out of the ground with surprising vigour early each spring, to grow fast, despite the soil being rather poor and tree rootridden.
There is a form of this species with leaves that are purple up to flowering time. After that, the stems remain purple.
Clematis stans is another extremely tough plant, growing and blooming in difficult places in the garden. It has large leaves and bears pale, silvery blue flowers, waxy in texture and tubular in shape with reflexed petal tips, on stiff and sturdy, 60-to 90-cm stems. My plants start flowering at the end of July.
I grew my C. stans plants from seeds I found listed with Gardens North. They no longer have a print catalogue. The website is gardensnorth.com. You'll find more non-vining clematis species on the site. I'll be delving into more of them next year.
Plants should be available from or perhaps can be ordered through some local nurseries. C. stans is listed on the website (homeofclematis.net) of Clearview Horticultural, the main supplier of clematis to local garden centres.
Chiltern Seeds in England is another seed source.
I have two plants of seed-grown Clematis tubulosa (Gardens North) that I've just rescued from near-burial under some rampaging hardy geraniums. The plants have survived in surprisingly good shape from the ordeal. I'm in the process of emptying the bed they are in and replenishing the soil to give them (and other plants) a better chance at flowering life.
C. tubulosa grows 90 cm tall and, like C. stans, has a woody base and erect stems. It has large leaves and bears hyacinth-like, fragrant blue-purple flowers.
Dear Helen: I have heard about using copper strips around vulnerable plantings to fend off slugs and snails. Why not use pennies? "Coppers" would cost far less than the strips. M.D.
Dear M.D.: I did a little research into the copper content of Canadian pennies. Apparently, only older pennies, that is ones dated from 1942 through 1996, contain 98 per cent copper.
Pennies dated 1997 through 1999 are 98.4 per cent zinc and 1.6 per cent copper plating. These pennies should actually work because both copper and zinc, strips or mesh, work to repel slugs and snails.
Pennies dated 2000 through to the last ones minted are 94 per cent steel, 1.5 per cent nickel, and 4.5 per cent copperplated zinc.
Copper has become expensive. To use the strips or mesh most economically, start highly vulnerable plants such as lettuce and dahlias in copper-edged flats in pots and transplant into the garden when the plants are large enough to survive slug and snail predation.
Dear Helen: My Phalaenopsis is looking unattractive with roots rising above the pot. What can be done?
R.B.
Dear R.B.: A certain amount of root mass above the pot is normal, but roots in great abundance at the planting medium surface or outside the pot is an indicator that the plant may need repotting. When repotting, position the junction of roots and plant at the surface of the mix, no deeper.
GARDEN EVENT
Garden art and music. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is hosting its 18th annual Arts and Music in the Gardens on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors can stroll through the gardens taking in the work of painters, printmakers, photographers, potters, sculptors, jewellers and metal and glass workers, accompanied by live music throughout the gardens. There will be more than 60 artists displaying their work and meeting visitors, plus children's entertainment and refreshments.
Admission is $12 for adults, $9 for students and seniors. People under 16 will be admitted free.
This is the HCP's primary annual fundraiser. Visit the website: www.hcp.ca for more details and a schedule of musical venues at the event.
