Broom and Clematis questions

Hi Guys,

1) I have a new clematis (planted in Autumn last year) It has flowered and was producing a new shoot to climb up the trellis, however.....the new shoot all of a sudden withered and died! The plant is about a foot tall in total and has 5 pink flowers and green leaves. I wonder why the shoot suddenly died?

2) The Broom that I planted in the autumn has flowered and now seems to be producing seed pods (they look like very small pea pods). How and when can I sew these for new plants? I have no greenhouse.

Thank you as always for all your help and guidance.

Dave

 

Hi Oakdaledave

I have no experience of growing broom at all - let alone from seed - so I'll leave that for Someone Who Knows.

As far as the clematis goes, I'm afraid what you've experienced is not uncommon. It may just be that your shoot got whipped around in the wind or chomped by snails. (You don't say which variety it is - do you know its name?) However, clematis can be fickle blighters and they sometimes suffer from something called 'clematis wilt', whereby the plant suddenly wilts from the tips and collapses for no apparent reason. You can have a plant in full bud one minute and moribund the next. Often, however, they recover - even if the whole plant succumbs. Just when you think your plant is a goner, a nice new shoot suddenly appears. Gardening books tell you to plant clematis deep so that they have a better chance of shooting from the base if the top growth suddenly goes pear shaped.

Hopefully, your nice new shoot just got damaged for some reason and many more will follow. If wilt does prove to be a problem, you may like to know that I've just bought Clematis 'Etoile Violette'. It's a lovely variety with deep purple flowers. The label carries the magic words: 'wilt free'.

 

Broom is very easy from seed. Collect the seeds when the pods begin to split and sow in ordinary seed compost. Leave outside exposed to the weather over winter and they usually germinate in Spring. You do realise that you will probably not get anything as good as the bought named variety which the seed came from? You may get something better though so give it a whirl.

 

The Clematis I have is called 'NELLY MOSER'. The 4-5 flowers I have are lovely.............

 

Well, hopefully if Nelly's flowers are still OK it's just an odd shoot which has died back for some reason or other. In my garden, the usual reasons are snail damage or unkind weather. Make sure your plant is watered through the hot weather if it's likely to have dried out.