Novice gardener needs help

Hello everyone great site, looking to plant some climbing plants, could anyone give me some clues to which ones? i will be trying to grown them on some trelis. I like the look of clematis but not sure as a novice gardener i would be able to keep them? could anyone advise?
Many thx Sean

 

I am no expert Mowgley. But I read a book on famous borders and in it it said that 75% of all their climbers (at the back of the border) were Clematis. So I reckoned if Clematis was OK for them they were all OK for me.

If you have a Morrisons near you go there. They sell Clematis at �£1.69 compared with �£8 to �£12 in many nurseries. There is a wide range and they are good quality. If there is a chance that a new plant will die - I would rather it was a �£1.69 one.

They are not difficult to keep. Plant them about four inches deeper than they are in the pot you buy. This allows extra sideshoots to grow out from underground so you get several stems growing and you do not have all your eggs in one basket in case you tread on the main stem. The main thing is to keep them watered until they are established, and to tie them in to the trellis - at least to start with.

try this site
http://www.climbing-plants.info/Clematis.htm
but there are plenty more sites.

 

Good advise re: clematis but personally I would be wary of buying plants from a supermarket. They don't get looked after properly and often carry disease because they are in inapporopriate environment.
I bought some roses in M. once and they developed black spot which has since spread to all my other roses.
However, you could be lucky ... !

[ 20. August 2005, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: michaelmasdaisy ]

 

Thank you both for your good advise, will try morrisons!. i have no other plants in the same plot anyway.Again thank you both and happy gardening!

 

Mowgley you can also grow some evergreens like different colour Ivies...and mix in Clematis, Honeysuckles...and in Spring there are many annual Climbers, you can grow yourself, just to get good mixed colours all Summer and Autumn.

Ladybird

 

Sorry to hear of your bad experiance Michaelmasdaisy. In general I would agree that you should be wary, and inspect any plants very carefully from such sources. There are some DIY supermarkets near me where the plants at times look very unloved. But I have been lucky with Morrisons - I must have bought 12 or more Clematis from them. Peter