Passion flower :clematis

[mooky]

My passion flower has had flowers in abundance for the last two years. Looks awful now, should I prune a little bit or what.

Also.Clematis. How do you pronounce it correctly? Is it Clem a tis   or cle mate is

[mint]

I say Clem a tis, you say Cle mate is?

I had an enormous Passion Flower back in the UK and I never did anything to it.

[Just Katie]

Mine never opens up which leaves me disappointed every year.

[TWINKLE]

Have you tried spreading it on your trellis?

[Just Katie]

It is not big enough to spread.  I have heard that the actual flower needs to be warm but I dont know how true it is.  I would love to have a lovely neat garden

[TWINKLE]

You need to cut it back at least twice a year so I'm told.

[Just Katie]

I cut it back on a much more regualar basis but you know how it is..........Unwanted things keep on popping up from nowhere.

[TWINKLE]

Have you still got that annoying Japanese Knotwood bothering your patch?

[Just Katie]

Thankfully it is quite a way from my area but I think the 'proud' owner wants to contaminate me with it.  He just cant leave it alone.  The more you play with that stuff the bigger it gets until it is out of control.  I really is quite a worry.

[TWINKLE]

Try Roundup on it - that should shrivel it. 

If not - just stamp on it[:)]

[Just Katie]

If he left it alone it would not be so bad.  Surveyors are now getting sued for not mentioning it in the survey.  See what you have done now.  I get all hot under the collar just from thinking about it.

I have seen it growing out of victorian stone retaining walls of 20ft in height and it has literally bulged the wall right out.  They now say if you have it growing nearby you should move.

[Tresco]

[quote user="mooky"]My passion flower has had flowers in abundance for the last two years. Looks awful now, should I prune a little bit or what.

Also.Clematis. How do you pronounce it correctly? Is it Clem a tis   or cle mate is[/quote]

Hi Mooky.

I lopped mine (4 years old) back by two thirds about a week ago, and it's already started sprouting again.

Mine's on a south facing wall though. I don't know whether I'd have been so daring otherwise but it was a terrible mess (like yours, I suspect) and something had to be done.

The pronunciation of Clematis is your first suggested option - Clem-a-tis with no particular emphasis on any of the syllables.

Having skipped through the thread I hope Katie and or/ Twinks haven't killed any innocent climbers overnight. [:D]

[TWINKLE]

Oh!  Is this a gardening thread?[8-)]

Sorry[:$] 

Hey Tresco! 

 I just pronounced Clematis out loud as you suggested with no particular emphasis on any of the syllables - and my husband told me I should go and lie down for a few hours[:-))]

[tegwini]

Katie

You should prune Clematis annually, BUT the timing depends on which one you have - early or late flowering.

I suggest you google it to try to work out which one you have & also do you remember when it flowers?   I don't do mine very much, they're on a trellis, and grow like mad, gorgeous when flowering - they like their 'heads' in the sun, roots in the shade. I tend to 'tidy' them a bit - nothing more.

Surprised to hear of passion flower growing - presumably you are in the south?  does it fruit? (so many varieties of these too)

regards

tegwini

[Tresco]

[quote user="TWINKLE"]Oh!  Is this a gardening thread?[8-)]

Sorry[:$] 

[/quote]

You were talking about gardening for much of the time though, before moving on to extermination of Knotweed, which is commendable.[:D]

Tegwini I'm not sure who you were asking but I'm in Charente Maritime and my Passionflower only stopped flowering about 4 weeks ago. There were plenty of fruits too.

[Just Katie]

Thank you Tegwini.  I really think I have a problem with my soil though which is quite strange as the previous owner kept a horse in my front garden.

[mooky]

 

Knotweed

Next door have it and feed it. I didn't have to bad a time with it last year. It seems to like their unattended garden better;

My passion flower plants had thousands of flowers last year. I don't want to destroy it by bad pruning;

[tegwini]

Katie

Problem soil can be improved - needs turning over & stuff dug into it.  Horsey poo sitting on top won't do much good unless dug in - but improving your soil  can take ages ...

I make compost - kitchen/garden stuff, almost anything which I find helps.   Last Autumn we piled leaves on the veg garden in Wiltshire (couldn't find anywhere to put them as we had so many) & not only did the leaves keep down the weeds which would usually be sprouting by now, but since the leaves have vanished I can only assume rotted in/worms comsumed or pulled under by worms???  Seems like R&D work, hopefully this makes sense to you!

Gardening is such trial & error...

regards

tegwini

[djmc]

We have a passionflower here, Quimper in Finistere. It grows like a weed covering the entrance to the garage. It does die back a bit in winter. I hack it back a lot in the autumn, (it is trying to cover the rhododendron next to it), and from time to time in the summer. If it wants to it grows very rapidly. It does have fruit which are edible but don't really taste of much. It layers and also self seeds itself. I don't mind the flowers are terrific. It can behave like a trifid though.

[mooky]

It looked worse after I had pruned it. I realised I needed more support for it. So I have stripped it right down. I know it won't grow this year much as I have chopped off main stems. There is also honeysuckle growing there. I will give that a chance this year.

[djmc]

You would be surprised, passionflower grows about 3 times the speed of honeysuckle. It can be chopped right back and at the end of June is taking over again. One of the nice things about it is that it flowers all summer. It never is covered in flowers but it flowers from about June until end of October. We have to cut it back about four or five a year otherwise we can't get into the side door of the garage. Even so we sometimes wonder if we are going to be eaten.