Dear Helen: I would like to plant a clematis vine that will be easy to care for and bloom all summer. Am I dreaming? Are there clematis vines that can be grown in containers?
F. L.
There are clematis types that can make your dream a reality. I鈥檇 look first among the wonderfully easy-growing Clematis viticella varieties. They are mainly small-flowered and bloom from early summer through early autumn.
One of the best is Mme. Julia Correvon, a free-flowering vine bearing deep wine red flowers, 10 cm across, from June to September. There are many other lovely viticellas.
Clearview Horticultural Products, a major grower of clematis in Aldergrove, has a website that offers help in the selection of varieties.
Put the company name in a search engine and go to Our Products. Select 鈥淐lematis.鈥�
From there, you can select by many categories, including variety name, flower colour, fragrance, flowering period, and suitability for growing in containers.
You鈥檒l find quite a few viticellas, with colour photos, in the June to September flowering period, and several are recommended also for growing in containers. Mme. Julia Correvon is one of them.
These summer-flowering clematis vines are the easiest to prune. They bloom on stems produced in the current season. Cutting them down close to the ground in late winter makes way for all-new flowering growth.
Dear Helen: A mystery perennial in my front garden has caused much comment from visitors. The 60-centimetre stems bear substantial clusters of violet-blue flowers, with smaller clusters emerging from leaf axils below. The individual florets are like bellflowers (campanula), but the clusters are unlike any other campanulas I鈥檝e seen.
M.G.
Your plant is probably 鈥渃lustered bellflower鈥� (Campanula glomerata), a British native wildflower. Several selections of this species are sold, including the award-winning Superba and a dwarf form.
Superba has rich, violet-purple clusters and is considered the best selection for cut flower use. The plant is sometimes floppy, though, and is best trimmed back hard after blooming to keep it tidy.
C. glomerata does tend to spread, and benefits from being divided every two or three years.
C. glomerata is often not recognized as a bellflower, but the plants are popular for their lavish early summer display of blooms held in large clusters.
Dear Helen: My garlic has begun to turn brown at the leaf tips. How browned does it have to be before I can dig the bulbs?
J.S.
Garlic bulbs are ready to harvest when the tops are half brown, this month. This will already have happened in some gardens, depending on the micro-climate of the site and the time of planting.
If the weather is hot, limit the lifted bulbs鈥� exposure to direct sun to only half a day, to dry the outer skins. After that I cut the stems off and place the bulbs single layer in shallow boxes, out of direct sun, to further 鈥渃ure鈥� for around two days before storing them in paper bags in a cool, dry, dark place.
Avoid refrigerating garlic bulbs. Cold temperatures initiate rooting. Planting in the fall, as the soil cools, gives the cloves the best chance to develop good root systems before frosty weather.
Dear Helen: Can heucheras (coral bells) be grown from seed?
P.F.
Yes. Stokes Seeds lists two varieties. Chiltern Seeds in England lists five, plus two mixtures. 鈥淏ressingham鈥� Hybrids is one blend. Go to chilternseeds.co.uk.
Heucheras are versatile plants, with many beautiful foliage colours. I鈥檝e used them in hanging baskets for display from fall through early spring. I鈥檓 hoping in late summer to divide my mature clumps into small plants to use as edging for an oval bed in the front garden. They are easy, undemanding plants that always look good.
GARDEN EVENTS
Nanaimo meeting. The Nanaimo Horticultural Society will meet tonight at 7 in First Unitarian Fellowship Hall, 595 Townsite Rd. Leslie Cox will present Perennials with Personality. Information at 250-758-6783.
Plant profiles. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, will present the next session of Plant Identification & Culture, an ongoing, monthly course (can be joined at any time), on Sat. July 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. In each session, Diane Pierce introduces 25 new plants, with descriptions, preferred growing conditions, landscape uses and maintenance. Cost to HCP members per session is $35, others $45. Cost for 12 sessions: members $350, others $450. To register call 250-479-6162. hcp.ca.
