Well Bob I seen the same little bagged Clematis's at my Home Depost right there by the bulbs, dahlias, and such about a week 1/2 ago. Pulled at my heart strings so I had to buy a Henryi, it had nice, but very small root system with maybe two little two inch vine's which have now totally disappeared. But I still have hope. I planted it in a 5 gal pot, about 3 inch's deep and placed it on the north side of my house that get's only morning sun and I'll half way forget about him except i'll water it by filling the bottom water pan of the pot which holds about quart of water and just see what happens. I plan to pinch the vines as mine grows. I'll let it grow two sets of leafs per vine and i'll pinch one and hope for two more and keep pinching until late fall. I still have 12 plus Clematis's of various ages to tide me over until Henryi becomes something, which isn't going to be any time soon for sure. My mom gave me a Ernest Markham two years ago from Home Depot that came in one of those little bags and I planted it in the same size pot and it all but disappeared for the last two years and this year it's up and growing and has 3 vine's about a foot tall each. With a lot of TLC they should be fine but if we wont to see the beauty of clematis's and not have to wait two years we must not stop and look at the sad little baggies at Home Depot. The garden center at Home Depot didn't have any of the gal size clematis's in the day I got the little Henryi. Sandy

Please read the post I attached to this posting...Jeanne

Here is a link that might be useful: Bareroot Clematis

THANKS! good info. my intention is actually to keep these in containers. right now they are each in their own 16" pot, which is kept moist, and has some alyssum and pansies planted in it. I figured some shallow-rooted annuals would help keep the containers cool without competing for nutrients.

Personally, I'd never buy these packaged plants. It has been my experience that they are rarely in good shape and rarely the cultivar they are labeled no matter what plant and what store.

But if I did give in to temptation, I would pot them in gallon pots with nothing for competition. Use a high quality well draining potting soil.

You do not need to keep the containers cool. You need to make sure they are evenly moist. Wholesale growers line their Clematis out in black plastic pots in huge fields in full sun. Keeping them cool is a myth. Clematis want full sun. They just don't want to ever dry completely out.

When you put small plants in big pots the soil can stay too moist and they can rot because there aren't enough roots to take up the moisture. This is why you should not repot houseplants to pots more than two inches larger at a time.

I bought tiny little bareroot plants a few years ago. There were 3 plantlets in the package. One grew up to be The President, one is a rather nice Multi Blue (I have an ugly Multi Blue plant too) and the other one roasted in the pot. :)

Stick a strip of cotton fabric (on old t-shirt,towel, denim will work, into the bottom of the big pot, half in the pot, half sticking out. This will wick excess water out of the pot. Works like a charm :)