"The clematis I purchased are 2 Artic Queens and one General Sikorski. I was going to have them interwine around each other on the post. I hope this works."
Rose..ya gonna fit in real fine with me and Miguel..we are always squeezing in clematis everywhere we can...fortunately for you they are all three Pruning group 2's !! You didn't say how big of pots these clematis are in? That will determine alot...Your zone is just purrrrrfect for growing Clematis!!...Jeanne

I have Artic Queen growing on an arbor with Don Juan. The arbor is 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide and Artic Queen covers the sides and climbs up the 8 feet and across the top of the arbor. It's a very vigorous and beautiful clematis here. The first year I think it only reached about 4 feet, at least I know it didn't top the arbor, but that was several years ago.

I happen to have a photo or two.

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The first photo was taken in the fall and had an interesting greenish tint to the petals that I liked but that isn't typical of most blooms.

My clematis get the same "stuff" as my roses, manure, alfalfa, a little time released fertilizer in spring and that is about it. They love it. Pruning about 18 inches from the ground the first year, is a good rule of thumb.

Carol

Thank you Jeanne and Carol. I ordered the plants last week through Koi Gardens so I have not received them yet, sorry I should have been more clear on that. It looks as if they will come in very small pots. What does pruning #2 mean?
Oh I hope I don't become addicted to clematis like I did with roses, eek! I will go broke real fast. I am always trying to squeeze roses in somewhere too.

Carol your photos are beautiful. Thanks so much for posting them and thanks for the advice on the fertilizing and pruning.

Lovely pictures Carol. I have found that blooms in the early spring and late summer/early fall often have that green coloration to them. Must be something about the changing temperatures the buds are exposed to. I would love Artic Queen if that coloration stayed that way on all the blooms. Might convince me to give it a go.

Ramblinrozes, clematis fall into one of three pruning groups. Type Is include the montanas, alpinas, and macropetalas and typically only get pruned to remove deadwood and to contain their size. Type IIs include the large early and late flowering hybrids and only get pruned to contain their size and to remove deadwood but many can also get hard pruned and still produce flowers. In my zone 7a garden, most of the type IIs will get serious brown out in the middle of the summer so I whack them back and most will rebloom in the late summer/early fall. Type IIIs get pruned to within several inches of the ground in the winter or early spring and bloom on new wood that is produced after they are cut back. Hope that helps.

The clematis that I have received from Jerome over at Koi Gardens were in 2 1/2 inch pots but they had much larger root systems than I've received in the same size pot from other vendors..the roots were grown so much out of the bottom of the pot that I had to take a pair of scissors to cut the pot away..thank God those black pots were thin and I could..I then tease apart the roots at the bottom and planted them about 2 inches deeper at a slight angle towards what I wanted them to grow on and put about half a handful of bonemeal in the hole...I've planted those baby clematis that have smaller root systems into my gardens this time of the year BUT...I am anal about daily sticking my finger in the soil to check the moisture and water as neccessary...it's so important that clematis stay moist during their acclimation period..I also hard prune all my pruning group 2's clematis the following year and then I treat them like pruning group 2's after that...I've found in doing so not only do they grow stronger root systems and get established but RARELY have I had a 2 to suffer from wilt....Hope this helps...Jeanne

All of you have been very helpful, thank you so much.

ramblinrose..i'm addicted to roses...now i'm also addicted to clematis. My newest motto...two clematis for every rose!

Robert