If there is a large space from the soil to where your rose arbor starts ..it will have trouble till it can grow tall enough to grab ahold..I have some that are a foot or so of void area that I cut some wire fencing that I bought in a roll at Lowe's and place in the void so my Clematis will have something to grab ahold of till it reaches my arbor. Now that you have pruned because of wilt you can do something similar and that should solve your problem...I should bloom later in late summer/early fall...Jeanne

I have guernesey cream for many years and it has never done well for me. It is in mostly shade, but it does get some light. It has wilted, refused to climb, I had jsut about given up entirely. I was going to dig it out this spring as I had bought some new clems and I discovered it was growing like a weed. It's had only two blooms, but it is growing and as long as I keep up with it and tie it to guide it, it seems to be climbing upwards. I fertilized all my clems this spring with tomato fertilizer and I beleive it has really helped. If it doesn't get much taller, then I will move it next spring and put it somewhere where it gets more sun, whever that is.

I am worried to hear this feedback. I have been looking to find GC and plant it with a different white that I thought would bloom at a different time than this one but if it isn't a reliable clematis then it likely won't survive with me as I am not one to baby along my plantings.
I'm guessing you wouldn't recommend this one? Maybe I should find a different one to plant. I just love the pics I see on the web though.

I planted Guernsey Cream a year ago. This March it produced 8 blooms, very nice and lasted a long time. I cut it hard after that and it has come back very strong, grew 3 ft in no time. It climbs the thin plastic netting with no trouble, and I really like the large and green leaves.
Here's a pic from early spring,

{{gwi:593006}}

Sachow, where did you purchase that green plastic netting, I have some black neting but the holes are pretty small, making it nearly impossible to tie my clematis so that it will climb well. I'm looking for something just like you have in the photo above.

Anyone else have this netting?

I have a 4 yr old GC. This is it's best year. It's always one of my first to bloom. This year it was covered from top to bottom. I have it planted in shade and I use lever loops to convince it to climb. I go through and attach the vines throughout April and May so they weave right and left along the trellis. They get the idea by June. Lever Loops are available from Country House Florals.

Sachow - I love the variegated honeysuckle with your GC, great design idea.

Linda - I've seen the green net in Lowe's, etc. It comes in a roll

lindama,

I bought the netting from Lowes, they come in a few different sizes. I use Velcro plant ties to attach stems to the netting, and after that they twist around the plastic netting by themselves. I then re-use the ties for the next stems! If they grow too close together I just untangle a bit and tie them in the direction I want.
Thanks for the compliment, organic. The flowers on my honeysuckle aren't showy, but the leaves look great all season. And it is spreading steadily so I hope it'll cover the whole back fence.