Good luck with these clems. I had ordered 2 Crystal Fountains from them (at full price). When they arrived they were both approx. 2-1/2" high....just little babies. For what I paid for them let's just say I am less than thrilled.

Sorry........Bluestone would not be my pick. Cheaper is not always better. I wish you luck. Beware....Clematis are addictive........

Linda, I've had great luck with my Clematis from Bluestone. I got a Ville De Lyon & 2 SAC's 3 years ago. True to form, first year they slept, second year they crept and this year my Ville de Lyon especially is leaping - though they were small to begin with they were excellent quality and I have no regrets. If you are as lucky as I was with them you will NOT be disappointed.

Beth

hey thanks for the posts so far. and warnings noted! i consider these purchases kind of like clematis purchases from wayside/parks. too cheap to pass up, and i like nursing some babies anyway. i have to say that at full price, i would not have purchased them! but at $4 a pop I couldn't pass 'em up! honestly i waffled so long (because I am running out of room in my garden to put anymore clemmies) that the varieties i wanted were sold out elsewhere. that given, i'm prepared for losses... just as long as it's not the ville de lyon. :P beth i hope my ville de lyon does as well as yours! that was top on my list to get!

I bought Avante Garde from them (regular priced). At that price, it was cheaper than the local suppliers of clematis have their plants priced, but that variety isn't available anywhere locally (and I stopped in and spoke to the nursery managers back in Feb looking to locate plants before ordering them online) The plant was small, but the roots completely filled the (small) pot. The plant has already more than doubled in size and I expect it will establish well this year (hopefully enough that I see at least a single flower).

It was a Donahue's plant (the tag was from Donahue's).

I would buy another Clematis from them (though I don't think their current selection includes anything I am wishing I had added).

~Chills

I just received my bluestone order today and I ordered Huldine along with some perennials. Huldine is a good 8 inches and very healthy looking. I've been told to pot it up and let it grow a bit and then plant it out in the fall. Bluestone gets their clems from Donahues. I agree with you - at $4 it is worth a try and mine is in great shape. I almost ordered Avant Garde but couldn't think of a good spot for it. The Bluestone sure beats the price that Khlem's was charging for it.

I bought Avante Garde too. Mine was small, but the roots were big enough to fill a 4" pot. So far, there's some growth on it. I wouldn't purchase any more clematis from them since I've been able to find a lot of them locally. In fact, I bought 2 Huldines clematis for $5 locally at an end of season sale. Sometimes you just get lucky!

Hi this may seem like a silly question, but when you all are planting up your "small" clematis what is it that you are planting it up in? I am wondering as I have received 2 small clematis as gifts and would like to pot them up because I have no plan yet..
Laura

Put them in larger pots... 1 or 2 gallon pots and grow them out until fall and then plant them. Get some bamboo stakes for support. I keep them in half day sun, half day shade all summer until fall. Below you can see in the 1st picture, second from the left, HF Young bought as a tiny thing (they all were) and replanted in larger pots. About 5 months later is the second picture when I took it out of the pot to plant. The third picture is it emerging the following spring. I like buying them small. IME, they do better...

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Well they definately look like they are doing well to me - your clematis look remarkably healthy!! You obviously know what your doing :0) Golden

lbu68, i have also comment on how remarkably healthy and vigorous your clematis look! what do you feed them?

usually my babies stay in pots until the fall or following spring, but they don't get that big. i mostly get them bareroot.

but anyway, i just got my plants from bluestone today and couldn't be happier. ok, so one of them (josephone) didn't arrive b/c it was sold out. but the rest arrived really well packaged and seemed no worst from the transport (they arrived 2nd day from ship). ok they are in these little 2 1/2 inch pots but the roots are really healthy, all except huldine had roots starting to grow out of the pots already, and the top growth is healthy. and yes i too can confirm they are from donahues.

so anyway, just wanted to report back! really looking forward to nursing these babies this summer!

Thanks for the compliments. Honestly I think most will look just like mine and I don't feel I do anything that special. Though mine are very small when I buy them (about 4 inches maybe) your's being bareroot are probably a little smaller?

With the small young ones I put them in larger pots in a mixture of either Fafard or Scott Metro Mix with some topsoil. About a 60-40 mix or a 70-30 mix. At times I've also added to that mix some "soil conditioner" which is very small bark chips and some sand... about 50-30-10-10. Mix it all up real good. I keep them in 1/2 day sun and 1/2 day shade until I plant them in the fall. I start off with just water... no fertilizers given until I feel that they have settled in. Say about a month or so later. After I feel they have settled in I start to give them a watering with some synthentic fertilizer like Schultz Liquid Tomato Food(9-10-15), but I make it weaker than what the directions say to make it and I gradually increase that over time to the normal dose. I will fertilize them about 3 times per week and stop fertilizing about 1 month before I go to plant them in the fall. This is all done over about a 5 month period.

Speaking about potting up for the summer - does anyone burry the pots in the ground to keep the soil from drying up too much. Here in zone 6 it can get pretty hot over the summer and I can easily imagine a one-gallon pot drying out and heating up during a 90+ day while I'm at work and unable to give it a good drink of water (even if it's placed in part shade).

Just curious since I seem to remember someone mentioning that they burried their pots.

Marianne

Hello~ I didnt know Bluestone sold Clematis. I just paid $7.99 which was 1/2 price at our local nursery for a 2 1/2 inch pot. I thought that was a good price until I read this. Anyway I was told to go head and plant now and keep them well watered, keep them pruned under 12 inches and feed them every other week. This is what I have done in the past and it seems to work for me. Oh yes this is #6,7,and 8 for me. My list of what clematis I need just seems to get longer all the time. This is my newest addiction.

BP sells Donahue clematis not their own and Donahue are the best clems IMHO. They are small but Donahue observations and my own- clems seems to be enjoying tight small containers with almost rootbound roots.
Once you receive clems from BP- plant them into slightly bigger containers and wait until roots start showing through. You could plant them no bigger than 1 galon and try to plant or replant them slightly deeper than previous time. I either plant them in the ground early fall or keep them in the container till next spring- some clems seems need it. I overwinter containers either in cold frame or basement window well outside which usually has enough heat from the house to keep temps above freezing. If I keep containers there they start blooming a month earlier for my zone. I ordered clems from Donahue directly as well, same size and great results, very comparable with buying large pots from local nursery.

Yes, I bury my pots in the ground because I get so busy in the summers that pots on my deck might go a week without water and I don't think that's going to be the way to "pamper" them. In the ground they don't dry out as fast, plus they get watered when the rest of the garden is watered. It's worked well for me.

I ordered a bunch of clems from Bluestone and received my order around May 15. I planted mine directly in the ground (with lots of compost & peat moss). I don't like putting things in pots because I forget to water them. The clematis were very tiny when I got them, but they have all sprouted additional stems from their base and several are approaching 3 feet tall. I was so impressed that I went back and ordered more. Can't beat the price.