How can she put out new leaves without the vine itself growing longer??..It is advised to keep any immature clematis pinched to keep about 2-3 sets of leaves ...have you checked her roots..are they coming out of the bottom of your one-gallon pot yet? How long have you had her potted up? She most probably will be ready to plant permanently into your gardens this fall...Jeanne

Jeanne, These new leaves are small, so the vines are a little longer, but there seem to be just one leaf after the other...there must be six new pairs of leaves, and there are only the original 4 vines, no new ones. The roots are visible in the bottom of the pot, but not growing out of it.

I have had her for about 6 weeks Jeanne. I thought I should pinch her again, and even if it does encourage growth, I probably won't have to worry about cold since I am in either zone 7b or 8 according to the chart you check.

And if you've ever lost a special bloom to a freeze, I'll tell you what we did last spring when everything was at the perfect bloom point, and we had a freeze forecast (and we got it too.)

I was whining to DH about losing all my azalea blooms and the amaryllis bulb that had four huge buds on it, and he suggested setting some big fans to blow air on the plants that I was worried about being damaged. He said if there is wind you don't have frost, and the commercial growers do set huge fans up to blow on their crops when frost is forecasts.

We tried it and it worked. (He did the work, I provided the moral support). We lost nothing at all to the freeze. And believe me, I heard some sad stories the next day at work.

Alabama weather, like most other places can be trying in it's own special way.

So, I will pinch Josephine back to three sets of leaves again, and continue to pinch as she grows. And we'll put her in the ground when the roots demand that.

Thank you again for your help Jeanne,

kay

Kay..well done..Your clematis will be fine...our zones are not that much different...Jeanne

Thanks Jeanne.
kay