Depends on if you find what you want now or in the spring. Either time would work. You might also want to somehow attach the trellis to the deck unless you are planning on using some huge pots. I would hate to see some big wind come along and tip over and break the pots and have the trellis end up over the side of the balcony on your deck and hit something below it.

I'll be using huge pots. I know that your warning was meant to be, well, a warning, but for some reason the mental image totally cracked me up. But yes, huge pots will be used, and no one's car, head, cat, or anything else will be in danger of death by ebay arch. :0)

I have no idea what I want. I suppose I'll know when I see it?

Knowing it when you see it is the way a lot of plants end up going home with me--not only clematis, but a wide variety.

Yeah, it was meant to be a warning. I wasn't sure if you had issues with high winds in your area so just wanted to offer a warning. I would have hated not to and seen something destroyed by your falling arch! LOL

There are lots of Clems still available at local nurseries. No reason to wait until spring to plant.

Thanks both of you.

Buyorsell, I remembered that Cornell Farms has a big sale coming up at the end of September, and I have a bunch of coupons I can use, too. (Sale is from Sept 15th - 30th, just as an FYI.) They still have a good selection - I was just there to pick up more soil a week ago.

I bought Natascha there a couple weeks ago at 30% off. :)

"Death by ebay arch" ... I love it! lol

Thanks! Always nice to have my silliness be appreciated. :0P

Okay, I think I have some idea of what I might want... I have purply Palette in front of the arch on the balcony rails, I have reddish Madame Julia Correvon on a trellis next to the arch... maybe a yellow or a blue? Are there any clematis with rich, royal blue or bright yellow blooms?

Or are there other colors/suggestions that anyone might have?

The only readily available yellow colored clematis that I can think of would be the tanguticas or Lemon Bells.

I highly recommend Daniel Deronda. It is my longest blooming Clematis and has nice big violet blue flowers. It would look great with Arctic Queen or Gillian Blades both of which are white. I have it with Hania which is fuchsia but it is a wilter, I won't recommend it.

Your others are all type III's and using type II's on your arch would give you earlier and bigger blooms.

Despite type III's being more popular in other parts of the USA, I find type II's to be my favorites by far. My III's almost all got mildew and the bloom time is much shorter except for the Integrifolias. I'm glad to have some different shapes and bloom times but I will continue to have more II's than III's.

Silver Star Vinery has more II's and she grows here and Champoeg wholesale growers grows more II's here and Gail Austin did too when she was growing. Her display garden has more II's than any other Clem too.

BorS, your weather is probably much more amenable to type IIs than the hotter growing zones. They don't look that good here in midsummer, although this year with the heat and drought there are even some type IIIs that are taking a beating.

Thanks BorS! That's a fantastic tip - I'll check out more type IIs now.

The problem is, thanks to Miguel I think I may have fallen in love with Tie-Dye, which is another type III. I'll have to do more exploring. I would love it next to Gillian Blades, but I'm not sure about putting a type II and a type III together?

Such decisions! I love it!

In your zone you could get away with it Violetta since your growing season so long. This way you could treat all of your type IIs as IIIs so there wouldn't be any pruning issues.

Well I got a few spots prepaired and ready yesterday. I think I have most spots planned out atleast!

I do have a question though... Do you think I could put my type I pink flamingo with my honeysuckle harlequin? My honeysuckle gets so blah looking even though it's varigated and I think that added foilage would fill it in well but I don't want to have any growing concerns if I can help it.

Chelsie

Chelsie, I'd love to hear more about your Harlequin Honeysuckle. I bought one this year, and haven't been able to find much about it except for blurbs from a couple of on line vendors. How old is it, and how big? Are you growing as a shrub or a climber? What aspect do you have it planted in - sun, part sun? Thanks!

Depends on how vigorous a plant that honeysuckle is Chelsie. The only thing I would worry about is root competition if it is one of the more aggressive honeysuckles. If not, as long as both plants get what they need water and nutrient wise, I can't see an obvious issue with doing as you said.

Chelsie,

I've had Macropetala Markham's Pink growing on the same trellis as Lonicera Goldflame for 5-6 years now, and they don't seem to have problems.

This year I had to cut one of the 3 woody stems on the atragene in order to remove an outgrown trellis. I cut it about 3 feet from the ground and new vines came from it. The flowering was less than in previous years, and the G did not flower continuously as it did last year, but I think our crappy weather this year had more to do with that than the pruning. Next Spring the G will be getting a vine cut.

Marie

opps sry I had meant to post this with my other topic and must have squeezed it into this post ;)

Anyhoo...I've had this honey suckle for 3 years. When I bought it, it was approx 18 inches high. The first year I had it in full sun and it didn't seem to enjoy it so much so I moved it on to the front of my porch which gets no direct sun at all. So it's quite shady and it seems to love it there. I had loads of blossoms the past 2 years but they don't stay long.

It's a slow grower too, not aggresive at all. Mine tends to start to die back early. Like about Augest I start to notice the leaves falling off and then it looks so blah. That's why I thought maybe if I could add the clematis in with it to help cover the bareness of it. I will run out and snap a quick pic of it.

This first pic is from today. I just cut back everything in this front bed yesterday and it's looking really sad and bare but I couldn't stand it any longer :) Anyways as you can see the honeysuckle is really straggly looking right now!!
{{gwi:617485}}

Here is a pic from about a month ago. As you can see it's so much fuller. I don't have one of it in blossom though. I will have to get one next year I guess ;)

{{gwi:617486}}

Chelsie

Thanks Chelsie! Seeing those photos helps me a lot. I can picture in my mind now how it will look and grow!

I have planted mine in a spot that gets morning shade and afternoon sun. So we'll see how it does. Mine is about 18" tall too. It still seems to be pretty well covered with leaves. But I can see it wilt a little in the hot afternoon sun.

I am going to plant a Jackmani next to it in the spring, and was considering a common trellis, but I think with the slow growth, the clematis might overwhelm the honeysuckle, so I think I'll keep them separate and about 4 feet apart.

Alice,

It's not that it grows really slow, mine grew up the first year alot but not in a invasive way that some other Honeysuckles tend to grow. I see alot of new growth in late Spring then it tends to slow down. I'm going to add in a type 1 pink flamingo with mine this fall so we shall see next year ;)

Good luck with yours!!
Chelsie

Hurricane force winds have knocked down the largest sitka spruce in the world... but the ebay arch has stayed put! :0)

The spruce is down????? NO! That just breaks my heart. I read it was cracked last night. Have you seen it? It is soooo magnificent.

Yes, thankfully I saw it just a year ago. I'm so glad we pulled over - we'd debated continuing to the beach and not stopping to see it.

Sitka Spruce Succumbs To Storm

Apparently it was on its last legs (limbs?), particularly since a storm last December ripped out a huge hunk of rotting wood. It was just being allowed to stand for as long as it wanted to; it was pretty well known (I find out now, after having googled it) that it was going to fall very soon. Still, it's very sad.

Hello violetta1976,

I came across your posting regarding clematis palette from a few years ago while I was googling this particular plant. I had this plant for several years. I purchased from Brushwood Nursery. Unfortunately my plant was stolen. I cannot find a source for this plant in this country. I have been looking for several years. Even Joy Creek nursery is not stocking it anymore. I read your post in hopes of perhaps discovering another commercial source for this plant. I noted from your post that you have purchased more than one of these plants. If it is not too forward of me I was wondering if it would be possible to purchase a small start of this plant from you. If this is possible please let me know. I will pay whatever you choose to charge for this. Looking forward to your response. Thank you very much.

violetta hasn't posted in years, sorry she most likely won't see your question.