Thanks Maureen. The vine I want to root cuttings from is out in the wild, but I guess I could pull off layering a few stems. The vines were mowed before they could set seed, so I really want to propagate them

There are videos on Youtube which show you how to take root clematis cuttings. I have managed with success following this one. https://youtu.be/RU5E16vxYTg

Viorna is indeed beautiful! I'm hunting for one.

Thanks MYAL, I'll take a look at the videos. I've started to crave most of our other native clematis leather flowers too.

I was able to root a couple cuttings from this native lonicera.
I took cuttings from this vine.

Very dainty and cute! I wonder if my group 3 Princess Diana is still alive. Once paid £7.99 for it and then it was sold at a supermarket called Morrison for £1.99! I really love Princess Kate, and it died on me. I saw one for sale £9 and I thought I would buy it later on a pensioner reduction day. Er, no! Some connoisseur bought it! I just wanted to cry, scream ..

The 2 princesses are nice. The species I want besides viorna are albicoma, addisonii, fremontii, carrizoensis, pitcheri, morefieldii, and occidentalis. Plant world seeds has viorna and addisonii seeds. I've never grown clematis from seed either. There is a guy selling occidentalis seeds right now, and I'm so tempted, even tho I'm already way overboard with seeds that need sowing.

Those Morrison's Clematis are an absolute bargain. Several of mine came from there. But they are small and take a while to bulk up. They're also good for other plants and bulbs.

What's the deal with the 'Princess Dianna' and 'Princess Kate ' clematis? Are they rare and expensive? Is that why connoisseurs are snatching them up?

Princess Diana and Princess Kate are group 3 clematis. I like both of them. Don't know about connoisseurs snatching them up. A presenter also praised Prince Charles. I won't buy him though.

Princess Kate. Duchess of Albany looks similar!

Jay 6a: Sowing clematis is easy and it's so rewarding. I sowed the seed in February and that same year I was rewarded with flower! Brilliant. Trouble is when I saw the seedheads in gc, I just couldn't help myself! You never know, you might have a new plant because of genetic variations. I remember one staff member even gave me some agapanthus seeds! LOL!

floral: I agree! That's where I bought some Cistus as well! Bargain galore! As soon as I took them home, I removed the green ties and tried to layer them! Bought a Josephine and a group 3 blue one at £3 each last week.

So, you don't have to clip or manipulate clematis seeds before germinating? I thought I heard the bell ,leatherflower types might need some seed treatment. I know a person selling C. occidentalis seeds. I'm going to try to buy some tomorrow. P. Kate the white one with the dark center is lovely. I'm shocked that you got a clematis flower in the first year. What kind of steroids were you feeding it?

It was a clematis tangutica and a small violet one like a miniature version of Jackmanii! First year, they flowered. Not all seeds need stratification or scarification or being smoked. Haha! I remember I bought some Protea seeds. I had to smoke them in my garage. I don't remember why I didn't do it in the garden! Any way, the smoke rose and all the critters on the roof made their presences known. I never knew that my garage roof was teeming with life, until then! LOL! I'm not so keen of Princess Diana, but Kate is lovely. I won't buy Prince Charles unless it is reduced to £2, £3 max. Don't like the deluded man! LOL!

I think in the very beginning my first clematis was virginiana, virgin's bower. I think I hot rid of that because I felt it grew too large. After that was a few terniflora and I also had a small Jackmanii type too. Along the line I've also tried tangutica and montanum. Now I've come full circle and am growing virginiana again. The sweet autumns are all gone but there are still little purple ones.

That;s a lovely colour! I'm after a pinky double or pastel blue double, like Alpine Dancer or macropelata!

Don't get rid of your plants as, like me, you will invariably regret it. I got rid of my pyracanthas - huge, thorny and they did nothing to me. And you know what I did? Went and bought about 5 ranging from £2 to £3.50 in the last 2 months! Lordy! How stupid I was! Their berries are good for birds and they are real deterrent for intruders. And I'm dreaming of using them like this on a half height wall similar to this. Isn't it glorious?

Single flowers are open to cross pollination and if you pick up the seeds or let them germinate, you might be in for a surprise!

Those 2 clematis you mentioned are about the next best thing to occidentalis, for me anyways. I bought the seeds tonight from a botanist, so they should be good quality. I've grown our native cold hardy Opuntia 3 times now. The microscopic needles were the reason I chucked them the first 2 times, and even after all that I still couldn't bare living without it. I will wear the thick rubber household gloves when weeding and working around them from now on, no matter how bad I want to weed on the spot. It's no fun trying to remove those thorns for hours upon hours with tweezers. What are the orange flowers? I can't make them out. Marigolds? hehe

Haha! I feel so out of depth with all these divisions such as occidentalis, orientalis??? They are just pyracantha red, orange and yellow berries ..

Strange how everything climbs walls in the U.K. Much more than in the states. At first I thought the plants were on shelves.

We do like our plants and we manipulate them. If you have a big garden, you might consider wisteria.

Wickham Place Farm, Essex

This 14-acre garden's is famous for its giant wisteria, which stretches for over 250 feet across a wall and is said to be one of Britain's largest.

Source: Daily Telegraph! Must be fragrant there!

I don't have that big of a garden. I've always thought wisteria were beautiful and I love growing legumes, but I won't plant anything that agressive anymore. I've been trying to kill my trumpet vine for years now. They really do have some nice gardens in the UK. How do bulbs like tulips do there. Do they get the cold that they need? I already have a couple legume vines that can get big. Apios americana and A. priceana. I think I sort of garden the same style as Monty Don does lol except that I don't grow vegetables hehe. Of course I don't put as much into it.

That made me laugh! Monty's jungle where everything is hiding everything else in a massive heap! LOL! I used to like the man, but when he plugged pure perlite for cuttings, that's a step too far. Alan T is practically in suppliers' pockets! Reek of money!

Our bulbs are doing very well there. We don't need to put them in the fridge, like some people do in the States. (certain parts) I started growing more veg last year as I acquired an allotment plot. I will definitely grow some butternut squash, the small ones. Last time I cut a very sweet round one, I nearly knifed myself! LOL!

I like winter squash.

This is Pilosella auranticum, I think maybe formerly Hieracium. It's an endangered flower in the U.K. I'm trying to grow all natives, but I can't part with this orange beauty. It's so fascinating because it thinks it's a strawberry and keeps making pups.
Echinacea purpurea and Gomphrena 'Fireworks' and 'Carmine'.
Calotropis procera. The new leaves look and feel like suede. Giant milkweed.

Pink Oxypetalum solanoides and Blue Oxypetalum coerulea, and Ipomoea quamoclit.
Nabalus album, Asteraceae
Annual garden
A few Campanula trachelium seedlings. One of them has splash variegation.
Some native Lonicera. I rooted 2 cuttings from this vine.
OurI Monarch butterfly

Lovely. I wish I could grow some weed from your area - Romneya Coulteri. At the moment, I don't have luck and yet they grow like weeds in California. You've got some interesting plants which I have never heard of. I needed to google. I love echinacea and I'm trying to grow Green Twister. One seedling died because of damping off!

I like that bell like or phygellia like flowers! You sound like a botanist to me! LOL!

Wanted to like your post, but computer says no!

This is the wood/woods here in spring.

Anemonella thalicroides
Viola
Skunk Cabbage, hmm!, duh don't know name hehe.
Phlox divaricata
Mayapple aka?
Merrybells, Uvularia

Nabalus racemosa. A cousin to the one with the hanging bells. Nabalus was formerly Prenanthes. I have seeds for this one. I'd like to create a bog or rain garden so I can grow things that like wet feet like the skunk cabbage.