YOUR GARDEN GUY: Why I love clematis vine - and you should, too
I am all about clematis vine. This easy to grow, long-lived vine just gets better with age. This vine grows in full sun to part shade. It is frequently grown on mailboxes and often called "mailbox vine." Big, beautiful, colorful flowers cover it in early spring. Clematis is easy, disease free, well mannered and beautiful. Suggested locations for clematis vine include the mailbox, a trellis, an arbor, inside an existing tree such as crape myrtle, over a wall or on a fence.
While not my favorite ornamental tree, the bradford pears are beautiful this year! I will reserve my usual negative comments about this tree for another day. Today I will just enjoy the bradford pear in all its splendor.
Climbing hydrangea, or Hydrangea anomala ssp. petiolaris, deserves a place in every shade garden. This hardy vine is slow to get going, often taking three years to produce flowers. However, it is worth the wait. It features light fragrance, white lace-cap blooms, exfoliating bark and yellow fall leaf color. Tough once established, grow it up a tree, over a shady wall or over an arbor.
Blooming now! "Super shrub" is what best describes loropetalum. Some varieties can grow to 12 feet in height, but can easily be pruned lower, so look at the labels. It's evergreen with burgundy or green leaves, and flowers spring and fall. Plus, it has no major disease and insect problems. Try "sizzlin pink" as a great substitute for crape myrtle. Try "purple diamond" for a good 4-by-4-foot shrub.
Remove fading flowers on daffodils and iris. Do not cut back the foliage because this is how energy is stored for next year's blooms.
Do not spray insecticides on fruit trees while they are blooming. This will kill pollinating bees, which could reduce fruiting.
It is now too late to prune "knockout" rose.
This week, spray deer repellent onto daylilies, roses and Indian hawthorne.
Todd Goulding provides residential landscape design consultations. Contact him at www.fernvalley.com or 478-345-0719.
This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 9:11 PM with the headline "YOUR GARDEN GUY: Why I love clematis vine - and you should, too ."