Friday, February 12, 2010

My Attempt at Clematis from Seed

Last early spring I decided to try growing clematis seed. A friend from GardenBuddies sent me some Ashva seeds, and I followed her advice, sticking them in a large ziploc bag with perlite, and soil. I placed them on top of my fridge, where it's warm, and checked on them once in a while. I got handful of sprouts by late spring, and transefered them as they came to their own spots. I kept them, all summer, in a tiny tabletop greenhouse in a shadier spot in my backyard. I kept them from drying out, and waited patiently. They grew to a few inches, and did that stand-still thing that many of my clematis do in mid-to-late-summer. Cme frost, I moved them indoors to the basement, allowed them to be drier than usual, and let them up in a corner of the grow-light area.
I check on them regularly, under the florescent lights. I found some new growth a few weeks ago on 3 of them. I thought they might be ready for a transplant. Here you see on of the seedlings.

Here is another, about to be potted up in it's new home. I don't know much, but I think the roots look like a good size. I was pleased.


Here we have it potted up, heavy with perlite on top so I could keep track of the sprinkled cayanne pepper I put on it to deter the 5 cats I have.
I thought this year I would try a few more. I saved tons of seeds from last year, including several clematis varieties. I did not label them. I know that is terrible, but I was too busy all summer, and was proud I at least kept them from molding or worse. lol. The varieties I took seeds from include Etiolle Violette, Violet Charm, Rooguchi, Polish Spirit, Elsa Spath, and an unknown.

Aa close up of some of the seeds I'm sowing now.

I'll keep you posted on the results. I hope to see last year's babies bloom sometime this year.

3 comments:

Misty said...

Would you like to know exactly how garden-impaired I am? I killed bamboo. BAMBOO. Brown thumb doesn't do me justice. Plant serial killer, maybe. I say this to set up how much I admire your ability. And to say I follow you in hopes of learning something.

CiNdEe's GaRdEn said...

Wow that is great! I have never tried to start seeds from a clematis before. I can't wait to see them bloom! What fun!!!(-:

Jamie Rex said...

It is sooo much fun. But I have no patience, so this is not my favorite part of gardening. lol.

So much more to come, Misty!