Monday, February 27, 2017
One of the rockstars of my garden the past few years has been a perennial flowering vine known as Nelly Moser Clematis. It's winter hardy, and blooms vigorously in late spring when the weather is still cool, followed by a second blooming period in the fall. The pale pinkish-lavender flowers are 4-8" in diameter, and really light up the patio garden in the spring when everything is still waking up slowly.
Once the petals start to fade, the flower center turns into a fuzzy puff ball that gradually puffs out as the summer progresses. They provide interest to the lighter green leafy vines in the summertime, and then slightly smaller flowers appear in the fall.
I purchased my clematis on a whim a few years ago, and the first year it lived on my patio, I thought it was dead. It had finished its spring blooming period shortly after I bought it, and I almost dug it up at the end of the summer and threw it away, because it didn't look like it was alive.
Thank goodness I didn't toss it, because once spring rolled around, and I went out to get rid of it, I saw lots of leaf buds forming and decided to just give it a month or two to see what it did. It grew fast and furiously, and nearly tripled in size the first spring.
The second spring it doubled in size, and kept growing all summer. Each spring it has been covered in incredible flower displays, and it's been one of the most pleasant surprises on my patio garden. It lives in a large 20" pot, with a trellis to climb, and I water it a few times a week to make sure it never dries out. I cover the root area with lots of mulch to keep it cool, and surround it with other pots to shade the soil. It's been very happy in its pot since the summer of 2014, and I hope it continues its long life as one of my favorite items in my garden!
I highly recommend you grow this beautiful vine for yourself.
GROWING NELLY MOSER CLEMATIS
Name: Clematis
Type: Vine
Hardiness Zone: 4 to 8
Height: 6-10 feet
Spread: 6-10 feet (if not trellised)
Bloom Time: May to June, and then again in fall.
Color: Pale pink flowers with subtly darker middle stripe
Sun: Full sun to part shade (prefers colder feet and sunny tops)
Water Needs: Moderate
Gardening Skill-Level: Low
GROWING TIPS
Grow clematis in well-draining soil and keep moderately wet. It doesn't like droughts, but doesn't need a swamp. It's happiest in locations where its head is in the full to part sun and its feet are in the shade. In places that get really hot in summer, it will be much happier with a little afternoon shade. This works well on my patio, since it gets so hot, I put it on the east side of a west-facing wall. After about 3pm, it starts getting light shade while the rest of the garden bakes in the sun. Clematis is a vining plant, so it will need a trellis or some kind of support to climb.
Tip: To shade the roots, plant with smaller plants around the base. Mulching around the roots is also a great way to keep the soil from drying out, and help cool down the clematis' feet. Don't let it dry out too much.
FUN CLEMATIS FACTS
There are over 250 species of clematis, and most are climbing vines that get woody like the Nelly Moser. They are native to a wide variety of places in the world including Europe, North America, Australia, China, and Central America.
PRUNING YOUR CLEMATIS
Clematis can benefit from pruning, but I don't prune mine. It blooms on old and new wood so I'm always a little hesitant to cut anything off and miss out on the show in the spring. However, if you are looking to prune, clematis are separated into three pruning groups. Nelly Moser is in Group 2.
Pruning Group 1: Blooms on old wood. This would be all growth from previous years. Prune after spring flowering. This allows the plant to continue growing all summer and you'll still have old wood for next year's flowering.
Pruning Group 2: Blooms on old and new wood. You really shouldn't do much pruning on this type of clematis since it gets a wood-like stem. If you do happen to cut it to the ground, or prune it, flowering will be reduced and/or delayed, but it will come back eventually.
Pruning Group 3: Blooms only on new wood. You can cut it down to the ground every year in either fall or spring.
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WITH CLEMATIS
They don't really have too many pests or diseases, but they can have issues with stem rot, powdery mildew, rust and viruses. Clematis can also sometimes have aphids, vine weevils, slugs, spider mites and earwigs.
On my hotter-than-hot patio for the past 3 years, I have yet to have any issues other than making sure it gets enough water.
Clematis are beautiful, showy, additions to any garden and look great whether they're rambling through the garden as ground cover or climbing up a wall, fence, any other structure. You will definitely not be disappointed by bringing one of these beauties home!
++ Do you grow clematis? If so, what kind?
Friday, February 24, 2017
So, I got my seed starting kit all set up, and planted my first seeds. It's been so exciting around here the past week. I planted everything on Saturday February 18. I planted Early Girl and Black Cherry tomatoes, Sweet Sublime peppers, Jalapeños and Hot Banana Peppers, German Chamomile and Black-Eyed Susan vines.
The kit was super easy to set up. I put cloth hot pads (for grabbing hot pans from the oven) underneath the heat mat, just in case it got too hot for the shelf it's on. Then I added water to the soil pellets in the tray and they took about 10 minutes to absorb the water and grow to a plantable size. Once they were ready, I set the tray on top of the heat mat and turned on the mat, and the grow light.
Then, I opened the netting on top of each pellet, fluffed the soil a little, and added my seeds. Finally, I labeled them and closed the lid to let them hang out in their little greenhouse under the grow light.
The heat mat regulates its own temperature, I guess, because it never gets too hot. It's never too hot to the touch and it's been on all week! Pretty cool stuff, I think.
The heat mat regulates its own temperature, I guess, because it never gets too hot. It's never too hot to the touch and it's been on all week! Pretty cool stuff, I think.
It didn't take long for the Chamomile to sprout. It was popping up in a couple of days. The Black-Eyed Susan vines and early girl tomatoes showed their first sprouts yesterday.
We have had snow and rain all week, so this has been scratching my gardening itch all week while we deal with the end of winter. Plus, I feel all scientific with my grow light and heat mat, like I'm doing science experiments, which is essentially what gardening is. A big, awesome, science project.
Check out the little video below to see the whole process.
++ Have you grown seeds indoors? What were your tricks?
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Two years ago, I started this blog. I bailed on my old one, that was all about nothing really, and started The Joy Blog. It would be centrally focused on joyful living. After a few months, I realized what I wanted to write about the most. It was the thing that brought me a large portion of the joy I feel in life. So, I started throwing gardening posts into the mix now and then. Little by little, gardening kind of took the lead, and now it's about gardening, lifestyle AND joyful living (in that order).
Birthdays tend to make me nostalgic remembering the year before, so let's take a look at some of what has made this blog what it is today!
Year 2 Stats:
Posts Published: 94
Avg. Views Per Month: 1,100 (on par with last year.)
Number of Countries The Joy Blog Reached: 109! I can't believe it. There are people in 109 countries who have stopped by. (Hello, if any of you are here reading this today!)
Avg. Views Per Month: 1,100 (on par with last year.)
Number of Countries The Joy Blog Reached: 109! I can't believe it. There are people in 109 countries who have stopped by. (Hello, if any of you are here reading this today!)
Top Posts from Year 2:
Top Posts of the Blog's Lifetime:
My Favorite Posts from Year 2:
And lastly, what would you like to see more of on The Joy Blog? I'd love any input you have. What do you like most, what do you wish I'd touch on?
To see The Joy Blog's first birthday post, click here.
++ Thank you for making Year 2 just as awesome as the first!
Monday, February 20, 2017
Although, I'm really sick of the cold and pretty antsy for spring, without winter here, we would never have views like this. These are just a few of the sunsets I've been lucky to witness lately. It sure is beautiful here!
++ How are the skies where you live?
Friday, February 17, 2017
You guys, so much is happening in the greenhouse after we've had a lot of sunny days. It's still below freezing at night, but with the sunny days we have, the snow has melted, and my little mini greenhouse heats up to 60-80°F even with the door open. It's great! I pop it open in the morning, head to work, and let it soak up the sun all day. By the time I get home, the sun is setting, and it's cooled to 40-50°F, so I close it and let it stay closed for the night. As these days get longer, it will be even more effective.
I've only noticed an issue on one really cold night we had lately. When I checked the seedlings in the morning, a couple of them had frozen leaves, but from what I can tell, that hasn't hurt them much. They thawed quickly in the sunshine.
A frozen lettuce seedling from last fall has come back to life and is putting out new leaves. I didn't think it had survived the winter freezes, but apparently it just needed a little warmth to kick back into growing mode.
The lettuce mesclun mix (above) has a variety of seedlings, and is looking like it's coming along great. Black-seeded Simpson lettuce (below) is also taking off. I've even noticed tiny starts to true leaves on a lot of them. Wahoo!
The peas are still dormant, I'm not sure if they'll wake up and grow yet. It's still really cold at night. If you look closely at the radish seedlings, you can see tiny starts to true leaves on those as well. Everything but the peas are coming along quite nicely! Slow, but steady. I'm hoping the radishes bulb out in this cold.
All in all, I think it's been a successful experiment this far. I can't wait to see what happens over the next few weeks! Also, stay tuned for updates when I plant under my grow light indoors. It's getting really exciting around here.
++ Do you use a mini greenhouse?
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Things have been a little busy around here, so I haven't had time to write out a bunch of posts, but I wanted to stop in and at least update you all on some things. After Monday's super sappy post, I thought we could use a little more cheery updates.
First off, happy late Valentine's, everyone! I hope you spent it with people you love.
Second of all, I finally was able to use some gift money from Christmas and get what I've been waiting for, so... drumroll, please...
It's a grow light, seed starting tray with pellets, and a heat mat!
For a lot of you, you might be thinking, "Wow, this girl really parties hard." I know, I'm a plant nerd. I am SO excited to start all my veggies from seed this year. I never have before, with the exception of the fast growing ones like zucchini. Every other plant has been bought from a greenhouse as a start. I'm excited to try my hand at growing from seed.
The ones that I'll be starting indoors are the ones that need fairly warm temperatures like peppers, tomatoes, nasturtiums, and other veggies that are a little temperamental with our last frost date being still three months away. I cannot wait, so I'll be planting everything this weekend probably, and will keep you posted on the growth! My hope is that once they're big enough to move to bigger pots, they'll live in my mini greenhouse outside where in a month or so, it will be just the right temperature for summer seedlings. Then come planting time, they'll be a great size for planting.
Finally, check out the progress my radishes are making! I took this photo a couple days ago, and since then some baby true leaves have started, so it's a real party around here.
++ What's new your way?
Friday, February 10, 2017
Is this pincushion cactus in bloom not the coolest thing? I got this at a farmers market a couple years ago, and every January it blooms for the whole month. The flowers bloom in the top quarter of the cactus plant, and wind up to the top in a little flower crown until they finish in a little flower hat.
It really brightens up our blustery, dreary winter months. It's one of my favorite things about January.
++ Do you have any flowering cactus?
Monday, February 6, 2017
The past few weeks have been single digit nights, and below freezing days. That's a typical January here in northern Utah. Despite all this, I must have been doing something right with the mini greenhouse. The thermometer has been reading anywhere from 20°F (-6.7°C) to 40°F (4.4°C) in the mornings. On the coldest mornings, I'd just stick my hairdryer under the plastic and blow hot air for a few minutes. The temperature would rise to 50°F (10°C) or 60°F (15.5°C), the frost that had formed on the inside of the plastic would melt, and the temperature would hold for most of the day. It was overcast and cold but the sun still got a little warmth in there. A few tiny sprouts started popping up, and I was praying the little things wouldn't freeze.
Over the past few days, however, it's been sunny and in the high 40s, so the patio has warmed up to almost 70°F (21°C) and the mini greenhouse has been around 80°F (27°C) with the door open all day long. With it shut, it was skyrocketing to above 100°F (38°C).
With all this warmth, look what has been happening in the greenhouse! Sprouts of Cherry Belle Radishes, Black-seeded Simpson and Mesclun lettuces popping up all over! I also planted some peas in another pot with some sticks for them to climb up to the next shelf a few days ago. I'm still waiting for those to pop up.
Cross your fingers these bluebird winter days last, and my plants really get going. Gardening in this mini greenhouse in the winter is really scratching my gardening itch.
++ Have you tried growing in the winter?
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