Clematis marmoraria

Submitted by Steve Newall on

It looks like it's a good year for Clematis marmoraria this year . Some genera of NZ plants have erratic flowering years and Clematis is one . Copious flowers one year and sometimes none the next year . Not quite sure why but it maybe because it disrupts the life cycles of seed predators .

I have now realised that I should have turned the pots to keep the flowers even . Oh well . Never mind .

The plants have been grown from seed ( at Hokonui Alpines ) then shifted here 3 years ago . The live on a table , exposed to all the elements and no protection from wind , sun or frost . The potting mix is a peat and river sand mix with a topping of 30mm of small stone chips . No added feritliser .

Seed germinates best if sown fresh . Stored seed may take an additional winter to germinate . Stratification may help

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Comments

Submitted by RickR on Mon, 10/17/2011 - 19:40

A credit to the grower!
They are beautiful!  If only they would survive here, but alas.

Thanks for the update.

Submitted by Hoy on Tue, 10/18/2011 - 14:01

I had a plant of marmoraria for a couple of years but it never flowered and quietly dwindled to death :'(
Now I am persuaded to try once more! From seed ;)

Submitted by Steve Newall on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 12:02

Cheers lads . One important thing I forgot to mention is our fairly benign zone 8 climate . Like Toolie , we have no snow cover and no extreme temperatures . There is relatively regular rainfall and sunshine but it is often very windy . These conditions help the Clematis to grow themselves with no special care on my part .

Submitted by Hoy on Wed, 10/19/2011 - 12:19

Jandals wrote:

Cheers lads . One important thing I forgot to mention is our fairly benign zone 8 climate . Like Toolie , we have no snow cover and no extreme temperatures . There is relatively regular rainfall and sunshine but it is often very windy . These conditions help the Clematis to grow themselves with no special care on my part .

Z8 climate - but what is the mean summer temp in the 3 warmest months and the mean winter temp in the 3 coldest months? And what is the lowest temp you "suffer" in a normal winter?

Here is my climate, the red and blue line is the last year and the black is the mean. As you can see last winter was extremely cold for this part of the World!

Submitted by Hoy on Sun, 10/23/2011 - 00:06

Thanks, Steve. Seems your climate isn't very different from mine although yours probably is a little less frosty in winter and a bit warmer in summer! Promising . . .