Clematis.

I put in plants that never reappear - lupine were the latest. They weren't attacked by slugs, died down over the winter and never reappeared although I'd marked where they were.
I seem to have a gap in one border but can't remember what was there....very odd. Never mind, I'm sure I'll be able to fill it!

Invasive plants? I can grow Hawksbit, Bergenia, Brunnera and geraniums by the yard, but not Nemesia, Penstemons or Salvias sadly.....

The 'fun' of gardening is seeing what grows where. I do find it strange that some plants will become invasive in neighbouring gardens, yet do poorly in mine and vice versa.

I know it's really down to micro climate and slight variations in soil.

Thanks Loopyloo for the advice, if I this one doesn't bounce back, I'll try it. It was fabulous last year, bloomed twice, spring and late summer!

The joys of gardening! x

I'd love to grow a wisteria that actually flowers. At my last house I had one for 20 years, I carefully pruned as per instructions but only ever had one sorry little bunch on it, one year.

My SiL has a glorious one growing right up to the roof on the back of his house. He attacks it with the pruning sheers without any thought or strategy, bar keeping it under control and it flowers exotically and vigorously every year

I would love to grow Clematis. They just don't seem to like acid sand which is the soil here. I have one Hagley Hybrid (haven't seen it this year yet) which limps up to about a metre, has two flowers and then dies away in spite of having shaded roots and mulches each year. All the others I have tried just disappear without trace.

Still, rhododendrons do very well here.

Next time you plant one make sure you dig a hole at least 4 - 6" deeper than the plant is in the pot, burying them deeper prevents clematis wilt apparently.

Clematis wilt! I have just cut off the wilting part, new shoots are coming from the base and looking healthy.
Apparently the roots are not affected and the plant will recover, as long as the wilting part is removed. Fingers crossed! X

I was always told that clematis like to keep their feet (roots) cool and grow best when planted in an open bottomed pot or equivalent sunk into the soil
I have two lovely clematis that are planted more or less in a layer of gravel in a sheltered spot and they are blooming away.

It depends also on the type of clematis - one of mine is flowering yet still throwing out more growth with yet more baby buds forming, all very odd!
It's got big white flowers and had grown more this year than in the 8 years I've had it , probably about 8' high.

Or pruned it a bit too late?

If it's putting out flowers it's not going to grow any more until they have flowered and died. As clematis get older, depending on the time of year they flower, there is a different pruning regime. More drastic in first year, easing off a bit in second and third years.

Perhaps you went too mad with the secateurs?

My clematis are magnificent this year yet I haven't done anything different- perhaps the milder winter has helped?
I've never seen so many buds on them.

Try giving it a feed Petra and make sure the roots are shaded by mulching of surrounding with pebbles - they like moist roots but their head in the sun (you probably know that already!)

I like pruning. DH gets very anxious if I get a pair of secateurs in my hand!

Thanks for that. I don't think I can pick the buds off, OH would go ballistic. He can't get his head round the concept of pruning, let alone picking buds off. He's not a gardener, unless you count rhubarb, that's his passion, oh, and the lawn.

Ours are planted into small patches of earth in a path and a patio - we do nothing to them at all, except cut them back a bit when they start getting in the way of leaving the house or seeing through the kitchen window. It would seem that they enjoy poor soil and neglect.

Try putting a mulch round the base. We use well-rotted horse manure.
Ours are doing better than usual this year.

Ours are going crazy! And we have no idea about gardening - it is a stroke of luck! The whole front of the house is covered in them!

Your clematis might be responding to the cooler weather, after the warm spell. One of my pot grown ones was doing well, with buds, but now is not doing so well, either. It is putting on new growth and buds on the lower half. I'm sure yours and mine will catch up! X

Is it a summer flowering one? You could cut off the flowers (ouch) so that the strength goes into growth and it will flower in June/July.
If it is a spring flowering one enjoy it, then cut the dead flowers off and it should shoot away.
Unless something eats it as is happening with ours.

It has gone a bit cold again, perhaps it thinks winter is back!

It may put out new foliage, runners, when it has finished flowering.

It's just done enough for now?What clematis is it, is it in a pot or ground, have you fed it?There is an old saying for clematis,' first it sleeps, then it creeps, then it leaps' so a new one may take three years.