Clematis plants are often classified in groups according to their pruning requirements. The correct time for pruning clematis depends upon the type of flowering wood that the plant produces. Some will flower on the previous year’s growth while others bloom on young shoots produced in the same year.
Knowing when to prune clematis will ensure you get the best flowering possible. If you are not sure which species you are growing, but you know when the clematis is in flower, then you can normally determine what type of pruning it will require according to these clematis pruning groups.
If you’re not sure what the pruning group of your clematis is, all the clematis on our website have the pruning group stated on the product page.
Clematis Pruning Group 1 – Early flowering clematis
Group 1 includes clematis that flower in winter and spring on the previous year’s growth. These include Clematis alpina, Clematis macropetala, Clematis montana and their cultivars. This group also includes evergreen Clematis.
Start pruning clematis from group 1 immediately after flowering. Remove any damaged or dead stems and reduce the remaining growth to fit the available space.
Clematis Pruning Group 2 – Large flowered clematis
The large flowered cultivars in group 2 bear flowers on new shoots that emanate from the previous year’s stems in late spring and summer. Some cultivars will produce a second flush at the tips of the current year’s growth in late summer and autumn.
Prune clematis from group 2 in spring before they start into active growth. Remove any damaged or dead stems and reduce the remaining growth back to a set of strong healthy buds. New flowering stems will be produced from this framework of previous growth.
Clematis Pruning Group 3 – Late flowering clematis
Group 3 contains the late flowering species and their cultivars that bloom from summer to late autumn on the current years stems. This group also contains the herbaceous species of clematis.
Clematis in group 3 are arguably the easiest to prune. These plants can simply be cut back to a pair of strong buds about 20cm (8”) above ground level, removing all of the previous year’s growth. Prune group 3 clematis in spring before they start into active growth.
Thompson & Morgan have teamed up with Copella, the UK’s favourite apple juice, in a major on-pack promotion in Sainsbury stores this summer. This promotion forms part of Copella’s 2011 Plant & Protect campaign, supported by David Bellamy and The National Trust, which aims to reverse the decline of the UK’s native apple varieties. Show your support for the Plant & Protect campaign by collecting 3 promotional codes from special packs of Copella from Sainsbury’s and you can receive a free Cox’s Orange Pippin apple tree from Thompson & Morgan!
Thompson & Morgan have teamed up with Copella, the UK’s favourite apple juice, in a major on-pack promotion in Sainsbury stores this summer.
Throughout August and September, you can receive a free Cox’s Orange Pippin apple tree from Thompson & Morgan, by collecting 3 promotional codes from on-pack neck collars and entering them online at www.copellafruitjuices.co.uk, together with £4.95 to cover p&p.
This promotion forms part of Copella’s 2011 Plant & Protect campaign (supported by David Bellamy and The National Trust) which aims to reverse the decline of the UK’s native apple varieties. Visit the Copella website to pledge your support and register your apple tree.
The promotion will run in Sainsbury’s stores nationwide from 10th August 2011. Closing date 11 October 2011. Internet access required. Terms and Conditions apply.
For more information and for full terms and conditions, please go to www.copellafruitjuices.co.uk.
Top 10 Easy to Grow Vegetables
Do you dream of harvesting your own home grown vegetables, but just don’t know where to start? Wondering which vegetables are easy to grow? From pots to plots, there are vegetables to suit gardens of every size. ‘Growing your own’ isn’t complicated. Read our quick overview of our top 10 easy to grow vegetables, and start sowing today.
Salad Leaves
Crunchy fresh leaves with a fantastic range of textures and flavours. Try sowing our easy Salad ‘Speedy Mix’ throughout the summer months, and you’ll be cutting fresh leaves for your sandwiches just 3 weeks later! Better still, they will continue growing so you can harvest them again and again.
Spring onions and Radishes
Ok, so we cheated by listing these together but they are both so easy and quick growing that we couldn’t resist! Spice up your salads with spring onions and peppery radish. Spring onions and radishes make easy vegetables to grow in pots, or sow them directly into the ground throughout the summer for a succession of crunchy, colourful crops.
Potatoes
A really fun crop to grow! Plant potatoes during late February and March in potato bags that are only part filled with compost. When the green shoots begin to appear above the soil, simply cover them with more compost. Repeat this until the bag is full, and then you only need remember to water them! The fun comes at the end of the season, 10 to 20 weeks later, when the foliage starts to yellow and die back. Tip the bag out and rummage around in the soil to collect up your own home grown potatoes. Potatoes are such easy vegetables to grow at home!
Peas
Peas are a trouble free crop that enjoy cooler weather. Sow them directly into the ground from March to June and look forward to the incredible sweet flavour of fresh picked peas from June to August. All they require is support for their stems – simply erect some chicken wire or netting between supports at each end of the row. You’ll be amazed at how good fresh peas taste and the more that you pick them, the more they produce!
Mint
Well if you’re growing potatoes and peas then you might as well grow the garnish as well! Mint is so vigorous that it will grow on almost any moist soil so it’s best to keep it in a pot to stop it spreading too far. Use it fresh picked from the plant or you can freeze it in ice cubes to use later on.
Broad Beans
What could be simpler! Sow Broad Beans in spring in small 7.5cm (3″) pots of compost, and within a few weeks these quick growing beans will make sturdy plants that can be planted out in the garden. If that sounds like too much work then sow them directly in the ground. Watch the bees pollinate their pretty flowers and before you know it you will be harvesting a bumper crop of fresh picked beans from June onwards, with a flavour that puts supermarket beans to shame.
Runner Beans
Almost as simple as broad beans and you can sow them in the same way. Runner beans are climbers so give them plenty of space and train them onto wires or a plant support frame. Keep them well watered and they will reward you with a constant supply in summer. Regular picking is essential – but that won’t be a problem when they taste so good! If you are short on space, why not try dwarf runner bean ‘Hestia’.
Onions and Garlic
These crops are virtually maintenance free and really are such easy vegetables to grow! Simply plant onion bulbs and individual garlic cloves on well drained soil in spring or autumn – then leave them to it! In late summer when the foliage yellows and dies back, you can lift them and dry them in the sun before storing them. What could be easier?
Tomatoes
Tomato plants are so quick that you can almost watch them grow so they are the ideal easy vegetable for kids to grow. Choose a bush variety like ‘Cherry Cascade’ that can be planted in hanging baskets and window boxes. Bush varieties don’t require training or side-shooting so you only need to feed and water them. If you don’t feel confident enough to grow them from seed then order your tomatoes as plug plants.
Beetroot
For an easy to grow root vegetable try beetroot. Often used in salads but equally tasty eaten warm and freshly boiled as a vegetable. Beetroot can be sown directly into moist ground from March to July. As they grow, thin the seedlings to about 5cm apart. From May to September you can look forward to harvesting your own colourful, succulent beetroot.
That’s right! Simply sign up for our email newsletters and you’ll be entered into the draw to win this great prize. Toby Buckland, who has won many prizes and awards himself and was a recent presenter on BBC’s Gardeners’ World, will visit your garden to offer advice and plant a tree. PLUS you’ll receive £1000 worth of Thompson & Morgan vouchers!
So don’t delay, sign up today to get regular newsletters full of handy gardening tips and exclusive offers, as well as the chance to win this fabulous prize.
Competition Rules
1. All new email newsletter subscribers from the Thompson & Morgan (UK) Ltd website between 21st March and 31st May 2011 will be entered into the draw.
2. For the entry to be valid, it must be entered onto the Thompson & Morgan database and be a valid and live email address. Entrants must be residents of the United Kingdom and must be aged 18 or over. Each valid email newsletter subscriber will only be entered into the draw once.
3. The Draw winner will be drawn at random by the Thompson & Morgan Direct Marketing Manager from the list of participating valid entries.
4. The draw will take place on Monday 6th June 2011. The winner will receive a visit from Toby Buckland who will source and plant a tree in their garden. The winner will also receive £1,000 worth of Thompson & Morgan vouchers (expiry date of vouchers: 30th April 2012). A date for this visit, convenient to the winner, Toby Buckland and Thompson & Morgan will be arranged once the winner has been drawn, and must be before October 31st 2011.
5. There is no choice of prizes and no alternatives. The winner will be notified as soon as possible by email, and no later than Friday 10th June 2011.
6. The winner’s name and home town will be available on request 30 days after the closing date by sending a stamped, addressed envelope to Toby Buckland Prize Draw, Thompson & Morgan (UK) Limited, Poplar Lane, Ipswich, IP8 3BU.
7. By entering the Toby Buckland Prize Draw, the entrant agrees that the Thompson & Morgan Group is entitled to feature a photograph as well as the name and location of the prize winner in publicity, subsequent promotions and advertising material. Photographs taken and comments made during the publicity session may be used by the company for publicity purposes without charge and shall remain the absolute property of Thompson & Morgan (UK) Limited.
8. Thompson & Morgan group employees, their agents and relatives are not eligible to enter the Draw.
9. The right to amend, withdraw or terminate any aspect of this Toby Buckland Prize Draw without prior notice is reserved if factors beyond the company’s control require it to do so. The Company reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal value should circumstances beyond its control require it to do so.
10. Entries not complying with these rules will be declared invalid. Signing up for Thompson & Morgan email newsletters indicates your acceptance of these rules.
11. The promoter is Thompson & Morgan (UK) Ltd of Poplar Lane, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP8 3BU. The Company’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into (other than as set out in rule 6 above).
Sweet, juicy and delicious – its no wonder tomatoes are a favourite choice among home-growers, and Thompson & Morgan is proving that when it comes to tomatoes, we’re a one-stop shop!
In the April issue of Which? Gardening magazine, T&M has added to our growing list of Best Buy awards, thanks to the latest round of Which? tomato trials.
T&M are already the proud holders of Best Buy awards for our Chempak Tomato Fertiliser and our EXCLUSIVE blight resistant tomato Losetto, which is also our 2011 Vegetable of the Year.
Now, customers choosing which tomatoes to grow this year will have the added confidence of knowing that other varieties on sale through T&M have been given the Which? seal of approval.
The latest tomato trial focused on baby plum tomatoes and Rosada, part of the T&M range, was given top marks and the prestigious Best Buy accolade.
Judges gave it the maximum five stars and commented on the vigorous plants that cropped for at least 13 weeks, were easy to train as cordons and, of course, came top in taste tests.
We’re so pleased with these results, we’re celebrating by offering Tomato Rosada seeds for HALF PRICE on our website!
These latest results add to Thompson & Morgan’s standing as the place to shop for tomato seeds, plants and food.
Paul Hansord, Thompson & Morgan Young Plants managing director, welcomed the trial results: “Everything we do is about providing customers with the easiest and most reliable way to get the best products they can,” he said.
“The Which? Best Buy symbol is something that customers look for and know they can trust, so it is great for us to be able to offer such a comprehensive selected of products that carry the award. The Best Buy award is a great back-up to the comprehensive testing and trials we already do of our own products.”
Gardeners choosing to grow a selection of tomatoes this year can choose from a host of Best Buy awarded varieties on sale through T&M.
Cherry varieties such as Gardener’s Delight – a Best Buy since 1984, Cherrola and that old favourite standard variety Shirley are all available through Thompson & Morgan.
They join more than 40 varieties in the 2011 Thompson & Morgan seed catalogue, as well as many more that can be found at www.thompson-morgan.com
Notes to editors:
• Tomato Rosada is on sale at £3.19 for six seeds.
• Tomato Losetto costs £3.49 for six seeds.
• Chempak Soluble Tomato Food is priced at £4.95 for a 1kg pack and was awarded the Which? Best Buy in April 2010. Thompson & Morgan has owned the Chempak brand since February 2010.
• For more information, images or samples, please contact Helen Johns on 01473 695341 or hjohns@thompson-morgan.com
