Caring and responsible gardeners with the onset of severe colds are increasingly thinking about protecting especially delicate plants from winter frosts. Many do not know for sure whether to shelter clematis for the winter and how best to do it. Let's talk about winter care for this beautiful ornamental garden plant.
What clematis do not need to be sheltered for the winter?
Not all types of clematis need winter shelter. If you grow clematis of the following varieties, you do not need to cover them for the winter:
- Polish Spirit;
- Venosa Violacea;
- Purpurea Plena;
- Blue River;
- Blue Angel;
- Elegans;
- Teksa.
The fact is that the clematis of this group blossom on the shoots of the current year, so there is no need to preserve their last year's whips. In addition, they are completely unpretentious. It's enough just to cut the bushes, leaving 15-20 cm from the total length of the weaves, and to bury them with the earth, not hiding anything more.
How to cover a young clematis for the winter?
Representatives of other varieties of clematis should be harbored, especially if they are very young and not yet strong and hardened. In varieties that form flowers on last year's shoots, it is necessary to preserve summer growths, removing leaves and dead parts from them, but not cutting them radically.
The process of preparing and sheltering clematis is as follows:
- Even before the soil freezes, clematis should be poured with a solution of Bordeaux liquid or copper sulfate.
- Sprinkle with sand, mixed with ash, to a height of 15 cm.
- Spray sprinkles with the same solution and bend to the ground, covering the top with lapnika.
- If there are winter thaws in your area of residence, it is desirable to pour dry peat on top of spruce branches and cover it with polyethylene.
On the popular question of beginners - is it possible to cover clematis for the winter with sawdust, it should be said that sawdust is used exclusively as an additional shelter, for example, instead of peat.
Under such cover, clematis will be reliably protected even from the most severe frosts, as well as from thaws, which are replaced by a sharp cooling.
If you do not know exactly what type of clematis you belong to and doubt whether you need to cut and cover them for the winter, cut them 40-60 cm and cover them, as described above.
At what temperature do we cover the clematis for the winter?
With positive air temperature clematis to cover early. Only when there is a constant frost at -7 ° C and the weather is dry, you can start processing the bushes and prepare them for the winter.