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Clematis Mai Darling is an amazingly beautiful variety of clematis, bred in Poland. The plant will delight its owners with semi-double or double flowers, painted purple with a red tint. Moreover, at the very end of summer, clematis, under favorable conditions, can bloom a second time.
Description of clematis My Darling
May Darling is distinguished by flowers with a diameter of 17 to 22 cm. Purple with red, they have pink stripes, as well as an uneven white color. The first time the plant blooms in June and July, the buds during this period are pronounced double. The second bloom occurs already in August, this time the flowers have less doubleness or they are simple.
In the photo, Clematis Mai Darling has dark green foliage. The plates are heart-shaped, trifoliate, pointed at the ends, resembling an ellipse in shape.
Planting and caring for clematis My Darling
Clematis of this variety can be grown in flower beds and is also suitable for container cultivation. For landing, you should choose a well-lit area, but so that there is no strong direct sun. The soil should be rich in nutrients. For pH, neutral or slightly acidic soil is suitable. The plant is demanding on moisture, but when water stagnates in the roots it will hurt, therefore, when planting, it is necessary to prepare drainage for it.
May Darling belongs to the group of frost-resistant clematis, favorable zones from 4 to 9. Before transplanting into open ground, containers with purchased seedlings are kept in a room with a temperature of 0 to +2 ° C. They are planted only when the possibility of frost has passed.
Stages of planting clematis:
- Dip the container with a young plant in a container of water for 10-20 minutes so that the earthy clod gets well wet.
- Prepare a pit with dimensions and depth of 0.6 m.Pour rubble, stones for drainage at the bottom of it with a layer height of 10 cm.
- Be sure to add rotted manure or compost, about a bucket, sprinkle with earth on top.
- Embed the seedling a little more than it grew in the container (by 10 cm). The distance between adjacent plants or a wall is about 30-50 cm.
- Lightly shade the lower part of the stem, and mulch the place around the bush with bark.
During the growing season, starting in spring, clematis is fertilized several times.
After the snow melts, a solution prepared from 20 g of urea is added to a bucket of water. In the summer, they are fed with manure twice; in the fall, a complex of fertilizers from phosphorus salts and potassium compounds is used for these purposes. In order for it to winter well, sprinkle earth on its trunk about 10-15 cm. All shoots are removed from the support, folded compactly on a bed of foliage or spruce branches, and covered with the same plant materials. Insulation thickness 25-30 cm.
At the very end of February or early March, dead shoots are removed. The flower is cut depending on age: in the first year to a level of 30 cm above good buds, in the second year they leave 70 cm, then they keep no more than 1.5 m in height.
Reproduction
Large-flowered Clematis May Darling can not be transplanted for 10-12 years. The plant is propagated by seeds, dividing or layering, you can cuttings. The vegetative method is preferable. If the bush is not quite old (up to 5 years old), it can be simply divided. In older specimens, it will be difficult to disassemble the rhizome into parts. Divide each dug out clematis bush so that the divisions have buds on the root collar.
In the spring, you can pin the shoots.Young last year's branches at the site of the knot must be pressed with a staple into a pot with rather loose soil, to which peat has been added. As the shoot grows, the soil is poured into the pot. In the fall, in this way, new seedlings will be ready for replanting.
To grow clematis from seeds, you need:
- At the end of winter, soak the grains for 7-10 days, be sure to change the liquid several times a day.
- Mix equal amounts of sand, peat, earth. Put the seeds in prepared containers with such a substrate, cover them with 2 cm sand on top. Make a greenhouse - cover with glass, film.
- The seeds are kept in warm conditions, watering is carried out in a pallet.
- When shoots appear over the sand, the greenhouse is removed.
- When real leaves appear, clematis seedlings dive into separate pots.
- After the frosts recede, you can plant them in open ground. Plants are pinched so that they grow the rhizome. They must be covered for the winter.
Diseases and pests
Many growers post photos and descriptions of clematis My Darling on the Internet, which they grow on their personal plot. The plant is beautiful, but, according to reviews, it can be susceptible to various diseases.
Most often, clematis of the My Darling variety suffers from problems such as:
- rot;
- verticellosis;
- rust;
- viral yellow mosaic;
- powdery mildew;
- ascochitis.
Of the pests, nematodes attack him. They settle on the roots. Therefore, when transplanting, the rhizome must be carefully examined. If their galls are found, then it is impossible to plant new clematis in this place for several years.
My Darling's most common problem is wilting. At the same time, foliage and shoots lose their elasticity and begin to dry out. The roots are affected first. To save the flower, it is watered with a solution of Fundazol with a concentration of 2%. If the bush is severely affected, then the entire plant will have to be destroyed, and the site should be treated with Azocene or Fundazol.
The fungus infects clematis in the form of rust, which is manifested by orange bumps on foliage and branches. For treatment and prevention, it is necessary to practice spraying the bushes with a solution of Bordeaux liquid or other copper preparations. The concentration of the solution is within 1-2%.
Copper sulfate will help if the flower is sick with ascochitis. With such a problem, bright yellow spots appear on the plant, usually in mid-summer. If May Darling was infected by the yellow mosaic virus, then there will be no salvation - the bushes will have to be destroyed. To prevent this from happening, it is better to plant clematis away from plants prone to this disease (hosts, peonies, phloxes, delphiniums).
Conclusion
Clematis Mai Darling is not a very moody plant. Liana Mai Darling with purple flowers will become a real decoration of the suburban area, especially since the plant blooms twice over the summer.
