Clematis Blue Explosion
Content:
Clematis Blue Explosion is a very widespread variety of an ornamental plant called clematis. Its flowers are quite large, and the plant itself is classified as climbing: its vine grows beautifully, bending around the pillars of the gazebo or structures specially built for it. Clematis, in comparison with some other flowers, blooms for a very long time: in fact, during the entire warm season, from May to September. So, if you want to expand your garden not only in breadth, but also upward, Clematis Blue Exploded is what you need.
Clematis Blue Explosion: photo of the variety
Clematis Blue Explosion: variety description
This variety first appeared thanks to a Polish breeder. His name was Sh. Marchinsky, and his discovery was made in 1995. The breeder himself attributed Clematis Blue Explosion to the early large-flowered varieties.
The flowering of Clematis Blue Explosion, as you have already noticed, is very long. However, in addition, it is two-stage. The first stage occurs at the very beginning of flowering, and flowers appear on the old shoots of the plant. The second stage takes place in mid-July. It is at this time that the approximate middle of flowering falls. Then flowers begin to appear on young shoots and continue to delight the eye until mid-September.
The flowers of the Blue Exploded variety of clematis are of incredible beauty: they are quite large, and those grown on old shoots also have a double texture. Unfortunately, specimens grown on newly appeared shoots cannot boast of this quality. The diameter of the average flower is about 15 centimeters. Each has a half-open form. The color, as you might guess from the name, is blue, however, which gives this variety a special charm: the tips of the petals are painted in a bright pink hue.
Since Clematis Blue Explosion is a climbing plant, it reaches a rather impressive size. On average, it is 2.5-3 meters, and therefore, in order to grow safely, a special support for the plant must be placed in the garden. Another option is to provide him with a structure like a gazebo, around which clematis can put its vine.
Clematis Blue Explosion: photo of the variety
Growing conditions for clematis cultivar Blue Explosion
Blue Exploded Clematis are plants that are extremely sun-loving, and therefore placement in a sunflower area will give them a significant boost in growth. Nevertheless, planting a flower in a partially shaded place is also possible and not critical.
Based on how clematis loves the sun, it is easy to conclude that this plant prefers a warm climate, and therefore the southern regions are the best places to grow this plant, and especially the Blue Explosion variety. As decades of practice have shown, clematis shows the brightest and most prolonged flowering during a warm summer. But cold winters can be fatal for a flower. At temperatures well below 15 degrees below zero, Blue Explosion dies.
Clematis Blue Explosion: photo of the variety
Rules for planting and caring for Clematis Blue Exploited
Spring is best suited for planting clematis. However, be aware: you need to choose a time when all the frosts have already been left behind, and you are sure that frosts will not come from nowhere. If spring is still far away, and winter is just around the corner, you can plant Clematis Blue Exploded in the fall.However, you need to hurry: if you do not do this a month and a half before the onset of December, the landing can turn out to be deplorable.
In addition to the fact that the planting site of Clematis Blue Explosion should be illuminated by the sun most of the day, there is another important condition - the soil. The most neutral soil without all kinds of impurities is best suited for growing seedlings, however, clematis Blue Explosion will feel comfortable both in slightly acidic and slightly alkaline soil.
Before planting, it is necessary to dig a hole of a suitable size for Blue Exploited clematis. Its dimensions depend not only on the seedling itself, but also on the soil in which it is to be dug: if a hole breaks out in heavy earth, dimensions 70 by 70 by 70 cm are suitable for it, but if the soil is light, it is quite possible to discard 20 centimeters from each side.
In addition, there is a thing that must be avoided when you plant clematis not only of the Blue Exploded variety, but also of any other: they do not tolerate competition, and therefore planting them as close to each other as possible is a big mistake that can ruin your decorative living wall. Remember: the optimal distance between bushes is 1 meter.
Also, do not overdo it with the frequency and abundance of watering: this can have an extremely negative effect on the plant. Therefore, if, suddenly, you have a habit of watering plants "from the heart", try to make an exception for Clematis Blue Exploited.
Important! In some cases, groundwater is very close to the planting pit, which, like too abundant watering, may well destroy Clematis Blue Explosion. In order to protect your bush, you need to pour drainage on the bottom of the planting pit. Small crushed stone or broken brick is suitable for this.
Clematis Blue Explosion: photo of the variety
However, making the drainage layer too thick is also a bad idea. More than 15 centimeters will be enough.
After the drainage has been added to the pit, it is the turn of the nutrient mixture, which is necessary for all plants when planting. For its preparation, we need two buckets of ordinary turf soil, one bucket of prepared humus and only 100 grams of superphosphate.
The ideal depth for burying seedlings of the Clematis Blue Explosion variety is from six to eight centimeters. As a result, it should look like a small neat crater has formed around the plant. However, six to eight centimeters is an average value used for light soil. In the event that the soil on your site is heavy, it will be necessary to deepen clematis Blue Explosion by ten to fifteen centimeters.
Once you've finished planting and Clematis Blue Exploded has found its new home, it's time for pruning. It is impractical to leave more than two or four buds on one shoot, and therefore it is not advisable to cut it off so that just so much remains. Pruning is vital for young seedlings, as thanks to it more resources will be spent on the development of a powerful root system and beautiful flowers. If spring was chosen as the time for planting, re-pruning is done two weeks after the first (to consolidate the effect).
Also, in addition to pruning, after planting, it is necessary to thoroughly water the plant. The well formed by us will do an excellent job of retaining moisture.
In addition, it is highly recommended to carry out another post-planting procedure: mulching. It is not required, but it will greatly help you in the further cultivation of Blue Exploded Clematis. A layer of peat or sawdust will not only prevent moisture from evaporating from the surface of the hole, but will also prevent the spread of weeds.
By the way, as already mentioned, after planting work, or even before them, you need to take care of providing Clematis Blue Explosion with proper support. Without them, the plant will simply collapse under its own weight, and clematis will neither grow nor bloom.However, when buying supports or even making them on your own, do not forget to think about the fact that the growth of Clematis Blue Exploited is a rather long process, and therefore it is advisable to choose more beautiful supports, because for a long time they will attract much more attention than the shrub itself winding around them.
Important! The fact that you have support does not mean that the plant is completely safe, and you can not follow it. Clematis Blue Explosion, like any other flower, is fragile, and therefore its branches must be tied up in time so that a fleeting gust of wind does not cut them off.
Also, after planting, you need to take care of feeding clematis. For this, tools such as wood ash or various minerals are suitable. In order not to overdo it with feeding and not kill the plant, it is necessary to observe a two-week interval between adding fertilizer to the hole. Depending on which agent you have chosen for feeding, its percentage with the water in which you will dilute it also changes. Most often, a substance is diluted in 10 liters of water, and therefore we will take this number as an example. When using mineral fertilizers, you will need 30 grams per 10 liters of water. In the case of tree resin, a 10 liter glass, and the mullein is added based on a ratio of one to ten.
Important! In the first couple of weeks, the seedling must be protected from direct burning rays of the sun, which may well harm both the leaves and the root system.
To protect the latter from heat damage, Clematis Blue Explosion can be surrounded by small annual flowers. This is a temporary but tricky method to help protect your shrub.
Clematis Blue Explosion: photo of the variety
How to prepare clematis for winter?
As already mentioned, Clematis Blue Explosion belongs to those plants that love heat and do not tolerate cold so much that too low temperatures can destroy them. That is why the right decision would be to cover this flower with a film before the onset of cold weather. However, before doing this, the last and most important pruning must be done.
The most appropriate time to perform this pruning is autumn, namely, the period just before the onset of frost. Shoots are cut at a height of about one meter from the ground. If you yourself see that some branches are not healthy or damaged, you can cut more. The health of the bush comes first. If the shoot is too weak, you can get rid of it altogether. After the end of the cutting, the shoots have to be removed from the support to which they are tied, and put them on the ground. This, for obvious reasons, must be done as carefully as possible. After the seedling is completely on the ground, it is covered with a film. Also, for more reliable insulation, you can use sawdust or peat.
After that, it is necessary to carry out the clematis Blue Exploded clothespins. For this, the heights below the ground are best suited: 30 centimeters, 70 centimeters and 100 centimeters.
How to propagate Clematis Blue Exploited?
There are a huge number of methods for breeding Clematis Blue Exploited, but the most effective and often used of them is the family method. It ensures the reliability and duration of reproduction.
In order to implement it, you will need to prepare suitable cuttings at the beginning of the flowering season. Parts cut from the middle of the vine work best for them. It should be borne in mind that at least 2 centimeters should be left above the knot, and 3-4 centimeters under the knot, although it is not forbidden to leave a little more. In order for the roots of cuttings to form as quickly as possible, they are soaked in a special solution, which includes heteroauxin. This substance stimulates not only fast, but correct growth as well. It is diluted according to the following formula: 50 grams per 1 liter of water.To grow cuttings harvested in this way, ordinary boxes are used, into which soil is poured, which is an equally proportional mixture of sand and peat. If the temperature in the near future after planting does not drop below 22 degrees Celsius, then the cuttings will root quickly enough, however, otherwise, they may not do this at all. In order to ensure a higher temperature, you can cover the cuttings with foil. Under the right conditions, the cuttings will take root within a month, after which each should be transplanted into its own pot. In these pots, future seedlings will winter. The temperature during wintering should never drop below 3 degrees Celsius. Watering is not necessary often, but care should be taken to keep the soil moist at all times. If you did everything correctly, by spring your cuttings will already become seedlings, and by autumn they will be able to bloom for the first time.
Another, no less effective method of breeding Clematis Blue Exploited is the method of layering. Its essence lies in the fact that the young shoot of the bush is bent in such a way that the gap between the root and tip is in the ground.
Important! The tip itself should never be underground! It will not end well for the chosen escape.
After that, he is buried in the ground so that he does not accidentally pull out of it. For a more secure attachment, you can resort to using a wire. Now all that remains is to ensure that the cuttings are regularly watered. Also, whenever possible, try to bury new internodes in the ground when they appear. When the time for wintering comes, the cuttings are not transplanted, but they are left to winter next to the mother plant.
After winter gives way to spring, the cuttings turn into more than a full-fledged seedling, which can now be separated from the mother plant and planted elsewhere. However, when carrying out this operation, you need to be careful and try not to hurt anything unnecessary.
The last breeding method that we will consider is the ordinary division of the bush. In order to implement it, we will need to completely dig out the bush, being careful not to damage it. After that, we cut it into two or three parts, but it is important to ensure that at least three shoots remain on each of these parts. If you see that they are not enough for a full separation, it is better to postpone the operation for the next season.
Important! The choice of method depends solely on your subjective preferences, and therefore we will not even try to single out the best one.
Clematis Blue Explosion: photo of the variety
Diseases of Clematis Blue Exploited
As already mentioned, too wet soil is not the most suitable condition for growing this plant, and here is why: in such conditions, fungi multiply and spread very actively, to which clematis is not at all adapted to resist. As a result of fungal attacks, dark spots appear on the leaves of Clematis Blue Explosion, which grow over time and cover most of the surface of the shrub. You can save yourself from this by resorting to the use of fungicidal agents or by doing all you can to prevent waterlogging.
However, in addition to fungi, clematis is also threatened by all kinds of parasites, the list of which is huge. However, aphids, spider mites and nematodes can be distinguished from the most dangerous.
In addition to them, there are also mice and bears that will not mind eating the roots of your plant, which will also not lead to anything good.
And finally, let's talk about slugs and snails: despite their harmless appearance, they bring a huge amount of trouble to gardeners around the world every year. The best way to cope with them is mulching a bush using needles, through which soft-bodied pests simply will not make their way.
Clematis Blue Explosion: photo of the variety
Clematis Blue Explosion: variety reviews
Margarita Vasilievna, 35 years old
A gazebo appeared in our garden some time ago, and we thought for a long time how to decorate it. As a result, we chose the Blue Exploded clematis variety, and I still have not regretted this decision. The flowers look great and the gazebo has become a real corner. I planted cuttings that a friend gave me, and almost all of them took root. In general, a miracle, not a flower.
Elizaveta Viktorovna, 46 years old
I really liked the Blue Exploded variety of clematis for how easy it is to care for. It does not require a lot of extra time from the gardener, you just need to make sure that the soil does not become waterlogged. But this is not at all difficult, and for me, given how many flowers I follow in my garden, Clematis Blue Explosion did not cause unnecessary trouble, which, of course, I am very happy about.
Conclusion
If you still can't decide which plant is best suited for vertical decoration of your garden - stop thinking and choose Clematis Blue Exploited. Not only does he "indulge" your time, but he also rewards for simple care with gorgeous flowers that you and your loved ones can enjoy all summer long and even a little more.
Clematis Blue Explosion: video about the variety