What's in my Garden? Clematis

I grew up watching my mom garden all the time, and one of my favorite things that came up each spring was per giant Clematis vine.  She had a beautiful plant growing right by the door.  It is a vineing plant with traditionally single blooms,usually in purple, though now you can fine double bloom varieties as well as other colors like white and red.  The kind I have is called Barbara Jackman.

Common Name: Barbara Jackman Clematis
Scientific Name: Clematide Barbara Jackman
Bought From: Lowes

Sun
Part to full sun.  6 hours is ideal, but they can grow with less.  They like to have their feet covered to help upward growth, so planting other things at the base is a good thing to do.  Here is a good example of how different sun causes different growth.  I have 2 plants growing on either side of a window.  One gets more sun than the other, since the one of the left starts getting covered by the shade of the deck.

The one that gets tons of sun really grew more like a bush, as you can see above.  I don't have any plants in front of the clematis so the feet are not covered like they usually prefer.  I'm thinking this contributed to the weird growth this year.  

The other one had less shade and grew up more on the trellis and had nice evenly spread blooms.

Soil
Prefers neutral to slightly alkali soil.  If you have acidic soil you can sweeten it by adding some limestone of a little wood ash at the start of spring.

Size
As tall your trellis will go :) Usually no more than 6-8 ft

Water
I always water them about twice a week when there is no rain

Fertilize
Use compost and a general 10-10-10 granular fertilizer when you first plant.  After it's first season put compost around the base each spring with granular fertilizer, and then water twice more with fertilizer during the growing season with a water soluble fertilizer like Miracle Grow.  I also like to hit all of my garden with some Super Thrive every so often, maybe about once a month at most, usually at the same time as fertilizing.

Pruning
There are 3 groups of Clematis that determine some of their characteristics like pruning rules. The Barbara Jackman variety is a part of group 2, meaning it is a repeat bloomer.  It blooms a lot in late spring or early summer, then sporadically throughout the summer on new shoots and old stems. since this clematis can grow on old growth so there is no need to prune unless you think it getting too tall or vines get too thick and tangled.  If you do need to prune it is best to do light pruning in late winter before blooming starts.  You can also cut back back half every other year, or cut down fully to within one foot the ground every few years.

Wintertizing: lightly mulching is fine, bit keep mulch away from crown of the plant.

Ceasar Dressing

This recipe comes straight from our wonderful neighbors, Mark and Linda.  Every time we have dinner with them I end up wanting to steal a recipe to add to my collect.  First it was a recipe for Apple Bunt Cake, then one for a Strawberry Cake, now I can finally say I have a homemade amazing Caesar salad recipe.  I tried making Caesar dressing a while back when I watched an episode of Good Eat all about eggs, but it just did not work out, and was nothing compared to this one. So I hope you enjoy this recipe too!  Tell me what you think in the comments, and please, don't let the anchovies or egg scare you into not trying it.

Caesar Dressing

From the Kitchen of: Mark and Linda Bureman
Serves 3-4 people on a salad

1 egg at room temp
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar
3 anchovies
3 large cloves garlic
1/2 tsp Worcestershire
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard (or other, just not regular yellow kind)
1/4 cup Parmesan/Reggiano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

First, How to Coddle and Egg

1. Start with a very fresh egg that is room temperature (you can place in warm water to warm if needed).
2. Fill a small saucepan (deep enough to cover the egg) with water and bring to a boil.
3. Using a spoon, carefully lower the egg into the boiling water.
4. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 2 minutes.
5. Remove from the water and immediately run under cold water.
6. Crack the egg over a small bowl – you may notice that some of the white has begun to cook (that is a-okay).
7. Pour the egg into the container you plan to use to make your dressing.

Once the egg is coddled place it in the food processor.  Add all other ingredients, but salt and pepper. blend everything together, add salt and pepper to taste on top of salad. Garnish with whatever like such as more anchovies, croutons, or extra parm cheese (I prefer fresh grated for this part).