Clematis 'Piilu' blooms so beautifully, and many gardening friends asked me to share my experience - it really comes down to just these few points!

When I posted the photos of 'Piilu' blooming, many gardening friends started asking for "tips". I really don't know what unique experience I have - I just do what I see others doing: seedlings, pots, soil, water and fertilizer, sunlight, ventilation, pests and diseases, winding the vines. This time I've been asked again to "sum up my experience", and if I don't give some kind of answer, I really won't be keeping my word.

Let me first introduce my growing environment. My home only has one south-facing enclosed balcony. To grow flowers, I installed an external flower rack about 2 m outside the balcony. The sunlight is very good. The ventilation can't compare to a rooftop terrace, but it's much better than inside the balcony. In summer it gets rained on, but in other seasons it almost never gets rain. Gardening friends can compare this with their own environment and treat the methods I'm about to describe accordingly.

One: Seedlings

I generally don't buy bare-root small seedlings. Small seedlings don't have enough resistance, and if they're bare-root on top of that, they're hard to keep alive.

When I buy seedlings, I take them out of the pot to look at the roots. Most small seedlings I buy have roots that have already grown to the bottom of the pot. If the roots aren't especially numerous and aren't coiled too tightly, I'll let them settle for a while and then repot into a slightly larger pot. If I bought a multi-year-old plant with more roots, when I take it out of the pot I may see the roots tangled together so tightly that I can't even squeeze them. For this kind of seedling, I need to rinse with water while untangling the roots. This is a small seedling I just rinsed and untangled

If roots that are coiled too tightly are planted directly into the soil, the inner roots can't absorb nutrients, and over time they rot. Even if they don't rot, the plant will grow weakly and produce few flowers.

Two: Pots

Pot material: either clay-fired pots or red terracotta pots. These two kinds of pots are breathable and not prone to root rot.

Pot size: I like to grow flowers in small pots, because there is only one external flower rack outside the balcony, and I'm afraid the rack can't bear the weight of a large pot with soil. Also, if the pot is too large, the wet-dry cycle is slow and root rot easily occurs. These are the three sizes of red terracotta pots I bought. The specifications are: 10x10, 15x13.5, 20x18.5.

For a seedling that has just been planted, I use a 10x10 pot, and only fill it half full of soil. Then, depending on root growth, I add soil at the bottom of the pot as appropriate. This 'Utopia' is already a one-year-old seedling, and I still use a 10x10 pot, and only fill it a little more than half full of soil. It can still grow for a while before I add more soil.

This 'Utopia' is in a 15x13.5 pot.

This 'Worcester Beauty' was bought as a two-and-a-half-year-old seedling. When I bought it, I used a 15x13.5 pot. After half a year of growth, I switched it to a 20x18.5 pot.

This is when it first sprouted in spring

This is the blooming photo.

This 'Piilu' is in a clay-fired pot. Excluding the rim, the diameter is about 20 cm, and the pot height is 18 cm.

This 'Lyon' is about five years old, in a clay-fired pot with specifications 28x23.5. It's a bit too large. If I water a little too frequently, the roots get damaged and some leaf edges turn black.

Three: Soil

For all the flowers I grow, I use only one kind of soil: coconut coir mixed with coal cinder. I never soak the coal cinder in water either. I crush dry coal cinder, soak the coconut coir until it expands, mix the dry coal cinder with the wet coconut coir, and I don't pay attention to any particular ratio - just mix until it's loose and easy to turn over.

This is not the ideal soil, but it is economical and practical. I plan to switch to peat soil plus coal cinder in the future, which should be better.

Four: Water

I water with tap water, water thoroughly after the soil dries out - the same old story.

Five: Fertilizer

Nidong organic nutrient solution, I've been using it all along. Not just for clematis - it can be used for others too. The nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium ratio is balanced. Huayonghua Zhi - just dilute and apply to supplement the nutrients needed for blooming. Except when planting small seedlings and bare-root seedlings, when I don't add fertilizer, in all other situations I apply it diluted in water.

Six: Sunlight

This is a south-facing balcony, with almost full sun, and direct light. The flowers bloom well, but really it's not to my credit - it's all because the sunlight is good.

Seven: Ventilation

Open on three sides, against a wall on one side. It can't compare to a rooftop terrace, but it's better than inside the balcony.

Eight: Pests and Diseases

The main pests and diseases of clematis are leaf miners, clematis wilt and southern blight.

Leaf miners break out in late spring and early summer. I only have three or four clematis, so I remove the insects by hand. When I see insects landing on the leaves, I gently carry the pot and flower inside the balcony, close the screen window properly, and pinch the small flies to death with my hands. Even if I don't pinch them, the small insects are phototactic and will fly onto the screen window, making them even easier to pinch to death.

Clematis wilt: when planting clematis, expose the roots slightly and don't let the stems touch the ground. This can effectively prevent clematis wilt.

Southern blight is the most destructive disease. If discovered in time, immediately pull out the seedling, wash the roots, disinfect them, throw away the soil, and also sterilize the pot at high temperature. It can still be saved. If discovered too late, when the roots have all rotted, there is no way to save it.

Nine: Winding Stems and Pruning

In winter, I always prune the clematis. Whatever can be hard-pruned, I hard-prune as much as possible. Whatever can't be hard-pruned, I still give a simple pruning. I remove the support and wind the remaining stems onto the surface of the flower pot, because I'm a balcony grower. I really can't stand having several supports propped up outside the balcony window in the dead of winter, with a few bare stems wrapped around them.

This clematis had its stems wound in winter. Then in spring I got lazy and didn't tie the stems back onto the support, so it grew like this. At first it grew quite well, but later, as the leaves grew denser, the inside wasn't ventilated, many stems got clematis wilt, and a large number of flower buds had to be cut off. Only about half the flower buds remained, and it still bloomed this much. Next time I won't be lazy.