Today being a weekday, it wasn't as busy at the plant centre as it was over the weekend. I spent some time untangling the clematis in the climber tunnel. They have suddenly leapt into growth, and are sending out tender young shoots in all directions, which will cling to the bamboo cane in the next pot as happily as their own. I like clematis. The way they climb is fascinating, winding their leaf stalks around whatever support they can find. There is something very soothing and meditative about uncurling the little stalks, and tracing each stem back to its own pot. I fastened the loose stems to their canes using a tie gun, a useful though cranky device that lets you wrap green plastic tape around whatever you are tying up, then staples the two ends of the tape together while cutting it off from the reel of tape in the gun. When it works. Many of the clematis have already over-reached the tops of their supports, and unless they were carrying well-developed flower buds that it would be too much of a waste to cut off, I cut them back to a pair of leaves at the top of the cane. Those that were only just above the end of the cane had their tips nipped out, to encourage them to bush out. It is sad cutting out all that healthy growth, but if allowed to grow above their support they eventually flop over and break, and once they grow into each other the more timid customers won't buy them, while the more ruthless can cause serious damage trying to extract the plant they want.
After lunch the manager enquired if I was getting too hot in the tunnel, and would prefer to switch to potting left-over bare-root fruit, but I was quite happy where I was. People go on holiday to get a climate like that.
Working out in the plant centre rather than inside operating the till I'm in the front line for fielding customer queries. A couple from Felixstowe wanted to know what climbers I could recommend to grow very close to the sea. This isn't something I've ever given much thought to, and thinking about it today I realised I didn't particularly associate climbing plants with the idea of a seaside garden. They told me that wisteria did well in their garden, so I learnt something from them. I wondered if it would be worth trying Campsis, in that while the boss says on the label that it requires sunny sheltered conditions, I have seen healthy looking ones flowering freely along the tops of garden fences in Burnham-on-Crouch, and that must get quite strong and salty winds sweeping up the estuary. The manager thought that kiwi fruit and grapevines might be worth a go, as both would tolerate arid conditions. Hillier's dictionary only came up with Russian vine, which I couldn't recommend to anybody (unless maybe they wanted to conceal an aircraft hanger) and Muehlenbeckia, but that has funny little leaves and nothing much in the way of flowers and the customers already had it and didn't fancy another. There is a pergola in the seafront gardens at Clacton (which were restored around the turn of the millennium and are rather nice, as municipal gardens go) and I wished I'd paid more attention to what was growing on it (though I may have written it down in my garden visiting notebook, but I didn't have that with me). It is a good question, climbing plants for the seaside, and has given me something to think about.
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