Today, I took the lid off the tray with cosmos seedings. I’ve been propping it up for three or four days to allow some airflow and to accommodate the tall seedlings that were starting to hit the cover. So far, the seedlings are handling it well.

Last fall, I took some cuttings from my Japanese maples and put them in cups of water with willow cuttings. The willow branches are supposed to release a rooting hormone into the water. I left them in the water all winter. Some got a bit moldy or mildewy. Today, I dipped them in rooting hormone powder (RooTone) and placed them in a moist mixture of peat moss and Perlite. I put four or five in a 4-inch pot and closed it in a ziploc bag. I put them in a spot in the basement where the sun won’t shine directly…

All right! I’m getting a bunch of sprouts from the white coneflower seeds I sprinkled on top of the soil in one of the seedling trays. It took about a week, and I’d say about 40% have sprouted. I transferred some into other cells. I think some more of the seeds will sprout in the coming week. A few more of the poppies are sprouting up now, but there are still about 20 that haven’t come up (I thought it was 15 earlier). I propped the lid up on the tray with cosmos seedlings, because some are getting too tall.…

Rose Fertilizer – Rose Magazine This article has a formula for organic rose fertilizer. It looks worth investigating.

I need an online “to-do” list for all this stuff I plan to do. This is a reminder to fertilze the heck out of my roses this year. In a few weeks, I need to give them a granular fertilizer high in phosphorous. Some people recommend tomato fertilizer. I’ll have to check how the container of rose fertilizer I have compares to the “bloom booster” stuff I also have and to tomato fertilizer.

I received some good responses to my post on my Clematis vines: Yes, tree roots are a problem for clematis in my opinion. They rob so much of the moisture and nutrients that clematis may well struggle. Your Ville de Lyons are only babies still, and will take several years to reach normal size. Wayside sells ‘liner plants’ at a premium price. This is rather unfair to unsuspecting consumers in my opinion. Ville de Lyon is a group 3, hard prune type, and I simply shake my head when I see well known nurseries make the mistake of incorrect pruning…

Yes! I’m seeing some of the white coneflower seeds beginning to send out roots now. I sprinkled a bunch of them on top of the soil in one of my seedling trays. I put the heating pad under that tray yesterday or the day before. It’s working. Also, I count something like 25 of the poppies that haven’t broken the soil yet. I thought all the seeds I planted had a little root coming out of them when I put them in the soil, so I hope they’ll all pop up soon. Two or three new sprouts came up today.…

I haven’t gotten any answers on GardenWeb yet, and I did a quick search on clematis and tree roots I found this statement below. Note what it says about tree roots (bolded): Clematis have a reputation for being difficult to grow, however, like any other plant, if their needs can be met by the site and proper care, they will thrive. Clematis require full sun to grow best (6+ hours direct sun per day) though some dappled shade during the heat of the day is beneficial. Flowers of some red and blue large-flowered hybrids and the bicolors fade badly if…