growing clemetis
By Cookygirl41
mid glamorgan,
United Kingdom 
Hi all! Ive had clem. montana in a large container to cover garden shed, its covered a fair bit but its not growing well, so I got my husband to take up patio slabs up from underneath container and cut the bottom of the container off so the roots can go into the ground. Will this make a difference? Im not expecting much this year but will it grow better for future years. Thx
30 Apr, 2009
Answers
The thing is the plant has entwined itself over the shed and I didnt want to break wht was there. There are new shoots on there and i didnt want to damage them.
30 Apr, 2009
I am sure that your problem is that the clematis is root bound and I can understand why you cannot plant it directly into the soil. Get your husband to loosen the soil beneath the pot and also try to pull some of the root down out of the pot and get it started in the soil beneath. Then make sure that the soil beneath gets regularly moistened by the rain.
30 Apr, 2009
Then possably build up more soil around the base, if it is against the shed and build some stones around it to make a little raised bed for it, to keep the root well cooled and protected, that way, it should send more shoots out below ground level if it is at all traumatised.
30 Apr, 2009
Previous question
I would suggest removing the pot altogether as probably it is root bound and would need the roots to be teased out a bit.
30 Apr, 2009