It's not only babies that need cotton buds!

Well done Barbara , A happy ending and worth remembering for future reference ....
I wonder if it would work with peas .. LOL.. ours had grown so tall the wind has caught them and snapped the stems down ... perhaps not ...

well done , thats a great tip to remember ( excuse the pun ) lol

Great solution. Well done to both you and hubby. The Clematis is lovely.

Brill idea, but i will have to find a spare pr of hands if i need to do it, thinks for info.

great plan ...team work...

I know it's a group 3 Clematis and will be cut back in the spring, but I enjoy its flowers and I didn't want to miss seeing them this year!

what a lovely clematis made me laugh cos when we moved here 10 years ago we brought our montana in a pot plus trellis disaster the main stem snapped so my husband fixed it with said tape (red) it's still going strong and the tape still in situ!! what initiative our men have!!
regards neellan

I,ve taped fruit trees and a climbing rose in the past but never thought it would work on something as fragile as a clematis,thanks Spritz thats one to remember.........

Excellent inovation. Well done. Your clematis looks wonderful. I will certainly remember the Q-tip splint idea. We have so much wind here that things are always getting bent over.

Ooops.....sorry.....cotton bud splint idea. (They are called Q-tips here....don't ask me why!!).

Spritz, that is ingenious !
I tried taping one last year but didn't 'cotton-on' to the buds for the splinting, brilliant idea !

O Spritz im so glad u saved her :) Great Idea Hubby :)

~tried this with my Daphne but was too bad a split unfortunately~that black tape comes in handy though!

Yay!!!!! <clap>

How clever is that? :o)

this is brilliant well done hubby (and you)
first aid for flowers
you should write a book make a fortune

x x x

Glad the clematis has survive 'surgery' - well done Dr Spritz and the medical team :)

Thanks Barbara. Now I know what to do with mine :o)

What a brilliant idea....... iits looking good....

what a wonderful use of cotton buds and gaffer tape. My son swears by gaffer tape. He even used it to fix a puncture on his bike. But best of all the clematis looks wonderful.

Very clever! see men have their uses (oooooo bet that cooks up a storm)

No - he already knows that, Skilla! LOL.

What a great success story, Spritz!

No comment, Sewingkilla, lol!

Well done Dr Spritz first aid for Clematis always knew you had things taped when it comes to looking after them..

Mme Julia is a beauty is'nt she; I'm glad to see she recovered well.

What a great TIP, You must be a BUDding Dr. However did you COTTON on to that idea.
Sorry guys just thought I would add my two penneth worth

H & K's.......Ian

Hahahahahaha! :-D

Sue....what on earth is gaffer tape???? Is it like what we call duct tape or is it electrical tape?

No idea, Gilli - it's very tough sticky tape that you have to cut - kind of rubbery-backed?? It must be water-proof, as well. Does that help?

that one I will have to remember

Hi Spritz, can you please tell me?

Have now got a collection of four Spring-flowering clematis. Already, they are clambering beyond the spaces I allotted them. Can I contain their height and spread by pruning, or will this affect their flower power next year?

In a way, I'd like you to say "Don't do it!". I believe the early ones need little, if any pruning. The spaces I gave them are just not enough, although I can add on a small additional section of trellis support. :-)

I wrote a blog on Clematis pruning recently, David - and the answer is, yes, you can prune them now if they are in group 1 for pruning...to keep them where you want them!

Have a read of the blog - more detail there. :-)

Oh Dear, Spritz, think I just experienced one of those "senior" moments. Of course you did, we even spoke of that blog, which I read and loved. Going off there now, feeling rather silly. Many, Many Thanks! :-)

Please don't feel 'silly', David - we all do it! :-)

Many Thanks, Spritz. Your excellent blog allayed any fears I had with mine. Have even added trellis to allow my wee beauties more growth, but happy to know that i can contain them. :-)