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"Growing the Many Different Clematis" Clematis are some of the showiest vines. They bear large, colorful flowers on vigorous, climbing stems. They are good choices for arbors, trellises, or for covering fences. In my garden, I grow them in all three locations as well as in trees, shrubs, and with climbing roses. There are many varieties of clematis and I've grown many different ones over the years, but there are some unique ones that have become my favorites. Click on a plant name below to order it from Pernell Gerver's Online Store. 'Josephine' is a new variety that I first came across several years ago in a trial garden. It is such a striking clematis with flowers that don't look anything like the clematis most gardeners are familiar with. Each flower has a single row of rose-pink base petals that surround a cluster of double, pale-pink petals in the center. As the flower matures, the outer petals fall away, leaving the central cluster, giving the flower a pompon effect. It is a long-blooming variety, flowering from June to August. 'Belle of Woking' is another variety that has unusual flowers. Its pale-blue flowers are fully double. To me, its flowers look more like a waterlily than a clematis. In the center of the flower is a cluster of bright-yellow stamens. It's one of the best blue-flowered varieties. It blooms in May and June and again in September. 'Ken Donson' bears some of the largest flowers of any clematis variety. Each flower averages six to seven inches across. The flowers are deep, royal purple with a cluster of bright-yellow stamens in the center that really stand out against the purple petals. It blooms from June to September. Clematis viticella venosa violacea is a bi-colored variety. Its single flowers have deep-violet petals that are brushed with white in the center. It's a prolific bloomer and is covered with flowers from mid summer to early autumn. 'Niobe' is one of the best red-flowered clematis varieties. It bears single, rounded, deep, ruby-red flowers. Each velvety flower has a cluster of bright, golden-yellow prominent stamens in the center. It's in bloom from June to September.   Clematis aren't generally known for fragrant flowers, but there is one species that I grow that bears very-fragrant flowers. Clematis montana rubens has flowers that have a wonderful vanilla-like fragrance. Its small, single flowers vary in color from light pink to deep rose. To me, they look like a pink dogwood flower. It's a vigorous variety that's covered in blooms in early summer.

by Pernell Gerver

"Sweet Potatoes Can Be Grown in the Northeast" Q. We have attempted to grow sweet potatoes with limited success. Some reached the right size, but many were smaller. Please advise if you are aware of anyone successfully growing them in the Northeast and by what means. A. Sweet potatoes require a long growing season at around 150 days. They are usually grown in the South. However, I have grown them in my garden in the Northeast with some success. Since sweet potatoes require such a long growing season, it is best to start them indoors in early May. Fill a glass half full with water and suspend the sweet potato tuber over the glass so that half the tuber is in the water. Twist off the shoots that form and root them in water. Plant the shoots outdoors in mid June, when night temperatures are 60 degrees and above. Sweet potatoes prefer warm, sandy, poor, dry soil that is slightly acidic. Growing them in raised beds with black plastic is a good idea because the soil warms up sooner in the season and is well drained. Try to keep the plants from running. Don't fertilize or improve the soil too much. Rich soil and lots of fertilizer produces too much top growth and not much root growth. Sweet potatoes can be harvested smaller, but don't let the frost touch the roots. Also, try growing them in containers such as bushel baskets. Click here to submit gardening questions for Pernell Gerver's online Q & A column. Click here to read previous online columns in the archives.