After months of doubt my three clematis cuttings have proven they’re alive! I’m really excited about this! These are the ones I put in a cup of water last summer, and they eventually sprouted roots in the water. Last fall, I planted them in little pots, and they quickly went dormant. I was worried that I either gave them too much or too little water, but I kept hoping that they were just going dormant for the winter.

So yesterday, I took one of the pots and pushed the dirt out into my hand and slowly started crumbling away the dirt to look at the roots. I found a few live roots, and then I found a tiny little sprout that was working its way up to the surface alongside the old dried up stem. I very carefully put it back in the pot without breaking up its rootball. I am so stoked! These clematis vines are a real gem — the variety is Ville de Lyon, with these wonderful, large, magenta flowers. The parent vines are not growing all that well where they are, because they’re getting a lot of root competition from trees. But I plan to plant these somewhere were they can do better.