Some pruning/removing dead foliage questions about various plants?

Hi everyone,

I think I can grow annuals and hardy perennials with no problems now, as for climbing plants and weaker perennials I'm still a bit worried they'll not survive the winter and grow back properly next year, I have a few, actually alot of questions, I'm not expecting one person to answer all of them but if any of you know about these specific plants any advice would be welcome.

This was my first year of growing a dicentra and I managed to get a second medium sized plant to grow from a cutting, the latter is safely in the greenhouse but as for the one in the ground do I take any measures to prevent it from frost? So far I've only thrown a good handful of leaves on the ground where the plant was, all the foliage has now died away.

I bought a jasmine plant which is climbing up a trellis at the back door, the leaves are evergreen I expect as they are still extremely shiny and healthy, a few buds are also still on the plant. I don't really want to move it into the greenhouse as it would mean taking it away from the support, so is there any way it could get through the harsh Irish winter outside? I think it's native to China so I'm quite concerned (again I've thrown some leaves around the pot, I somehow think that will offer a little insulation.)

I got a little honeysuckle shrub in a bargain store (I'm not sure exactly what it's specific name is, or even what a honeysuckle shrub is, I'm only aware of the climbing plant) But was tiny and very unhealthy and I felt sorry for it, it grew into a nice bushy healthy little plant all summer. Most of the leaves are now off it and there are just woody branches remaining, what should I do with them if anything?

I had a lovely clematis plant climbing up a bamboo obelisk and I don't know what to do with the old stems, do I cut them down to the ground? I had grown a clematis last year and I didn't do anything with it in the autumn, this year it only had a few flowers.

I planted oriental lilies in a pot a few years ago which were spreading more and more each year, I tried to separate the bulbs and accidently broke two stems (completely brown and dead) and stupidly split one of the bulbs, I quickly covered the bulb and placed the two little segments that came off into the new pot, will they survive my hasty attempt at giving them more room to spread?

Sorry for the amount of questions I've had the first day off in ages and I've just realised how much needs doing with the plants.

 

The Dicentra is a hardy herbaceous perennial so should be fine. As the Jasmine is in a pot I would suggest wrapping the pot in bubble wrap to protect the rootball. If the shrubby honeysuckle is in the ground just cover with frost fleece if any really cold weather is forecast, if it`s in a pot then put it in the greenhouse. Don`t worry too much about the clematis, it should be fine. Put the potted lily bulblets in the greenhouse and protect with fleece. Hope this helps.

 

Dicentra - very hardy but die back early, should be fine in the ground.

Jasmine - evergreen for now but will look increasingly bare and tatty as winter goes on. My J officinalis is very hardy, doesn't need any special treatment. If yours is by the back door it's probably in a relatively sheltered spot.

Honeysuckle shrub- is it a climber or a freestander? Both very hardy anyway. If it's a woody shrub it may well flower in February so don't cut any branches off now or you'll lose the flowers.

Clematis - what time of year did it flower, what colour and how big were the blooms? If it was a pale pink, blue or white spring flowerer don't prune it until it's finished flowering in the spring or you'll lose blooms (though you won't kill it). If it flowers June or later you can cut it down to about a foot high in Feb when the buds will start swelling.

Lilies - the little segments that comprise a lily bulb will eventually grow to flowering size although I don't think I've managed to get them to this stage yet. Some lilies seem to survive each year with their bulbs intact, others disintegrate into separate cloves and lose their central growing point - I've never worked out what causes this. Anyway, i do exactly what you do - shove them back in, cover them up and let them get on with it. If the bulb only came into two pieces maybe it will have the strength to flower next year. Otherwise, you will see lots of little leaflets instead of a big rosette.


Lily Propagation - bulblets, bulbils, scaling

So it's not just me then!

 

Thanks so much for the replies, very helpful!

Madahhlia, I can't remember whether or not the Clematis flowered before June, I think it probably was around June/July/August that it was at it's best but I took this picture when one flower appeared in late September, it's the pink one in the foreground of this pic: