I have a problem Miss Bateman too. I moved it earlier this spring. I'm currently steeping 3 year old leaves and every clematis is getting a scoop or 2. I don't know if it will make any difference or if I just have a bad plant.

I'm pretty sure I got Miss Bateman at a big box store. Do you remember where you got your plant?

Hey, thanks, Janet. I don't remember where I got itÂplus I've started several from cuttings over the past few years and most of them are together on either side of this arch. The one lonely flower I've got reminds me why I got it, it's really special. I could probably track down where it's from; I save all the slips. In any case, I'm going to try the tomato food or bloom booster, with a light hand, and see if anything happens. I'll be sure to post again on this. Gary

I'll report on any progress as well.

I must admit I've had more than just a single bloom on "Miss Bateman"..the 1st one I have is about 5 years old and she hasn't done all that well but I am thinking it's because my Apple Tree and Lemon Tree are providing too much shade..so I planted a 2nd one in a sunnier location..I had about 6 blooms on her...being her second year in the ground..hopefully when my Apple Tree and Lemon Tree get taller..the other one will do better...neither one has been a gangbuster plant but time will tell..so far I am not that impressed with either one...some just take forever to get established..Jeanne

Maybe we all have a bad batch of tissue cultures. Jeanne, did you get both your plants locally?

The 1st one was from Silver Star Vinery and the 2nd one is from Lowe's...The one from Lowe's which was in a 4 inch pot has truly outperformed the 1st one..

My neighbor has a gorgeous Miss Bateman. I snapped this photo on my way past their house. It bloomed for a little over 2 weeks.

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Um, right. that's kinda what I was hoping for :-) Gary

Do you know how old hers is?...TIA...Jeanne

I have no idea, but she is definitely established. Its not a great photo, but if you look at the bottom, you can kinda see the thickness of the stems. There are three thick (about 1" diameter) main stems. The pole is about 5' tall.

I do not believe that there is such a thing as bad Clematis that won't bloom because they were purchased from a big box and I don't think tissue culture is a factor either.

'Miss Bateman' is 'Miss Bateman' no matter where she was purchased. She could be mis-labled for sure but I'm thinking that she must be one that is slow to establish rather than that you have a dud plant.

I would also pinch the tips to see if you can get more new growth that might bloom. I personally, hard pruned a bunch of Type IIs that didn't do squat and had big results.

While I did not correctly hard prune many of my Type IIs in the beginning to get them off to a good start, NONE of my Type IIs except Piilu has "leaped" in the third year. Even those that were correctly hard pruned years one and two.

I have a 5 year old ms.bateman that I had in a 20 gal pot for four years and always had blooms from bottom to top like the above plant has in the picture but since she is now in the ground i had 4 blooms this year. The plant above looks like the bottom vines have become very thick and woody. I have several of my clematis that seem to proform better in large pots then in the ground. By large I mean 20 plus gal size pots. Sandy