Every flower gardener should know the pleasure of growing Clematis. If you already have one in your garden, you're probably scheming about how to squeeze in another! New to Clematis? Read on and discover how easy it is to be successful with the "queen of climbers."
Selecting
Clematis plants have become hugely popular perennials, and today, the average local garden center offers dozens of different choices. When selecting a Clematis for your garden, you'll want to think about a couple of things, including its mature height, flower form, and color.
If you have room for a vigorous 10- or 20-foot (3 or 6 m) Clematis vine, there are many beautiful cultivars that will fit the bill. More compact varieties are also perfectly happy growing in a small garden or even in a pot on the patio.
The standard Clematis flower form is a large blossom with 6 or 7 petals, measuring 5 to 6 inches (12.5 to 15 cm) across. There are also cultivars with smaller blossoms, double blossoms, and lovely bell-like flowers. Colors range from white to wine red, lavender to deep purple, and even a few yellow ones.
It can take several years for a Clematis vine to mature and begin flowering vigorously. To shorten the wait and help ensure your success, it's best to purchase a plant at least two years old. Look for a container-grown plant in a quart or gallon-size pot. If you're shopping for your Clematis at a garden center or nursery, select a robust plant showing vigorous growth rather than a weak plant with a beautiful picture.
Where to Plant
Hopefully, you have a planting location in mind before you bring home your new Clematis. Ideally, it's a sunny spot.
Clematis prefer moist, well-drained, neutral soil to a slightly alkaline pH. If your soil tends to be acidic, you should sweeten it periodically with limestone or a little wood ash. Dig a good hole for your new Clematis, working in lots of compost and some granular organic fertilizer.
Be very gentle when settling the plant into its new home; the roots, crown, and emerging vines of Clematis can be easily broken. Position the plant slightly deeper than it was growing in the pot so the first set of true leaves is just under the soil surface. Water weekly for the first season to help the plant get established. If you can get your Clematis through its first year, the chances are good that it will continue to thrive. Mulching around the base of the plant will help conserve moisture, but keep the mulch several inches away from the crown, where the vines emerge from the soil.
Clematis are happiest with cool shade at their roots and warm sun on their foliage. Mulching around the roots will help keep the soil cool, as will the foliage of a low-growing perennial.
How to Support
Like other climbing plants, the growing end of a Clematis vine is searching for something to grab onto, and if it can't find anything, it will stop growing. Make sure you provide it with something to climb on from day one.
A Clematis vine does not climb by twining around something, as a Pole Bean or a Morning Glory does. It climbs by wrapping its leaf stems around something. Because these leaf stems are not very long, anything more than 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) in diameter is too wide for the leaf stem to twist around. The easiest things for a Clematis to grab onto are twine, fishing line, wire, thin branches, wooden dowels, or steel rods. The more grabbing opportunities you offer, the better, so even if you have a nice trellis, consider adding some twine "helper" lines or covering your trellis with a grid of trellis netting.
Depending on the vigor of the plant and the type of trellis you have, you'll probably need to do some "trussing" during the season to help support the vines and keep them attached to the trellis. Both the fishing line and twine work well for this job.
Pruning and Care
Clematis vary in their need for pruning. Some types flower on last year's vines, so you want to avoid cutting them to the ground in the spring. Others flower on current-year vines, so they don't mind being cut to the ground yearly. Rather than driving yourself crazy trying to keep track of the ideal pruning technique for each cultivar: leave the prior year's growth in place until mid-spring. Begin pruning only when you can see which vines are dead and which ones are starting to leaf out.
A happy clematis plant puts out an amazing amount of flowers and foliage. Feed your plants well to keep them healthy and vigorous. In early spring, surround the plant with a shovelful of compost and a handful of granular organic fertilizer. Feed again, once or twice during the growing season, with a water-soluble organic fertilizer.
Source: gardeners.com
Links
- Back to genus Clematis
- Plantpedia: Browse flowering plants by Scientific Name, Common Name, Genus, Family, USDA Hardiness Zone, or Origin