I’m all about the vines since I’ve started training them to give me screening and privacy (see before and after in this video). But I hadn’t included clematis in the project because I’d never had success with them – unless you count the out-of-control Sweet Autumn Clematis that’s a noxious weed in these parts.
But then a couple of weeks ago Adrian Higgins wrote about clematis on in the Washington Post and I HAD to have one. Or more. (Nonsubscribers to the Post, if the paywall won’t let you in, try using your browser’s incognito setting.)
Higgins especially praised the later- and smaller-blooming C. viticella like this ‘Sweet Summer Love’ variety shown in the photo above, growing among roses in his own garden. He touted them as somewhat easier to deal with, which was all I needed to hear.
But when I scoured garden centers across two counties in the Maryland suburbs of DC, there were none to be found. Worse, at some stores there were no clematis to be found of any kind! Which only made me want them more, and want them NOW, not next year, because I’d read Higgins initial word of wisdom (of many) on the subject of clematis vines: they won’t look like much for the first two years. “This is what is required of clematis: you plant it in fairly rich soil, you chop it back, then you let it slumber for at least two years.”
So I wanted the slumbering to start ASAP.
Left to right: The President and Will Goodwin.
So I wound up with the more common and difficult type of clematis that blooms twice – in late spring/early summer and again in late summer/early fall – one ‘The President’ and one ‘Will Goodwin.’ But now that I’m committed to them, I reread Higgins’s article and found it daunting.
- Where to grow? The one weird pickiness of clematis I was familiar with is “liking their head in the sun and their feet in shade.” But how to plant them is weirder still – inches above the crown or where they were growing in the pot, then cutting them back to no taller than 12 inches. Higgins acknowledges it’s hard to remove all that nice growth, but says it’s worth it for the increased branching both actions are intended to achieve.
- They’d better not dry out, so water regularly and mulch them. They “like moisture but not wetness.” Got that?
- And also they need feeding!
- Then there’s pruning, which is complicated and intimidating. There are three groups, and the Group 2 that includes my newly bought varieties indicates that they bloom on old and new wood, so better not do much to them! Just remove the dead stuff (duh) in late winter. (Higgins refers readers to the Clematis Society’s website, which “has sought to simplify this by publishing a info about the pruning groups.)
- Oh, and the large-flowered ones like mine are prone to disease! “One evening you see the vine about to burst forth, and the next morning you are greeted with stems and unopened buds that have collapsed. Not every stem is always afflicted, but it’s enough to ruin the show.” What???? It’s called Clematis Wilt and it’s baaaaad, caused by not enough sunlight or air circulation. So something else to add to the site requirements, along with not too much sunlight at the base.
- And careful – the stems are brittle, so make sure you don’t harm it during the planting process, which we know is weird to begin with.
So despite my many decades of planting perennials, I felt anxious about planting my new clematis vines, with all their strange requirements and frailties. So naturally I turned to YouTube, where I homed in on one my favorite gardening channels – Oklahoma Gardening – and found this one that showed me what I needed to know.
Scenes from the video. (L) Showing what depth to plant it at – looks like 3″ above the soil level in the pot. (R) Pointing to where to cut back the plant to after planting – to no taller than 12.”
More tips from the video:
- Amend the soil with compost and add bone meal.
- Remove the post the vine is attached to, and all the ties, detach all the stems from each other, and then spread them out before attaching them to their new support. (This applies to all vine, right?)
- She also suggests getting a wire cage for the clematis to attach to if the support is too thick for the leaves to wrap around (as is the wooden fence in the video). Or couldn’t we just hammer in a few nails to attach string to, to tie up the vine?
- Her parting words remind me of Higgins’ opening advice in his article: “If you pay a little attention to it right at the beginning and get it trained right, they become pretty maintenance-free and provide a lot of enjoyment for the garden.”
Well, I’d say I’ve paid more than a little attention, catering to every single demand this picky plant makes on the gardener, and it had better deliver. Not any time soon, of course, but two years from now these babies had better dazzle.
The image of a friend’s assorted varieties of clematis on one support inspired me to plant my ‘The President’ and ‘Will Goodwin’ at the base of the same pole.
I’ve tried clematis because they’re so pretty when they’re blooming but I’ve decided that anything that is that picky about its location and requires so much attention doesn’t belong in my garden. The ones I had died and have been replaced by plants that are harder to kill. Fortunately, screening out views of the neighbors isn’t a problem I have
You’re absolutely correct about Sweet Autumn being a noxious weed! I love them, but they pop up everywhere (usually deep in a rose bush or other shrub) and are hard to eliminate as they sneak through and around other plants.
C. jackmanii is my “go-to”….seems to be less fussy here and deep purple is the local college color so it is pretty popular.
‘The President’ is gorgeous and will be well worth the wait.
Same problems here in Washington (the one above Oregon)! This is the first I’ve read about chopping the new plant to 12” though. If you do that, there isn’t anything to tie to the support structure. In my book, this is directly contradictory advice, so I’m scratching my head. Meanwhile, my newly planted (mid April) type 1 clematis, which bloomed profusely at end of April and is now looking on its way to death, has me perplexed!
I used to be a Clematis obsessive. I probably have 10 books on the Genus and at its peak my collection amounted to about 130 varieties. Nearly all the books give the same advice that you reproduce here. Which of course is very off putting and none of it will stop wilt! Anyway life became too busy to look after them so for about 15 years none have been fed or nurtured. I do prune them. So what thrives on neglect for me. (In relatively moist Wales, UK)? My Montanas are a delight every year. Huge and flower covered and never pruned. Similarly the macropetalas and alpinas which flower in early spring. The orientalis varieties are reliable and I’ve not had them wilt. Prune them and the viticellas hard to 12 inches and they do well. Never grow plants which require different pruning regimes up the same supports!
Well. This explains why my newly planted Clematis is now my dead Clematis. My mother loved them, so I decided to try one in her memory. Guess I will have to try again, now that I have much better advice 9n what I am trying to accomplish.
I have three varieties of clematis, and your post makes me want a few more. That said, I haven’t pruned mine, which is perhaps why, one of three hasn’t bloomed. Your post and the link to the Washington Post article were very helpful. I have my (common) Jackmanni, which is new this year, poised to grow up the deck railings. Thanks to this post, I know it will need a thinner support. Let us know how it goes for yours in 2 years. (The two you purchased are absolutely beautiful.) Oh, and of course I give two thumbs up for the “Laura” clematis mentioned in the Post article. I plan to buy one.
Never give up just because you’ve killed a plant. I have had one clematis succumb to clematis wilt, and it is indeed devastating. Years ago, as a new gardener, I was in love with Jackmanii. Now it bores me to tears, but it is the one you find in most garden centers. (I still have mine growing in the front on a trellis near the front door. It’s been there for about 15 years.) Let me tell you about the one that has me swooning now: my clematis Gravetye Beauty, with deep tulip shaped cups of deep burgundy/raspberry. It attracts hummingbirds. It cost a pretty penny years ago at Broken Arrow nursery in CT. Oddly, it went kaput, leaving me very disappointed. Lo and behold, about 3 years later, I saw it growing from the ground! By the way, do you know the name of the deep purple one on your friend’s support? I am going to guess Sapphire Indigo? Just remember the saying about clematis: first year, it sleeps; second, it creeps; third, it leaps.
The big ones are ugly and deserve to wilt. Three cheers, say I. After all Charles’ efforts (though hardly 130!??) I am very grateful that we only have the better, prettier, smaller flowered ones left. But some of those seem to wilt and revive, wilt and revive ad nauseum.
But the Montanas are amazing and are currently flowering their socks off. I thought today that any new gardener with any space, as in trees to send them up for example, should plant montanas straight away. As many as they can afford and can find the necessary trees and bushes to let them rampage over. No trouble and such reward.
http://clematisinternational.com/
(Possible helpful resource)
I don’t think I have ever fertilized my ‘Betty Corning’ clematis except maybe a shovelful of compost once or twice, and they are HUGE. I cut them back every winter (even though you are not supposed to) and they continue to prosper. Ditto ‘Avant-garde’. “Niobe’ is another matter – it struggles but hangs on year after year. I am trying Clematis Paniculata in a container this year, to climb the pergola; expecting a Jackmanii in the fall. Hmm. I didn’t realize I was a clematis person.
Digging Dog Nursery has C. viticella varieties.
I have good luck with a viticella, Madame Julia Correvon, and the jackmanii the professor notes above. I have failed miserably with others and succeeded all too well with clematis virginiana, which may be native, but is a worse thug than Sweet Autumn.