The ubiquitous clematis

Miss Bateman

I love clematis.  In my opinion, it is an indispensable addition to any garden.  It is everything a gardener could want in a flowering plant: beauty, resilience, easy-going temperament, and can be found in multiple colors, with various flower-types and bloom times.  It is also a climbing vine, which means it can be used to create vertical color in any garden space. You can train clematis to climb anything -- trellis, tripod, wall, arbor and fence. You can even plant it under a non-flowering or early flowering shrub (i.e., lilac, viburnum) to create color later in the season.  Unlike ivy or grapevine, clematis will not smother the shrub, but will gracefully snake its way up through the branches adding splashes of color throughout. The clematis will also benefit greatly from the shade the shrub provides to its roots (clematis grows best in an area where it has lots of sunlight, but shady feet).  Ultimately, my goal is to have at least one type of clematis in every flower bed in our garden.

Currently, I have spring bloomers (Miss Bateman, above), early to mid-summer bloomers (Jackmani - "Queen of the Climbers" and Niobe) and my autumn beauty, "Sweet Autumn."  

Jackmani

Sweet Autumn

My Sweet Autumn resides on the south-side of my front porch and has grow so profusely you can barely make out the wooden trellis beneath.  Few clematis bloom in fall making this a particular favorite of mine.  The Sweet Clematis can grow from 20-30' tall and has a bushy, cascading form. Beginning in late summer and lasting into mid-October, Sweet Autumn blooms with thousands (and that's no exaggeration) of small, star-shaped, white blossoms.  If you're into fragrant flowers, Sweet Autumn fits that bill as well.  

Sweet Autumn again -- she's not fully flowered yet, but gives a sense of scale

The only "challenge" to maintaining clematis (and it's not much of one if you pay attention to what you plant) is that clematis are pruned in accordance with their "type" or "group." 

Group 1 - generally flower in spring and bloom on old growth; prune sparingly after blooms are spent.  The goal is to clear out dead wood and keep the stems tidy.

Group 2 - produces flowers on old wood in late spring/early summer and often blooms again on new wood in late summer or fall.  In March, remove dead wood and cut the remaining stems 6 to 8 inches to a pair of strong buds.  Can prune sparingly in early summer after first bloom just to tidy.

Group 3 - the easiest of the bunch; blooms on new wood in the summer and fall; dies to the ground over winter.  Each year in March, prune all stems back to a strong set of buds 6-12 inches from the ground.

Although I adore the fragrance and beautiful, full blooms of a rambler or climbing rose, roses are infinitely more finicky, temperamental and not very winter-hardy (a big problem up here in North Country).  When it comes to vertical color, a clematis will win me over every time.