Clematis

Clematis climbs against walls, sheds and pergolas

Clematis are very versatile climbing plants, they can be seen growing almost everywhere over hedges and walls or up a trellis or tree and can produce hundreds of flowers over a long period of time.

Widely regarded as the queen of climbers Clematis are versatile plants in a great variation of forms and colours. Most produce single blooms however some are double flowering and a few Peony flowering varieties. 

Most Clematis plants are deciduous with just a few evergreen varieties.

Clematis blooms come in many shapes and sizes most are single, there are some double and multi flowering varieties. Clematis flowers do not have petals instead their sepals look like petals they are known as tepals.

There is a huge variation in the height of Clematis some are tiny while others in the montana can grow as high as 40ft. Choose Clematis for plants for all seasons; start with a Montana type like Clematis montana Rubens for early spring, for late spring early summer you can choose a Clematis Multi Blue or the well known Nelly Moser, for high summer to early autumn you can use a Jackmanni, a Ville de Lyon or for example or a Hagley Hybrid. There are plenty of varieties to select for each season.

TIP: The “rule of green thumbs when planting Clematis is, plant Clematis with thick fleshy roots deep, (approx. 10 cm. soil on top of the root ball ). Clematis with thinner web roots should be planted even with the surface, no extra soil on top of the root ball. ‘Their feet in the shade and their heads in the sun’.

How to prune Clematis