| The ideal location will
have well drained soil that’s rich and loamy. Find a sunny or partly
shady spot where the root zone will stay cool in the heat of the summer.
Nearby plants help shade the soil. If the planting area is in the open,
plan to mulch the soil. I use rubber mulch. It doesn't break down, weeds
and bugs hate it. I also use decorative rock and gravel in pots for some
of them. But that makes the pots much heavier to move, and weeds still
crop up.
Where
to plant your clematis
- Against a wall
- Along a fence
- Near a shrub or small tree (for
free climbing support)
- With another vine (such as a
climbing roses) - Remember that it means you can't mess with the
vine much if pairing with roses, because of the rose thorns. They do
look lovely with other vines such as trumpets and honeysuckle.
- Over an arbor or pergola - I use
green twine to train mine up the panels.
- Along the top of a stone wall
- On a decorative free-standing
trellis
- On porch posts and railings.
- Around a lamp post or mailbox -
Wrap any pole-type supports you wish to cover with a wire mesh to
give the clematis a climbing guide. I have not found it necessary on
skinny posts or railings, because the vine grabs those easily.
Wider/thicker structures should have the wire mesh for the clematis
to grab onto in order to climb.
- In a container or pretty pot
- In hanging baskets - there are
several dwarf varieties that are suitable. "Bijou" is one
of them.
- In front of any unsightly thing
in your yard that you'd like to hide. There are gutter downspout
wrap-around plant cages available for vines to scamper up and hide
that particular ugly thing.
How To Plant
Clematis get crabby when they're
moved, so if you're not planting in big, moveable pots, choose the
planting site carefully. I plant mine in pots just for that reason. I
always find a better idea to re-design my gardens. So moving the plants
around is no biggie for the plant. The ideal in-ground location will
have well-drained soil that’s rich and loamy.
Find a spot where the root zone will
stay cool. I mulch the root area of all of mine to keep them from
roasting in our month-long summer heatwaves.
Use care in handling, because
Clematis vines are quite fragile and can be easily broken. I've done it
many times while training it. It'll break your heart if the vine is long
and you accidentally snap a stem.
Use high quality, potting soil with
good drainage, and add compost, if you wish. Position the crown of
the plant where the roots meet the stem 1" to 2” below the soil
surface.
Backfill the hole, press around the pot or tamp the ground to eliminate
air pockets, and water deeply to settle the roots.
Provide a trellis when you plant,
because the vine will be ready to climb on whatever it can grab onto,
and you want to stake it as it grows, and train it to climb on the
support. I stake it, no matter how small it is. I just create bamboo
stake teepees and plant that around the plants. Eventually, a stem will
look for a place to grab, and the teepee gives it options. You can make
teepees out of any kind of stakes. Just take 3, push them into the pot
or the ground in teepee fashion over your plant, and tie the tops
together. Mine are easy to stake because they're in pots, and the stakes
won't fall over or move in the ground. I like the bamboo stakes because
they're eco-friendly, thin and light and have a natural look. They also
match my bamboo garden benches. They come in a lot of sizes. I use 4 ft.
stakes in 16-inch pots, with a trellis behind it for when the plant gets
taller than the stakes and looks for something to grab onto.
Water regularly in summer. Mine let
me know right away if they were forgotten. They start to wilt right
before my eyes.. Fertilize every few weeks spring to fall,
with a natural liquid fertilizer or epsom salts. I use epsom
salts when i plant, then diluted fish emulsion every few weeks. The
plants love it and do very well. They do not get chemical feedings.
If planted directly into the ground,
protect the plant by wrapping it with wire mesh, which will help
protect it from hungry rodents, or you can put a small decorative fence
with little or no holes in front of the bed they're living in. Mine are
in big pots, and nothing bothers them. The only one I have in the ground
and not in a pot, is covered with a tall, upside-down antique galvanized
wire cage-type thing and it fills and covers it without input from me or
animal damage.
Solving
The Pruning Mystery
Pruning your clematis
will strengthen the plant, and improve flower production.
Officially, every clematis cultivar should be pruned according to a
specific pruning time and style. For example, a label might list the plant
as " Pruning Type 1", 2 or 3. Keeping track of which cultivar
should be pruned when and how is confusing. I would have to read the
specifics each season. And I'd have to pray that the plants didn't lose
their name tags.
This is how I keep it
simple....
A clematis vine does not
always need to be pruned, except to cut out dead stuff, or to rein in it's
outward growth.
You won’t need
to do any pruning for the first year or two of the vine's life,
so you’ll have time to see how the plant grows, how it flowers, and can
then prune accordingly.
For clematis that
produce most of their new growth on last year’s vines, (if you
don't see it, your plant label or description tells you that), limit
pruning to shaping and removing dead and weak stems. The
best time to prune these plants is late summer, right after they bloom.
If your clematis
sends up most of its new growth from the base of the plant, it's a type
that sets flowers on the current year's vines. These plants can simply be
cut back each year in early spring, to a height of 12-18".
I have adopted clematis
vines, and really didn't know about the three types of pruning for the
cultivars, or which ones I had, so I cut where and when it made sense, by
seeing how it grows. It's best to cut properly and at the right times to
be sure you're not preventing flowering. But I have not had any problems
using a sensible approach, similar to when I prune my ornamentals.
Clematis is tough. If you make an error in pruning, you'll figure it out
soon enough, and do it differently next time. You're not going to kill it
through haphazard pruning as you learn. In fact, my vines seem to
appreciate a haircut, even if it's not at the right time.
It's best to use the
detailed methods outlined by nurseries and arboretums, and you will know
which type of pruning is done and when, as outlined on the label and
descriptions. I have too many plants to always remember pruning dates. But
it's not awful if you don't get it right the first time. I'm good with the
"live and learn" process. Once I know it by doing, it's a piece
of cake for me to remember it.
Designing
With Ornamental Vines--->
|
