Planting Clematis, the Queen of Climbers
Do you know... clematis is known as the queen of climbers and is among the most decorative and spectacular of all the flowering vines? It looks great growing on trellises, over arbors, and up posts. The star like blooms come in beautiful shades of pink, white, blue, red, purple, and bicolor.
I have always loved clematis, and over the years I have grown many varieties of this wonderful plant. When I purchased my Bedford, New York farm, I built a long, winding pergola, supported by antique granite uprights where I could grow lots of clematis. From time to time, we add more clematis to these supports. We also plant them next to some of the surrounding trees. And then starting in late spring, a surge of magnificent clematis blooms appear and continue through summer.
Here are photos of some of the clematis we planted yesterday, enjoy.
-
- In late June, all the posts along my winding pergola are filled with clematis flowers – shades of sparkling shades of lavender, blue and purple.
-
- Each pair of posts grows the same variety, but over the years, I’ve added others all in the same palette of colors.
-
- Clematis is a genus of about 300-species within the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. The name Clematis comes from the Greek word “klematis,” meaning vine.
-
- Yesterday, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and Phurba Sherpa from my Outdoor grounds crew, placed and planted a collection of new clematis plants from Monrovia, one of our sources for quality perennials.
-
- Ryan places each potted clematis beside the post where it will be planted.
-
- This is ‘Sapphire Indigo’ – a compact vine that shows off stunning masses of sapphire blue flowers. The standard clematis flower has six or seven petals, measuring five to six inches across.
-
- This can be grown upward as a vine or even without support and trained as a ground cover.
-
- Most clematis leaves are pinnately compound and heart-shaped with a smooth to coarsely toothed margin. They also feature a pointed tip and a shallowly lobed cleft at the petiole.
-
- Phurba digs the hole next to the post. He is also careful not to disturb any bulbs in the soil.
-
- The ideal fertilizer for clematis is a balanced food that will provide low-key, continuous release steady feeding. We are using Rose & Bloom by Scotts.
-
- Phurba carefully removes the plant from its pot…
-
- … and teases its roots, or scarifies the root ball. This stimulates the roots to grow.
-
- Then Phurba places it into the hole, backfills, and points the top toward the post. As the vine grows, it will be wrapped loosely around the post.
-
- This is Clematis ‘Arabella’ with beautiful, color-changing blooms. Its single flowers with slightly upturned sepal edges open to violet-blue, then develop mauve-colored centers and fade to soft blue as they age.
-
- This clematis is called ‘Comtesse de Bouchard’ – a compact woody vine with leathery textured foliage and a profusion of large, brilliant pink blooms with soft yellow centers.
-
- These deeper clematis varieties are placed in another location near my blueberry bushes – some along the outside of my flower garden fence, some on the posts of the blueberry pergola, and some around the persimmon trees just in front of the blueberry bushes.
-
- Clematis ‘Killian Donahue.’ This cultivar is one of the most dramatic clematis with flowers ranging from shades of deep ruby red to brilliant fuchsia and lavender with orchid-pink highlights. It’s a great climber for fences and arbors.
-
- This is Clematis ‘Boulevard Acropolis’ – another long-lasting variety. This clematis produces an abundance of large, showy intensely pink blooms.
-
- Clematis ‘Piilu’ is noted for being one of the heaviest blooming Clematis with its bright pink flowers. In cooler climates, this plant blooms non-stop from late spring through early fall.
-
- I hope you have one or two clematis growing in your garden. Most species are called clematis, but it has also been called traveller’s joy, virgin’s bower, leather flower, or vase vine. It’s also been called “Old Man’s Beard,” because of the long fluffy seed heads that look similar to an old man’s beard. Many clematis are also lightly scented. If you don’t have clematis, pick one up this week and plant it – you’ll love it as much as I love all of mine.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
