Bleedin' lovely (Clematis)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	Clematis
Date:	15/06/01 (289 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great variety, Good looking

Disadvantages: Need regulalry cutting back

It's Mr Serious Head tonight as I tell you a tale of one of nature's marvels....

The clematis is one of the favourite climbing plants to be found in the gardens of England, and have been grown in this country for hundreds of years, but the only variety which is native to these shores is Clematis Vitalba, or the old man's beard.

However, over the years hundreds of different varieties have been introduced from Europe, America and the Far East and these days there are a multitude of different varieties all tugging endearingly at the pockets of the gardener, screaming "Buy me, buy me."

It is sometimes termed the queen of flowers in deference to the rose, which is accorded the title of king, but in many ways, the clematis is far more useful and interesting than the rose, with an enormous variation in the types to be had.

The word 'clematis' comes from the Greek word klema, which literally translates as being a vine branch, and evokes perfectly the clematis and the way it winds around its supporting structures.

-------So goes the guide book - NOW, THE dave27 GUIDE TO THE CLEMATIS!!!!

I fell in love with clematis about four years ago, when we moved to our new house in Lancashire. I had to build a garden from scratch (with a little help from people found in the phone book, but the plants were all down to me) and wanted to have a lot of climbers. The clematis is absolutely perfect for covering walls and fences, but need adequate support in order to give them a suitable frame to grip onto, but once you've got them started they literally streak away.

I've never managed to get Mrs D as enthused about the clematis as me, but then she's just a pleb who wants to grow fruit in the garden - I've given up trying to put her straight.

The variety that you see most often round the gardens of England are the small pink or white flowered montana which quickly spread a th
ick coating all across an ugly wall or fence and look so striking when they bear their wonderful flowers.

However, it's the large flowered varieties, with their striking colours and shapes which are the most attractive and there are literally hundreds of these to choose from. Among those we've got in our back garden are the following:

Clematis Armandii, an evergreen variety, with beautiful, leathery leaves and charming white flowers
Clematis Alpina Pamela Jackman, with its beautiful, purplish flowers
Clematis Bees Jubilee with its very deep pink flowers barred with a red line
Clematis Nelly Moser, the most distinctive of all, with its candy striping, a truly marvellous sight

We've got about five or six other varieties, but I won't bore you with details. Let's just say they are truly wonderful flowers which will repay your faith for years to come, as long as you look after them properly, which involves cutting them back regularly once a year, being sure to get some of them sprouting near the base otherwise they can start to get really leggy.

It's said that it's relatively easy to propagate clematis from cuttings but I've never managed to get any of the cuttings I've taken to sprout and I've had to buy all the plants I've got. Most of them came from the Morrisons supermarket at Blackpool and a couple of years ago you could get a plant for £1.50. None of the ones I got from there have ever failed and I've been delighted with them.

There is a word of caution, and that's to watch out for clematis wilt, which sees the plant dying right back. I've luckily never had any of my clematis suffer, but apparently the secret if you do get this awful disease is to cut the plant right back to healthy growth.

I hope this has been of some use to you.

Signed Bayleaf the Gardener

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