CLEMATIS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 4 June 1938, Page 24

CLEMATIS

FLOWERS OF REGAL SPLENDOUR The loveliness of the varied and fipnferous members of this genus of climbing plants has made them immensely popular. Yet, we see, hear, and read about a large proportion of failures, and sometimes of reluctant decisions to abandon the attempt to grow them. We can understand a householder, who makes no pretence of being a gardener, giving up the attempt to grow a particular kind of plant after having failed once or twice, but when even experienced professional gardeners admit themselves beaten, it must be realised that something is radically wrong. Still, we declare that clematises are too beatftiful to be set aside, and the dogged determmation that is so characteristic of the plantsman must sustain efforts to surmount all difficulties until triumph is complete. A NOTE OF OBSERVATION During journeys which have taken us over a good deal of Great Britain, we have noted with much interest that most, although not all, of the clematis plants which may fairly be described as extraordinary have grown elsewhere than close against house walls we could name the exceptions to that rule, some of them very remarkable for the area of wall space the plants are covering, but these flourishing wall plants have been, not on south walls, exposed to the full sunshine of the hottest days of summer, but on the sides of houses where the exposure is to the west or north-west. We have noticed this in Scotland, as well as in the east and south of England It is not just plants which have managed to reach the roof of a porch over a doorway, but really massive plants which cover the whole end or side of a big house with a rich curtain of luxuriant foliage and sheets of gorgeous blossom. Still another point to be mentioned is that these biggest plants had not their main stems or young growths fastened close on to the brick or stone face of the wall, but were spread and trained over treillage of wood or wire some inches away from the solid background, leaving air space behind the plants. In contrast to this, we have seen many miserably unhealthy plants which have been planted in what their owners have described as the warmest and sunniest side of the house, and their slender stems have been held by shreds to the wall, so that they actually touch the hot brickwork at many points, Proof appears to be ample for conviction that scorching and restricted circulation of air has a deal to do with the collapse or the lingering sickly existence of many of these fine plants

Although a thriving clematis Is about as beautiful a wall covering as can be desired, it certainly seems to be the rule that the happiest and finest specimens are those which clamber over verandas, porches, or pillars that enable the branches to keep clear of a wall which becomes hot in summer. Plants with their root-run shaded by spreading or low-growing shrubs or border plants also do better than those in an exposed, hard-baked bed of soil.

We would emphasise the fact that erections of rustic or trellised woodwork, clear away from walls, afford support far more to the liking of a clematis, and the informal disposition of their long trails of growth is far more pleasing than the flattened spread obtainable by wall training. Some of the most glorious examples are found when the plants are allowed to find their own way up among the branches of some old tree. Tripods or rough mounds of rustic wood fixed in an open spot, with one or more plants placed conveniently to ramble over the whole pile will, in the course of two or three years, make such a mound of verdure and blossom that it will be a revelation to many to witness what the capabilities of a thoroughly happy clematis really are. Each belongs to the lanuginosa section, distinguishable by a certain wooliness in the coating of their leaves and young growths. This is the class which flowers on lateral shoots issuing from main stems, but later in summer most of the hybrids produce a second crop of flowers on young wood. Such pruning as these require should be done during the month of September, and should consist of cutting back the weakest growths, leaving only one leaf joint at the base. The chief purpose is to thin out the stems which are not strong enough to flower, thus giving more space, air, 1 and daylight to the stronger branches. These need not be cut back, as is done in the case of the Jackmanni varieties, but when a plant becomes old and unwieldy it is a good plan to cut one of the oldest limbs right out. By doing this each year, so long as there are any very old branches left to cut. the whole plant may be rejuvenated, and brought within the scope of easy management. As for planting, the fact that nurserymen send out clematises in pots renders it practicable to transfer the roots into fresh soil at almost any time between April and September. Needless to say, it would be folly to plant in muddy ground or during hard frosts, but otherwise our advice is plant now. or as soon as possible. One other point we would mention; in addition to the beauty of the flowers, most kinds of clematis produce lovely silky seed heads, providing another entrancing display in late autumn and into winter.—-A. J. M.. in Amateur Gardening.