N.Z. CLEMATIS IN SCOTLAND

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 283, 3 December 1935, Page 2

N.Z. CLEMATIS IN SCOTLAND

GROWER’S CLAIM. SU CC ESS FU L CULT I. V A TlO N. LONDON, Nov. 2. A correspondent, writing to Country Life, tells of the successful cultivation of the New Zealand species of clematis (Clematis Armandii) in Scotland. The writer protests against the general idea that the plant is a particularly tender subject, states a London correspondent. “In my garden in eastern Perthshire,” he writes, “two plants have now been growing for eight years with no diminution of flowering or growth owing to frost either in v.utumn, winter or spring. Even the devastating frosts of last May only browned the tips of a few shoots, and fresh growth appeared with remarkable speed as soon as warm weather set in. “They are both planted against a high brick retaining wall facing duo south, and in full sun, in ordinary garden loam on the heavy side, which is never watered in times of drought. Possibly one of the reasons for success is that it is a retaining wall. An ordinary garden shelter wall is nut always so much of a protection as might be imagined, for if it faced south a constant cold northerly wind in spring will chill its reverse to such an extent that it will not retain sun heat drawn in during the day for more than an hour or so after sundown, with the consequence that wall temperature will vary enormously during the 24 hours. Not so with a retaining wall or house wall, for in both rases the difference in temperature in daylight and darkness is not nearly so pronounced. At any rate, it is to he hoped that my experience with Clematis Armandii may induce others who live in our colder shires to try it, as it is a very worthy plant.