We have different love affairs with different plants throughout our gardening lives - promiscuity it is sometimes called. At the moment I am most interested in clematis. I have a very small garden and when you cannot spread out any more you have to extend upwards. The clematis that interest me most are the C. viticellas. They flower in great profusion from July onwards when the gaps start to show and they do not succumb to the dreaded wilt.
C. viticella 'Etoile violette' has to be the most floriferous climber that exists. Every year without fail its dusky purple flowers are produced with absolute profusion and prodigality. 'Royal velours' is deep red, almost black and as velvety as the name suggests. I grow it up a golden holly. 'Venosa Violacea' is deeply veined with white and mauve, the colour of one bloom often differing from another. 'Purpurea Plena Elegance' is eye-catching, double and vigorous and is coloured murky purple. It needs to be draped around a bright leaved shrub such as the golden Philadelphus. Lots of very exciting new C. viticellas are coming in from Russia, Poland and Estonia. If you want to grow old shrub roses, which are glorious in June and take a permanent dive after that, grow C. viticella through them and you have blooms for the rest of the growing season.
After all that purple what is needed is translucent light blue 'Perle d' Azur' (think of the Cote d' Azur and you get the idea). It is the world's most popular clematis. In our grey climate this clematis can simulate the blue of a sunny sky. If you have a blue border that needs a late lift, 'Prince Charles' is your only man. It is compact and only needs a few canes to support it and is lovely beside that glorious yellow shrub rose 'Graham Thomas'. Recently I bought a lovely Polish C. viticella in Treasures of Tenbury Wells which has the national clematis collection. It is light blue with wavy margins and ruffled surface. It is called 'Blekitny Aniol' which is Polish for Blue Angel. The only C. texensis I grow is 'Etoile Rose' which is a gem that flowers forever (three months to be exact). It is trumpet- shaped, deep cherry pink, has a fleshy-texture and the cream on top of the cake is the silver pink on the margins of each petal.
For me, the clematis with the mostest are two C. jloridas. I grow both in largish pots which I keep in the cold greenhouse during the winter and place them outside in a sunny sheltered spot just as they are about to flower. C. florida alba plena is greenish-white and each flower is a congested mass of petals which take a full six weeks to open fully and fall. Flowers are produced all summer. The sister plant, C. florida 'Sieboldii' is even more ostentatious with deep purple anthers like a giant button in the centre of the flowers. These are the perfect cold greenhouse plants.
What do clematis need? Torrents and deluges of water in the dry season, especially when they are young, and as nutritious a diet as is possible. A heavy mulch in spring cuts down on the need to water and the modem slow release fertiliser might help you to cut down on the constant feeding they require. If you grow them through shrubs or up trees you will not need to fuss too much about trellis or other supports. As far as pruning is concerned it is nice to make one sweeping statement and cut a swathe through all the ifs and buts. All C. viticellas, C. texansis and C. florida are cut to within thirty centimetres of the base about the end of January. During spring you can tie in or guide the new growths with ties. A most therapeutic task!
Where can you see the best range of clematis in Ireland? No marks for getting this right. Grove Gardens, Fordstown, near Kells, County Meath, of course. It is reputed to be the biggest clematis garden in Europe. Here they have space to grow and the proprietor, being a farmer, has an inexhaustible supply of farmyard manure. He sells a wide variety of well-grown plants.
One of the best c1ematis articles I found on the internet is The British Clematis Society. Here you can join the Society and buy back issues of their magazine. Above all, this website takes all the mystique out of propagating, something about which most clematis books remain curiously tight-lipped.
Another cosy cartel? The clematis you should look for is a beautiful large flowered herbaceous plant called Aljonushka. I think it hails from Estonia, even though it sounds like a ruined maiden straight out of Tolstoy!