One of the greatest gardeners, William Robinson, wrote that no other group of plants equals the Clematis in variety and beauty among hardy climbers. High praise, but entirely justified, though the genus is not confined to climbers.
They vary in habit from herbaceous plants little more than a foot high to woody climbers 50’ feet or more in length.
And the variation is not confined to length dimensions, for the leaves and flowers range in color from white through yellow, pink, red, and blue to deep purple. Some are small and hang in airy panicles; others are large and single, but all are beautiful.
Clematis is found wild in every part of the United States except the coldest. The most familiar one growing in the East is virgins’ bower or woodbine, Clematis VIRGINIANA.
This climbs over shrubs and trees at the edges of woodland and along fences. A similar variety in the West is Clematis LIGUSTICIFOLIA.
Clematis And Its Uses
Clematis was familiar to the ancients of the Old World and the Indians of the new. And it was not without its uses.
Like all members of the buttercup family, Clematis contains an acrid principle. In Europe, the leaves were often applied to aching rheumatic joints, and beggars rubbed their sores with them so the inflammation would excite the generosity of the charitable.
Some American Indians chewed on clematis leaves or twigs to relieve sore throat. The Hopi Indians, observing the Itairness of the seeds, made a decoction of them for use as a scalp tonic.
Flourishes In Every Garden
Though the wild native species are so widespread, the cultivated Clematis has never been sufficiently appreciated in the gardens of this country.
Fortunately, this condition is now changing, and Clematis here may be on its way to the popularity it has in England.
The native English clematis, clematis VITALTIA, flourishes now as it did in the 16th century when John Gerard wrote its “decking walls and hedges, where people travel!, and thereupon I have named it Traveller’s Joye.”
The “long, woody and Viney branches” extend themselves eerie far and into infinite numbers, decking with clasping tendrils and white starlike flowers (being eerie sweet).
All the bushes, hedges, and shrubs that are near unto it. His next species lie ladies’ bower or virgins’ pavilion, which I take from his aptness in making Arbors, Bowers, and shade covertures in Gardens.”
There are many uses today for a flowering climber: on a porch or trellis, as a screen, as a wanderer over an old wall, or as a fence. Its light stems will not break down the support on which they climb.
Its beautiful and abundant flowers are without petals, the white or colored sepals usually enhanced by a different tint in the many little stamens, cater plentifully to pollen-eating insects, on whose activities its fertilization depends.
The indications are that the Clematis is evolving, with infinite slowness, toward wind-borne pollination.
What Clematis Needs
Compared with the wealth of beauty it brings in return, the demands of Clematis on the gardener are light.
An ideal garden would provide shade at its base and room for the vine to climb into the sunlight, as in its natural habitat.
This is especially true of the large-flowered hybrids; the species, particularly the native, will make the most of their chances wherever they are. The site should be well-drained.
The vines need rigid support; they are so light and brittle that they could be broken by a strong wind if grown on a loose twine lattice, but anything from chicken wire to a low wall will suffice.
Grown From Seeds Or Cuttings
Clematis may be grown from seed or cuttings, beginning preferably in the fall. The species germinate quickly, the hybrids slowly, and do not come uniformly true. It is better and safer to buy plants from a reliable nursery.
A hole about 2’ feet in diameter and nearly as deep should be dug for each plant, then filled with soil lightened with sand if the soil is heavy and enriched with humus such as good compost. These large plants require plenty of nutrients for their vigorous growth.
Nearly all of them thrive better with lime, so a spadeful of ground limestone should be incorporated. The roots should be spread out and down, the plant set so the crown is 2” or 3” inches below the surface, and the soil packed firmly around and watered in.
Dutch For Coolness
After the plants are well up, a mulch should be applied to keep the roots damp and cool. From then on, the plants may be left to look after themselves, provided the soil is kept from drying.
They are little troubled by insect enemies and subject to few diseases, although sometimes a plant will be struck by stem rot or wilt.
The point of infection is near the surface of the soil. But the attacked stem begins to wilt from the top.
It should be cut out, and the remainder of the plant should be sprayed with a disinfectant.
Choosing Clematis
There is plenty of room to choose which type of Clematis to grow. Of the many species, Clematis PATENS is about the earliest, the kindred Clematis FLORIDA just a little later.
Among their varieties are the following:
- Delightful double white DUCHESS OF EDINBURGH
- The popular blue RAMONA
- The light blue double BELLE OF WOKING
- The EDOUARD DEFOSSE with very large deep mauve flowers
The largest floral species is Clematis LANUGINOSA, one of the parents from which most magnificent and universally admired hybrids have been bred.
English gardeners developed the first of these about a century ago and in 1863 by George Jackman & Sons. Then of Kensington. Now of Woking, Surrey.
Introduced the leading Clematis, the great Clematis JACKMANI, with rich purple sepals set off by pale green stamens.
Another of the best, though with one parent different, is Clematis HENRYI, bred by Anderson Henry of Edinburgh, with large creamy white flowers, very lovely but somewhat susceptible to wilt—the mauve pink NELLY MOSER, from Fiance, the rose-purple LAWSONIANA, the plum-colored LORD NEVILLE.
The pale lavender W. E. GLADSTONE and the bright red CRIMSON KING are also among the best-known members of this distinguished group.
Some clematis experts regard Clematis JACKMANI as now a species in its own right, and color variations of it may be found in red Clematis J. RUBRA, violet purple Clematis J. SUPERBA, and others.
Other Species
A quite different species, and a very attractive one, is the sweet autumn clematis, Clematis paniculata, on which, as its botanical name indicates, the flowers are borne in panicles, white and fragrant, blooming in late summer and full and then leaving a floriferous appearance with a mass of feathery plumes from their seeds.
Among the native American, small-flowered species, the most familiar is the woodbine, Clematis VIIICINIANA, which also blossoms in panicles and will ramble at great length over almost anything.
With solitary flowers—that is, not in panicles, though plentiful—are the scarlet Clematis, Clematis TEXENSIS, a short vine with hell-shaped flowers, the golden Clematis, Clematis TANCUTICA, and the curly Clematis, Clematis CRISPR, a short climber 6’ or 8’ feet long, with fragrant bluish purple flowers of the bluebell type.
This last species seems adapted to acid soil and can be effectively used to stray around a rock garden.
Pruning Tips
These varying kinds, both species, and hybrids, are usually grouped according to whether they flower on old or new stems and their consequent pruning requirements after the first year or two of growth.
The patent group blooms on old wood, meaning only weak or dead tips and stems will be removed, preferably when the plants are dormant.
The lanuginosa group, including jackman, similarly bloom from buds set in the previous year’s growth; pruning after this first flowering will induce stronger current growth, giving more flowers for the early fall.
Hybrids developed from Clematis TEXENSIS and a large-flowered species. Such as the pretty DucHEss or ALBANY, with rose pink, half-opened bell flowers, bloom on new wood and are cut back to about 18″ inches in early spring.
Various Forms
In addition to the climbers, Clematis presents itself in other forms. from the prostrate Clematis GENTIANOIDES and Clematis KOREANA to the semi-climbing Clematis RECTA, of which the variety MANDSHURICA, with white, fragrant flowers in panicles, is the most attractive.
Intermediate between these extremes is the tube clematis, Clematis HERACLEAEFOLIA, best known in its fine variety DAVIDIANA, which stands erect to about 4’ feet, bearing clusters of bright blue, sweetly scented flowers and is well worthy of a place in the herbaceous border.
The late J. E. Spingarn, remembered as America’s greatest clematis grower, crossed this variety with Clematis VITALBA.
The Traveller’s Joye of England got the pleasant hybrid Clematis JOUINIANA, a half-climber to about 6’ feet, with fragrant bluish-white flowers in panicles.
Any of them will be worth having in your garden.
44659 by Francis Clematis Coulter