Clematis
April 2nd, 2009 | By: Shawn Kellner
Back in the spring of 1961 I was sitting, with my grandparents, in New York’s Majestic Theater watching a performance of Camelot. Yes, I’m really that old.
At one point, Guenevere, played by a young Julie Andrews, trilled into a delightful song and production number about spring: “It’s May! It’s May! The lusty month of May. That lovely month when everyone throws self control away.” She was so pretty and innocent and virginal. That was before we all found out she had a mean streak and could cuss like a ranch hand.
But what, you ask, does this have to do with Clematis? Well, for years I pondered that song and those lyrics. What was Julie talking about? What self control was I supposed to toss come May?
Fast forward: At 24, I moved to the Pacific Northwest and started gardening. One May I bought a clematis, then two, then two or three more. With no idea where to plant them, I felt gluttonous, seized by a compulsion, but… Eureka! It’s May. Throw self control away!
I’ve kept buying and planting and to my surprise I always find a spot for the next one. I have this noble genus of vines crawling up trees, trellises and through climbing roses and scrambling through beds as a ground cover. Summer blooming hybrids fill large pots on my decks, sometimes dripping over, other times going up and covering tall, lacy metal cones I position over the containers. The diminutive spring bloomer Clematis macropetala is entwined around the trunk of a Korean dogwood. The rambunctiously growing, white flowered Clematis montana ‘Grandiflora’ is now 60 feet up a big cedar. When it bursts into bloom it looks like an army of angels roosting in the tree.
Several friends are having a lot of fun with the new patio varieties, which I’ve not tried. They say they are perfect for containers. Give them a pot that is at least 18-inches across and deep. They’re a great show. Masses of small blooms fill dense tangles of compact vines.
Various species bloom from early spring into autumn. Flowers can be small and nodding or large, upright, almost saucer size. Most are deciduous but the aggressive early blooming Clematis armandii will quickly form a dense canopy over a 35-foot stretch of arbor with its leathery, evergreen leaves.
Clematis aren’t fussy. Most will grow in all but the coldest winter climates of high mountain King County, and even there with some winter protection. They flourish in our mild summers. Clematis need a quick draining soil, rich in organic matter. Once established they are surprisingly drought tolerant but to keep them lush and floriferous, give them a steady supply of water during the growing season.
I fertilize plants established in the ground by the holidays, scattering a small handful of complete fertilizer (12-12-12) around the base of each plant on Valentine’s Day, April Fools Day, Memorial Day, and the Fourth of July. For summer and fall bloomers I add a feeding on my birthday, August 5th. I fertilize my potted clematis monthly, April through September, with a liquid plant food diluted to manufacturer’s instructions. All clematis love to be mulched. Piling on four inches in the early spring isn’t excessive.
There is one unbreakable clematis rule: Feet in the shade, leaves and flowers in the sun. Let sun bake the root zone of a clematis and it’s a goner. Positioned behind a shrub or even a clump of native sword ferns, the plant gets the shade it needs at the base. You can also put large, float stones atop the soil above the root zone.
Plant now for bloom this year. Nurseries will be stocked with clematis in one gallon cans.
It’s May! Throw self control away!
