Plant Life
By Valerie Easton
Strong and Beautiful
The new long-blooming clematis will wind around your heart
PREV
|
 COURTESY OF HINES HORTICULTURE Clematis 'Hyde Hall' begins flowering in May, continuing in profusion for six weeks.
COURTESY OF HINES HORTICULTURE Clematis 'Harlow Carr' grows to 10 feet, unfurling rich purple flowers from May through October.
COURTESY OF HINES HORTICULTURE Clematis 'Versailles' is one of the new Patio Clematis, growing to only 3 feet. It's the longest blooming of all Patio Clematis, flowering from May to September. |
CLEMATIS EXUDE charm with their undulating ways and big, sweet-faced flowers. They can also be aggravating and even heart-breaking because they wind and tangle, are confusing to prune, and, worst of all, wilt. Few garden disappointments rival the shock of finding a clematis that was picture perfect yesterday crumpled into a brown, wrinkled shadow of a flower for no apparent reason.
Which is why the Royal Horticulture Society in England has been perfecting a new line of easy-to-grow clematis that are debuting in local nurseries this spring. I've checked around — these new clematis are in most of the major nurseries around Seattle by now. It sounds like Molbak's Nursery in Woodinville carries the largest selection of the patio-scaled version, but other nurseries stock them, too.
Raymond Evison, who lives in Guernsey, England, was intimately involved in breeding and selecting this new signature collection, which is why it bears his name. He must know more about clematis than anyone else on the planet, since he started growing these vines 45 years ago when he was only 16, and has since introduced more than 100 species and cultivars. He raises a quarter of the world's clematis, which is at least 4.5 million each year, so it matters that he's enthused about the Patio collection and the four new cultivars from the Royal Horticulture Society, all named after famous British gardens.
Evison says, "We specifically identified the qualities and characteristics desired in these plants and rigorously bred them until we achieved the desired results." And what did nine years of work produce? All these new clematis are touted as extra-long-blooming, disease- and wilt-resistant. My favorite attribute is that they bloom on old and new wood, which makes pruning easy. Evison suggests that in late winter you simply gather up all the strands of the plant like a ponytail and chop them off to 6 inches. In an especially cold winter (if we ever have one again), prune the vines all the way to the ground. When paired with roses both can be pruned around the first of March, which prevents the thorny problem of unwinding the clematis from the prickly rose stems. Evison's other growing tips include planting the root ball 2 inches below the surface of the soil and keeping the roots cool by planting them where the bottom part of the plant is shaded.
Now In Bloom
Lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla) may be the most intensely scented herb, useful to tuck in a pot just so you can rub the leaves for a sweet scent of citrus as you pass by. This tall, glossy-leafed annual grows well in pots and has been known to winter over in mild years. Smelling more like lemons than lemons, it's great in potpourri. Chop the leaves and flowers finely for tea, or spike your ice tea with a shiny leaf.
ILLUSTRATED BY SUSAN JOUFLAS
Evison's favorite of the four cultivars in the RHS collection is 'Harlow Carr,' which he believes to be the longest-blooming clematis in the world, opening flowers from May through October. The flowers spread 4 inches of intense purplish blue. 'Hyde Hall' is creamy white with 7-inch-wide white flowers, blooms May to June, and holds up well as a cut flower. 'Rosemoore' had deep red flowers from May to September, and 'Wisley' is a classic rich blue clematis that looks its best paired with yellow roses or shrubs with variegated foliage.
The pint-sized Patio Clematis are ideal for containers and the smallest gardens. Their flowers are as large and luscious as other clematis, but the bushy little vines themselves only grow to 3 to 4 feet. They were bred so flowers cover the vine from top to bottom, creating a pyramid of bloom. Plant them to drape from hanging baskets, engulf a tomato cage or scramble up a small conifer or shrub. Because of their diminutive size, they won't smother their host plant. 'Cezanne' has large, pastel-violet flowers. 'Picardy' is a bright pinkish-red centered with yellow sepals. 'Versailles' blooms the longest, with wine-red flowers. Every vine in the collection caused quite a stir when introduced this spring at the Chelsea and Philadelphia garden shows, proving that we can never get enough clematis.
Valerie Easton is a Seattle free-lance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.
Back to top