Basic Recommendations on How to Plant and Take Care of Clematis

Vertical gardening has always been actively used when decorating suburban areas. Clematis is a perfect flower for this purpose: its bright, graceful flowers decorate the garden, giving it a truly fabulous look. By placing them on special arches, you can organize a picturesque corner for relaxation near the house. We believe that clematis is irreplaceable in landscape design. So, how to grow this plant? Let’s figure out. 

General Characteristics 

No one can say that clematis is an unpretentious plant, but even an inexperienced grower can cultivate it. These plants bloom all season from late spring to autumn frosts. They are resistant to the climate of most regions and undemanding to the soil. These long-livers can grow in the garden without transplanting for more than 20 years. 

 

Various types of clematis greatly differ in: 

  • Type of the plant (shrubs, semi-shrubs, herbaceous plants, lianas); 
  • Type of the root system (fibrous and core); 
  •  Colour (pink, violet, red, blue, white clematis); 
  • Period of flowering (spring, autumn clematis), etc. 

So, having selected a certain variety, you are ready to proceed to the planting. 

How to Plant Clematis in Your Garden? 

Clematis is planted at a distance of 70 cm-1 m from each other. To plant them, dig holes 60–70 cm in length, width and depth. Remove the weeds, fertilize the soil with 2-3 buckets of compost or humus, add some peat and sand, and 100-150g of superphosphate, 200 g of mineral fertilizer, and 150-200g of lime or chalk. 

For clematis, regular and abundant watering is important, especially during the growth period. The lack of moisture immediately affects their growth and flowering. At the same time, these plants do not tolerate stagnant water. 

When choosing a place for planting, you need to take into account that flowers turn towards the sun, they need sunlight for at least 6 hours a day. Therefore, it is advisable to plant them on the southern, southwestern or southeastern side of the garden. The landing place should be warm, isolated from drafts, and in partial shade. 

If you aren’t sure what type of care and protection your garden needs then contact Leander arborists for garden care advice and ask them to prepare you a checklist with everything you need to pay attention to.

One of the best weed eater on the market is this cordless electric weed eater from Black and Decker. The unit comes with a Power Drive transmission, standard-issue, which yields superior power output for a battery-powered motor, resulting in improved grass cutting performance as compared to other similar offerings.

There’s also a Power Command dial that lets you choose between operating the weed eater on maximum power mode, for cutting through super tall and thick weeds, and maximum runtime mode, to conserve the unit’s battery life.

The weed eater sports an auto-feed spool that ensures uninterrupted work minus the constant stopping, bumping, and spool adjusting. Impressively, the LST136W can also convert from a trimmer to an edger, through a simple shaft twist. It has a 13-inch cutting diameter, which is great for trimming overgrowth along borders, flower beds, and sidewalks. It also works with a 36V Lithium-ion battery or with a 40V Max Lithium-ion battery.

Differences of the Varieties Placement 

Clematis varieties can be conditionally divided into several groups that require different placement in the garden: 

  1. Clematis with saturated flowers (white, red, dark blue, bright purple) grow well in open sunny areas. Among the most common varieties belonging to this group are Polish Spirit, Gipsy Queen, The President, Abundance, Rouge Cardinal, General Sikorski, Warshawska Nika, etc. 
  1. Plants with pastel or two-coloured flowers are preferably grown in partial shade, because in direct sunlight, their petals can fade, losing their decorative effect. These varieties include Comtesse de Bouchaud, Ville de Lyon, Pink Fantasy, Hagley Hybrid, Piilu, Doctor Ruppel, etc. 
  1. Varieties that bloom twice a season should be planted in the sunniest place in your garden. They include Clematis Multi Blue, Proteus, Veronica’s Choice, Denny’s Double, etc. 

For liana varieties, it is necessary to arrange the supports: it can be walls and various elements of buildings, or natural supports — garden and ornamental trees. Good luck!