Every month we get asked many questions about all aspects of growing Clematis. We have now moved to a second page and linked from here to the original page plus an additional page where we have either been sent photos or have replied with a photo.
The idea of these pages is to help our visitors and lighten the load on the small number of dedicated members who have the task of answering all your emails. Please look at these pages first before reaching for the feedback form. Finally, please be patient with us as it may take a while for us to reply.
Where can I buy Clematis?
One of the benefits to members of the International Clematis Society is the Membership List, containing names and addresses of member Clematis nurseries. We also have a couple of nurseries on our Clematis Links page. You may also wish to visit http://www.oxalis.co.uk/plant/clematis.htm where details of both both Thorncroft Clematis Nursery and Robin Savill may be found. They both export plants around the world. However, Thorncroft Clematis Nursery is not able to export to USA or Canada.
The 2000 Journal contains adverts from the following Clematis Nurseries. These names and addresses are printed purely in the order that they are in the Journal and not in any priority order. The International Clematis Society does not endorse these nurseries or the quality of the plants supplied.
Personal comments about the nursery are provided, especially regarding the exporting of plants. Please note that if your country requires a 'health certificate' then this is expensive so nurseries tend to batch up requests from overseas to reduce the costs.
Jon & Ruth Gooch
Thorncroft Clematis Nursery
The Lings, Reymerston
Norwich, Norfolk
NR9 4QG
GREAT BRITAIN
Tel No: 01953-850407
FAX No: 01953-851788
Web Site: www.thorncroft.co.uk
Jon and Ruth have a large mail order business that won a recent award in the UK for the best Clematis mail order company. They export plants to many countries but not to USA or Canada. Catalogue free to I.Cl.S. members.Harry Caddick
Caddick's Clematis Nursery
Lymm Road, Thelwall
Warrington
WA13 0UF
GREAT BRITAIN
Tel No: 01925-757196
Caddick's is a big mail order business with many standard varieties and one or two unusual ones. Send 1.50 GBP credit card/sterling cheque for catalogue.Klaus Münster
Baumschulen
Bullendorf 19-20
D-25335 Altenmoor
GERMANY
Tel No: 04121-542003
FAX No: 04121-452005
Email: muenster-schlinger@t-online.de
Klaus deals mainly with other nurseries and does not generally do retail sales.For information, Münster generally grafts plants, the other nurseries use cuttings.
Fiona Woolfenden, Great Britain.
I'd like to grow clematis armandii up columns in front of my house. It's a western exposure. Do you think it would make it through the winter? Is it evergreen? It gets down to 0 degrees or pretty close to it in winter.
Two commonly available evergreen clematis are armandii and cirrhosa. You can find excellent articles on these two clematis complete with photographs here under previous clematis of the month.
Cirrhosa has pale yellow flowers and handsome foliage and attractive seedheads. Armandii can be a more rampant grower with leathery leaves and creamy white flowers with a fragrance suggestive of hawthorn.
'Evergreen' is a relative term, since a hard freeze can damage foliage and in any event the vine cannot be counted upon for thick year 'round cover in the same way as ivy, for example. A sunny south wall is usually a wise choice of location for these clematis in your zone 8.
Judith Stanton, Connecticut, USA.
I just moved back to Nova Scotia from the Republic of Ireland where I could grow just about anything outdoors as the ground never froze in the winter. Although I did have a new hybrid clematis, I've always admired C. montana, the one with pink scented flowers in may. Is it possible to grow it in my area? I guess the climate here would be the same as Maine's.
I am sorry, but C. montana does not like our winters here in Canada (except in Victoria, B.C.) There are many more Clematis you can grow in N.S. - over 150 types that are available to you.
Peter Keeping, Ontario, Canada.
I'm looking for a clematis to grow through an old crab apple tree. It's in an exposed location in a slight valley, so it's likely to get more than a little cold. (USA zone 4) What can you recommend?
Growing clematis through shrubs, roses, and small trees is a wonderful way to increase the blooming period of flowering shrubs while providing the clematis with a natural trellis. A Viticella would be the best choice for a 15 foot tree since they are a tall growing variety and will bloom in the summer after the tree has finished blooming. The viticellas bloom on new wood and should be hard pruned every year in late winter. In your case, I would prune them down to the lowest branch on the tree.
I have chosen two of my favorites that will grow to the top of your tree and will survive zone 3 conditions. If you can locate it, Perle d'Azure (although not strictly a viticella) is a prolific bloomer the will give you a wonderful display of 4 inch blue blooms with yellow anthers. It is difficult to find here in the States, but it is worth the search. Etoile Violette is a reliable and easy to grow prolific bloomer with 3 inch, dark purple blooms with yellow anthers. It is readily available since it propagates so easily. There are other tall viticellas that would fit your needs but unfortunately they are next to impossible to obtain in this country.
The best mail order supplier of a wide selection of hard to find and well rooted clematis is Joy Creek Nursery, 20300N.W. Watson Rd., Scappoose, OR 97056.
Plant the clematis about two feet from the base of the tree and train it either straight up to a low branch or to the trunk of the tree. See Brewster Rogerson's piece on how to plant clematis for a good start. Now you have to look around your yard to find other shrubs that could use a clematis or two.
Bill Bird, New York, USA.
I have just planted a number of Clematis and hope you will give me some help in identifying some of their habits? There names are Lanuginosa, Ramona, Ken Donson, Niobe, Comtesse de Bouchard, and Will Goodwin. I have several Henryi and they are wonderful...blooming in sun and shade. I just hope I have made some good choices in purchasing these new ones for my garden. I will be ever so grateful for any help you can give me. USA zone 8.
You have selected some wonderful clematis for your garden! I have 'Lanuginosa Candida', 'Niobe', and 'Comtesse de Bouchaud' and 'Henryi' myself and they perform beautifully in my zone 6 garden.
Let's take your list in order of pruning requirements.
'Lanuginosa Candida' will serve you up soup plate size white flowers in early spring and will continue to put them out, in smaller sizes, all summer. It's the optional pruning sort (group 2), meaning that it blooms on last year's stems as well as new ones from the current year. For this group you need only cut back any dead wood from the top downward to a pair of fat buds in early spring. First year cut back to two feet above a pair of buds. In subsequent years you have some pruning choices:
(1)You can at the least prune for appearance and to remove dead stems.
(2) Or to rejuvenate the plant every three or four years, I find it helpful to cut it back to two feet.
(3) If I do not want to sacrifice the early flowers, I cut back half the plant to two feet one year and the other half the next which is a less drastic, on-going rejuvenation. The visual effect you desire could determine your pruning choice here.The first year ALL newly planted clematis should be cut back hard to encourage new shoots which should then be carefully tied to their support. Of course clematis will bloom if you never even wave a pruner over them, but after a few years the stems will have grown longer and more tangled, blooming only at the tips where the flowers will bunch up in depressing little half-smothered wudges at the far ends of the stems. Sounds bad enough to galvanize a gardener into action, doesn't it?
'Ramona' grows lavishly over my neighbor's mailbox lighting up the shady road with her pale blue flowers. Fretwell's book describes her blooming time as early summer to early autumn, but I have noticed that the neighbor's plant rests for the season after a long and glorious display in June. Lack of adequate sunlight to ripen the wood might be to blame here. I hope you have your's in a sunny spot. Prune as above.
'Will Goodwin' is medium blue with pleasing wavy edges to the sepals. 'Will' blooms early to late summer and often a bit more in the autumn. Prune as above.
'Ken Donson' offers the lovely contrast of deep blue sepals and bright yellow anthers. Blooms late spring to early summer and again in late summer (fertilize). It also has lovely seed heads down the road. Prune as above.
'Niobe' blooms a lot for me. Almost black in bud and unfolding flower to deep red as an open flower. The color can appear in various intensities depending, it seems, on temperature and age of individual flower. Niobe can be pruned back yearly to two feet (group 3) over a pair of fat buds, or treated as the various (group 2) clematis above, depending on what effect the gardener may have in mind for her to create. Your call. Whatever you do to her, she will bloom like crazy.
'Comptesse de Bouchaud' (some call her Bouchard) blooms midsummer non-stop on into fall here in CT. Medium size, medium pink flowers flood the arbor, and the abundance of her foliage all but smothers her neighbors. In two shady areas she blooms less vigorously but no less faithfully. This one is distinctly group 3 and gets cut down yearly.
Judith Stanton, Connecticut, USA.
If I were to plant clematis in pots I'm sure the plants would not survive our winter. What is the proper care for pots brought into the home to last for 6 months prior to a new growing season? New Brunswick, Canada.
I live in Toronto, zone 5, and I grow a few Clematis in pots, also in hanging baskets. I have found you have to feed these plants every watering with half strength fertilizer 15-30-15, a water soluble type.
In October, I dig a trench about 14 inches deep and bury them for the winter in the garden. They all seem to survive. There are some non hardy Clematis which you can grow outside all summer and then bring into the house in September, and they will flower in December. Some grow quite large. I have two that take up a complete patio door, 6x6' and all the flowers face out through the window.
In the house, they are very prone to spider mites and aphids, so you have to keep a close eye on them. You can also keep the hardy Clematis in the basement under lights (florescent) must be within 6" and temperature should be between 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature is higher, they will grow too much and flower, then when they are taken out for the summer, they will not flower until late summer, if at all.
Peter Keeping, Ontario, Canada.
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