Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Set Your Clematis Free!

Years ago I saw a clematis growing up and through a small magnolia. It was just stunning. So first oportunity I had, I purchased an 'Elizabeth' magnolia and planted this clematis right at its base. Well, poor old Liz only made it through one winter. However, the clematis continues to thrive, climbing through and growing with this Persicaria polymorpha.

In another section of the garden, I planted a fall-blooming clematis next to an old Viburnum. Just when the Viburnum was looking weary at the end of the season, it was nice to see the puff of white flowers in between the branches. For those of you without a fence or trellis, do consider growing these lovely vines in conjunction with your large perennials and woodie plant material.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a great idea for a clematis - I may try and grow one under the crabapple tree I have - after spring it starts to go downhill throughout the summer. Another clematis trick I saw on a recent garden tour was to plant early-blooming and late-blooming varieties of clematis to climb together to (deceptively) extend the blooms over a longer period of time. They don't even have to be the same color, if they overlap in blooming time , they look all the nicer.

Barbarapc said...

I did that early/late clematis thing too Jim and it looked fabulous...until I mistakenly hacked into Francis Rivis - a stunning double pale blue early clematis - instead of its older later woodier cousin. And, unlike most mid-season clematis that can rebound even from weed-whacker damage, poor old Francis was a goner! I'm older, and perhaps a little wiser and on the lookout for another Francis.