Etoile Violette is vigorous and will swamp your buddleia. Mine produces more and more new stems every yeara nd grows far taller than the annual growth on a buddleia.
You can look up your other clems on that site too.
ah ok thank you! so perhaps the Voluceau would be best, probably with the purple buddleia. It has dark burgundy flowers with yellow stamens, it would be a contrast (hoping not too gaudy but we shall see). Can I ask then, what do you grow your Etoile Violette against? The flowers are such a nice colour. I have an Ivy covered fence which faces South West, maybe I can grow it up that and it can fight with the Ivy.
@amanda50 It is difficult to get this combination right. Growing Clematis through a mature shrub often ends up with a dead clematis, the shrub takes all nutrients, water and the light. If you are successful it could twist the leaves of the Buddleia and look simply 'wrong'. Gardeners often buy Clematis whips from supermarkets that need potting on and these are not what you want if you do decide to go ahead. Even a large plant can take a good year to settle before it climbs so it often spends time in the shade of the shrub.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Gardeners often buy Clematis whips from supermarkets that need potting on and these are not what you want if you do decide to go ahead.
How did you guess that was what I had been doing? My secret is out 😅 In my defence I have grown them on in larger pots for a year, and these are quite strong now. Yes, I can see what you mean about them potentially twisting leaves .... food for thought. If I go ahead I realised I will have to probably water and feed them like a maniac to give them the best chance.
It's never simple because your conditions will dictate how big and hearty any plant will grow. There was a white buddleia in this garden when I moved here - very little apart from that. It got huge very easily and I've had no problem growing a mature E. Violette through it. As said - you'd certainly need a Group 3 to coincide with pruning times, and then you'd just have to experiment. The other problem is that clematis like a decent amount of food and water to do well, and the buddleia could get even bigger because of that, unless it's a really good distance from it.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It's never simple because your conditions will dictate how big and hearty any plant will grow. There was a white buddleia in this garden when I moved here - very little apart from that. It got huge very easily and I've had no problem growing a mature E. Violette through it. As said - you'd certainly need a Group 3 to coincide with pruning times, and then you'd just have to experiment. The other problem is that clematis like a decent amount of food and water to do well, and the buddleia could get even bigger because of that, unless it's a really good distance from it.
Thank you, that's interesting that you have managed to grow your Etoile Violette through it. Do you find it looks ok? I don't mind if the buddleia gets huge as in summer it is a screen and noise reduction from our neighbours. Plus they really are so good for pollinators and butterflies.
I no longer have the buddleia as it needed moved for my extension. The white ones can look a bit ropey when the flowers die back too, so I was never too keen because I couldn't easily reach them to deadhead.
I have to apologise, as I've just realised I've made an error in what I wrote - I should have said 'I'd have had no problem', and I've given you the impression I'd grown the EV through it. Sorry! I think you'd just have to experiment. I'd left the buddleia the first year when I moved in, because it was fine there at the time, and there was so little in the site. It did grow very rapidly when I cut it back as normal the year after, and it got to a fair old size again. I was getting ready for the building work, so it was just sitting doing nothing at the side of the plot, and I then gave it to my nephew. As far as I know, it's been fine. I probably have photos, but I can't access them easily because I need to transfer them all from the old, knackered laptop and this one doesn't have enough room.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I wouldn’t grow anything through a buddleia. I actually like the browned flowers and don’t remove them as I’ve noticed small birds feeding on the seeds in autumn and winter. A clematis growing through would make the search less easy for birds and spoil the outline of the browned flowers over winter unless you prune the clematis early.
I always leave the purple buddleias towards the end of the season @Plantminded - it was just the white ones as they looked really manky. That's the kind of thing I struggle with. Another sensory thing for me. Deadheading always produces more flowering too, which extends the season, so it's always a choice. I don't think it would be difficult re the birds, but it's just one of those things. I still think the extra food a clematis would take/need is possibly a bigger problem though, but it would come down to soil health and other factors like moisture and proximity too. Clematis' natural habit is to grow through other shrubs and trees
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
That is certainly something to bear in mind. Buddleias will grow happily in brick walls or rubble form demolished buildings and along railway and tube tracks in cities - poor soil, low nutrients, fierce drainage.
Clematis, on the otther hand, usually like deep, fertile soils and plenty of moistture - alpinas, koreanas and macropetalas being the exceptions - so not exactly compatible in terms of cultivation needs.
@amanda50 in my last garden I had an EV growing over a metal arch and she became so vigorous she swamped it but in a fabulaous way. In this garden I have a youngster I've been gowing on in a pot and which will be planted out ths spring against a 3m high stone wall with plenty of space to spread. i already have a Huldine estblished there and hope the will thrive together - https://clematisontheweb.org/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=20
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I like clematis through shrubs, but if you're coppicing the buddleia every year, and also cutting back the clematis, I can see problems with one of the pair getting ahead of the other.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
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If you are successful it could twist the leaves of the Buddleia and look simply 'wrong'.
Gardeners often buy Clematis whips from supermarkets that need potting on and these are not what you want if you do decide to go ahead. Even a large plant can take a good year to settle before it climbs so it often spends time in the shade of the shrub.
There was a white buddleia in this garden when I moved here - very little apart from that. It got huge very easily and I've had no problem growing a mature E. Violette through it.
As said - you'd certainly need a Group 3 to coincide with pruning times, and then you'd just have to experiment.
The other problem is that clematis like a decent amount of food and water to do well, and the buddleia could get even bigger because of that, unless it's a really good distance from it.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have to apologise, as I've just realised I've made an error in what I wrote - I should have said 'I'd have had no problem', and I've given you the impression I'd grown the EV through it. Sorry!
I think you'd just have to experiment. I'd left the buddleia the first year when I moved in, because it was fine there at the time, and there was so little in the site. It did grow very rapidly when I cut it back as normal the year after, and it got to a fair old size again. I was getting ready for the building work, so it was just sitting doing nothing at the side of the plot, and I then gave it to my nephew. As far as I know, it's been fine.
I probably have photos, but I can't access them easily because I need to transfer them all from the old, knackered laptop and this one doesn't have enough room.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Deadheading always produces more flowering too, which extends the season, so it's always a choice. I don't think it would be difficult re the birds, but it's just one of those things.
I still think the extra food a clematis would take/need is possibly a bigger problem though, but it would come down to soil health and other factors like moisture and proximity too. Clematis' natural habit is to grow through other shrubs and trees
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Clematis, on the otther hand, usually like deep, fertile soils and plenty of moistture - alpinas, koreanas and macropetalas being the exceptions - so not exactly compatible in terms of cultivation needs.
@amanda50 in my last garden I had an EV growing over a metal arch and she became so vigorous she swamped it but in a fabulaous way. In this garden I have a youngster I've been gowing on in a pot and which will be planted out ths spring against a 3m high stone wall with plenty of space to spread. i already have a Huldine estblished there and hope the will thrive together - https://clematisontheweb.org/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=20