May I ask a general question please? I have two montanas in pots and they've been there so long that I have no idea what they are. One is Mayleen but the other I have no idea. I also have a very wide, very steep, very naked south facing bank. If I planted the two ladies at the top would they oblige me by growing towards the sun and covering the bank eventually? I've only ever grown my clematis up. 😕 Thank you.
Well yes they would, only too well I imagine.. going to be quite a tangle as there won't be anything to cling to, so they will just ramble around on the ground rather than hanging down from trellis or fence.. but the flowers should face upwards so you'll have quite a display..
You can do this too with other varieties of Clematis, like viticellas and herbaceous.. I tried it once with 'Arabella'.. a popular herbaceous type..
The base of the bank is closer to the sun latitudinally than the top by about four feet. I'm sure some bits will want to straggle up vertically but most would come down towards the lawn. If it layered and formed a thick impenetrable carpet I would be delighted. I just don't want it coming down in one wee thin string. 🤣
The pic below is from an old thread and when I saw it last night I thought it was mine. It is not! There are no conifers at the base of mine but, apart from that, for all intents and purposes it looks exactly like this.
I'm confused by the idea of planting very large group 3s (5-9 meters). Unless one has a large piece of fence in a large garden that you don't mind being bare for half the year and don't look at then, where do people grow it? They far too big for an arch or obelisk. They are a royal pain to cut out at that size if growing through shrubbery or roses etc. I imagine they would be a nightmare trying to pull out of a tree every year. Do people who grow them have staff? Or they are only for clematis aficionados?
Clematis of all types can be grown to crawl as well as to climb.
Certainly can. Even crawl horizontally across a wall like this Armandii between the top and bottom windows. This one is 10m long and produces gazillions of flowers in spring to the extent you can smell them outside the property:
A more recent one in my garden that's now in full flower at the moment is this purple one. No clue of the variety as was here when we moved in. I have trained it better and fed it so this year has exploded in blooms and is doing a reasonble job of covering up a shabby two storey timber outbuilding:
I want to say I have made a small mistake though with it flowering only high up. I have this vague echo of Monty Don in my head saying "If you do this your clematis will only flower up the top" but can't remeber what advicethat was? Maybe not pruning it hard enough?
Love this thread as it is my go to place before choosing and ordering new clematis varities. So many gorgeous clematis plants on here!
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I have two montanas in pots and they've been there so long that I have no idea what they are. One is Mayleen but the other I have no idea.
I also have a very wide, very steep, very naked south facing bank. If I planted the two ladies at the top would they oblige me by growing towards the sun and covering the bank eventually? I've only ever grown my clematis up. 😕
Thank you.
You can do this too with other varieties of Clematis, like viticellas and herbaceous..
I tried it once with 'Arabella'.. a popular herbaceous type..
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
This was labelled Ville de Lyon, bought from Wilko for £2.50 last year; definitely not.
A more recent one in my garden that's now in full flower at the moment is this purple one. No clue of the variety as was here when we moved in. I have trained it better and fed it so this year has exploded in blooms and is doing a reasonble job of covering up a shabby two storey timber outbuilding:
I want to say I have made a small mistake though with it flowering only high up. I have this vague echo of Monty Don in my head saying "If you do this your clematis will only flower up the top" but can't remeber what advicethat was? Maybe not pruning it hard enough?
Love this thread as it is my go to place before choosing and ordering new clematis varities. So many gorgeous clematis plants on here!
'Royal Velours'.. as sold to me.. wrong i.d. I think..