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Which Clematis for which wall?
chicken chaser
Posts: 147
in Plants
I'm planning on erecting a number of trellis on my fence to provide colour, cover and a habitat for visitors to the garden. I've got west facing walls covered but I need a solution for a 6ft North facing fence, for an east facing fence which faces the house, and a west facing fence. They will be trained on 6ft panels and the idea is to cover the fence as best as possible, but also providing interest.
Montana Grandiflora I have in mind for the North facing fence as it will have the space to roam across the width of it, but not sure what to plant on the other fences.
I have an Elsa Spath which is ready to go in, and I've also got a couple of others the variety I'm not sure of. They're obviously bare at the moment and I've just been given them!
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Use this website - http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemlistsearch.cfm - which has a search facility to let you list clematis according to aspect, colour, size, flowering time, colour etc.
Have fun.
Ive got a montana, from what i can tell, they will grow almost anywhere, this one has its feet in total shade until late evening in the summer, its climbed up and over the fence and the canopyover the front door, everyone comments on it when its in flower.
You could try an amandii on your north fence, very nice but a bit of a bully.
On my east (ish) facing fence ive got one called jingle bells which is flowering now, the flowers are the most beautiful little white bells. Further down on the same fence ive got a pretty blue/lilac alpina, none of these get any care and flower their little socks off.
You could easily grow a few varieties on each fence, that way you could have flowers for you and cover for the wild life all year round
I think for a north facing wall or fence you want someting that flowers later in the season when it's warm enough to be out there to enjoy it. I have Minuet, Caerulea Luxurians, Nelly Moser, Rahvarinne and Blue Angel (Blekitny Athol) on a north facing wall.
Betty Corning has bell shaped flowers and would do well on an east or west facing aspect and is scented. Other bell shaped clems that would like it are Gravetye Beauty, Pagoda and Princess Diana. Try also Red Ballon which is always covered in insects in my garden.
A great deal depends on your flower colour and shape preferences. Just make sure that if you plant more than one clem to cover the same area that they are from the same pruning group or things will get very tangled indeed.
Whatever you choose, give the new clems a good soak befor eplanting and give them a hole at least 4 to 6" deeper than the pot they came in and back fill with plenty of garden compost and/or well rotted manure as clematis are hungry, thirsty plants. Give them a spring feed of slow release clematis food and a drink of tomato food every now and again betwen bud burst and flowering.
It may seem painful but you should cut new clems back to a couple of buds on each stem at planting time and nurture them as they can take a year or so to get their roots settled in before they flourish up top. It will be worth it.
Thanks for the advice, I'm probably looking at white or a brighter purple/blue. I'm not a double fan, and I'm looking for something which is quite showy.
Will Armandii grow on a north fence? It would be ideal if it would, being evergreen as it would soften the hard lines of the fence on that side.
I'll take the advice on cutting them back to go in, as one I planted last year which had heavy growth on a pot, then became leggy and the shoots above it had far fewer leaves on.
Go for a spin round the Clematis on the Web site and you'll find loads of whites and purples. Except for Gravetye, Pagoda, Princess Diana and red Ballon all the ones I mentioned are white or purple or lilac or a mix.
I don't grow Armandii as my winters are too cold for evergreen clems to survive so can't help you there.
Im in the west midlands, ive got armandii on a north facing fence, it hardly gets any sun at all, its been in for 5 or 6 years, i had to cut it down to the ground last year because it had become to heavy for its support and smashed it! Its come back really well, so, yes, i think it will be fine for your fence, i will say it took a couple of years ti get going, but boy once it did, it took over!
This is my clematis John Paul ii growing on a north wall in August. It's first year and by the end of the year it was quite big. Had flowers on and off all the time since the first flowering.
That's glorious Busy Lizzie (sorry, old thread, but ws looking for east facing clematises and came across it).
Cannot believe it's on a north wall [jots down name on ever-growing plant wish list...}
bekkie which armandii do you have? Just looked on the clematis link posted by Obelixx above (thanks Obelixx - brilliant link) and wondering which one you have!
Hi jess- bekkie hasn't been on here for a couple of years, but if you start a new thread, you'll get some replies re armandii
Lots of the strong coloured clems are good on east facing sites because the colour fades less. I've got Niobe on my screen, which faces east, or slightly north east. The bits that grow through to the other side are always paler because of the sun
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...