Pretty in pink: Clematis bees jubilee.
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Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.
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A couple of weeks ago, we had our first delivery of climbing clematis plants arrive for spring. Nothing exciting or eventful, and most customers have been walking past them without so much as a second glance.
However, over the past week, they have come into flower and are demanding attention from everyone.
These delicate-looking plants are a lot tougher than most people give them credit for and grow quite happily in our region if given the right conditions.
Centre of attention: Clematis in the nursery.
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Clematis like to grow in full sun or a semi-shaded position but with their roots in the cool. This can be achieved by under-planting them with protective shrubbery or planting them on the shady side of their supporting structure, whether it is a fence, arbour or trellis.
Some of the smaller, slower-growing varieties can also be grown as a feature pot plant over an obelisk, but remember, they will become ordinary-looking in winter, so they may need some low colour planted around them.
Most of the clematis we carry are deciduous or semi-deciduous climbing varieties, from the small mass flowering clematis montana to the spectacular flowered clematis jackmanii hybrids.
The following are some of the ones in flower and looking great now.
Easy on the eye: Clematis green eyes.
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• Clematis montana green eyes: massed with creamy green starry flowers about 5cm across.
• Clematis Florida taiga: a newer variety with abundant flowers of mauve, white reverse petals.
• Clematis bees jubilee: a two-toned flower of mauve pink with darker carmine bars down the centre of the petal.
Clematis fairy queen: large pale pink flowers to about 20cm in diameter.
Clematis Parisienne evipo 019: large single mauve flowers with purple-red anther in the centre.
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Some varieties, such as Clematis montana, require no pruning, while others will require a light prune in late winter or early spring as the leaf buds start to swell.
These varieties flower on short growth from the previous season and will reflower again if you give them another light trim after the first lot of flowers.
Ask the garden centre staff which type of pruning is required for the variety you are purchasing and what other care it will need.
We hope to see you at the garden centre soon, even if it will be a little cooler this weekend.
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