Clematis Flower Vines - Information and Photos

The climbing clematis vine is a truly beautiful plant. While it can take a few years for the plant to reach maturity, it is well worth the wait. Once established and mature, the amazing density of the flowers, like a wall of color is truly something to behold. It doesn't mean you have to wait for any blooms, but for the full blown version of what the plant will become can just take a while. In the mean time, you will get some blooms here and there.

It can take about 7 years or so to get to full maturity. It is long lived as well, which is a real plus for the gardener. One of the other great points is that when it does bloom, it will bloom for most of the summer. So many amazing flowers out there have a relatively short blooming period. This one will reward you well.

There are a couple of highly recommended clematis flowers out there. One is the Clematis Jackmanii, which is a purple variety. Another is more of a blue variety, a light blue, and is called Ramona. There is a white flowered one called Candidissima. It would be so lovely to grow a couple different varieties together.

Another variety that is a real beauty is the Capitaine Thuilleaux. Each flower petal has white on the outer edges, with an almost hot pink or more like a magenta in the center of each petal. It is very pretty. Nelly Moser and Teksa are also very pretty.

If you have a favorite clematis or one you are trying out, I would love to hear about it below in the comments section.

Clematis like to have their leaves in the sun, but their roots in the shade. When this is the case, you will get a very happy clematis! Sometimes though, it can be tough to have a spot that meets these needs of clematis.

One thing you can do is to plant them in full sun, or half day sun, but just really mulch the soil around them. You can use bark chips, like pine bark chips, and make the depth about 2 inches or so. If you do this though, make sure you leave about 2 inches of area around the stems, without mulch. If you don't, other problems can arise. In that spot, you can put other flowers in as fillers that like shade. Ones that come to mind are begonias or impatiens. These will continue to keep direct sunlight off of the root area of clematis. This way, you have an attractive garden area while you wait.

One of the most important things to remember when planting clematis is to provide a support for it immediately. You want the support in place as they are climbers. Often a clematis is sold with a little support of some kind. I used such a support once, but it wasn't tall enough for long term, and my clematis vine quickly had nowhere else to go and I believe is suffered for it, as it had nothing else to climb. The growth could be great, but will then decline if they have nothing to grow on. So you can see the importance of this.

The method of planting these flowers is pretty standard, but it is always a good idea to plant just as the directions explain. When planting, some use a netting for support, even with a more sturdy support. You can grow clematis near fences or a porch. You just need it to be very sturdy. One thing to keep in mind as well, is that it is normal for a new clematis to grow narrow and straight upward its first year. It will be a tall and narrow growth habit and they can reach from 8 to 10 feet tall! This is where my plant likely struggled the first time as I wasn't aware of this.

When your clematis becomes more mature, the care is really fairly simple. In spring, you can prune back any damaged stems that might have struggled through the winter, etc. Some people use a fertilizer, like 5-10-5, and put that in or on the soil before adding mulch or other annuals. You want to keep this kind of fertilizer away from the actual stems of the clematis to avoid "burning" it. Or you can put the fertilizer on top and with watering, it will go down into the soil.

Some of the types of staking or support I have seen used include porch rails, or wooden trellises, netting stapled to fences, and more. In a garden with a pretty set of benches or trellis, these would be so beautiful. The blooms are just so showy and eyecatching.