Clematis – how to keep them keeping on!

Dainty, and awash with blooms, clematis are one of the highlights of a spring garden – but that’s where the problem lies. Come mid to late spring, the flowers are gone and we’re left with a trellis devoid of colour. This is where hybrid clematis, which flower right through summer (and into other seasons as well, depending on the species) come into their own.

A ‘hybrid’ (in the plant world) refers to a plant which is the offspring of 2 different species which have been cross-pollinated. This ‘crossing’ is considered successful when it brings desirable attributes to the new plant. Hybrid clematis hale, in the main, from cross-pollinations of clematis from China and Japan. These beautiful perennials come in a wide range of colours that include pink, purple, blue and red – and they sport double and single blooms that can be highly attractive to butterflies. Many display rapid growth which makes them ideal to cover a wall or to quickly hide an unsightly fence or unwanted, immovable garden feature.

When choosing a hybrid clematis for your garden, check regularly at the garden centre as there are so many different blooming periods depending on the species. If you have space for more than one specimen, choose 2 or 3 which will flower over the greatest period of time so that you always have a colourful display to enjoy.

Once you have your treasure home, prepare a well-drained, slightly alkaline (add a scattering of lime) spot for it, and incorporate plenty of compost into the soil. Clematis like to have their ‘roots in the shade and heads in the sun’ which is your cue to mulch around the base of the plant to keep the sun off, and to prove a good climbing support to help the vine reach towards the light.

Our top picks

With big flowers (15-25cm across) the early large-flowered hybrids are show stoppers. They flower in late spring, just as Montana varieties are finishing, and continue on into early summer. Best of all, because they flower on new wood, and put on new growth while the first flush of flowers are on display, there is every chance you will get a repeat blooming in late summer or early autumn. With its cerise bars on paler petals, Clematis ‘Bees’ Jubilee is a favourite, and it has the added bonus of a very attractive seed head to look forward to. If you’re after glamour, look no further than Clematis ‘Diamantina’. Its tightly packed, double petals give a full display of purple-blue colour, and watching them unfurl is an excitement to wake up to each morning.

With big (10-15cm across), single, pink blooms that begin in early summer and last right through to autumn, the ‘Hagley Hybrid’ is very popular clematis. Enjoy watching the bees clamber over its bright red anthers. On the home-front, Clematis ‘Aotearoa’ makes a statement from mid to late summer and is happy in sun or shade. It is a vigorous grower, and sports attractive yellow-green leaves. If you’re a hybrid clematis newbie – relax. This one is billed as being a dependable bloomer!

Did you know?

Clematis belong to the buttercup family.

They also go by the romantic name of ‘traveller’s joy’

Old man’s beard (Clematis vitalba) is a noxious weed, and a very real threat to our native forest plants.