It Was “Clematis’s Year” in Our Garden. How to Grow Clematis Plants – Part 1.

I am sorry I didn’t write here for a very long time and thank you very much to all of you who continued reading, liking and following my Vibrant Garden blog. It really makes a big difference when I see there is an interest in my blog and people like what I write here.

I had to take a break from writhing on this blog for a while because of some health problems, which were making posting on my blogs often impossible during the last several months. I hope I will be able to do it now more regularly.

Looking Back at the Last Year in Our Garden.

We are now in almost the third week of March and today is the official first day of spring. Here in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) we still have some snow and it is only about +5 C where I am, so still pretty cold.

Anyway we already have much more sunshine, the snow is melting quickly and I have heard the first birds singing 3 days ago, so at least some of them are back. There is still some snow in our garden, but most of it has melted already and we await the first spring flowers. The roses and other delicate shrubs continue to be wrapped in burlap to protect them from often rather cold nights.

Close-up look at our purple-violet clematis, June 2018.

Winter was a good time to look back at the year that has pasted and when I think about it, I might call it Clematis’s and Cucumber’s year, since these were two kinds of plants which were growing extremely well in our garden. Today, in the first part of this article, I would like to tell you about some of our clematis plants and what are the differences between them.

In the second part of this article, which will be published later, I will write about the third established clematis variety we have, as well as show you new pictures of Rebecca clematis I have purchased last year. I will also tell you how I am growing our clematis vines and provide some interesting links to other articles about clematis varieties and how to prune them.

Why it Was Clematis’s Year in Our Garden.

Here is our first clematis purchased in July 2015. In this picture you can see it in at the beginning of blooming period in late June 2018.

I was really amazed how well clematis plants were growing in our garden last year.
We had 3 established clematis, each one of a different variety and in the beginning of July of last year, I have purchased one new variety called Rebecca (spelled with two “c”), since I loved its beautiful, strong burgundy colour and nice, pretty big flowers. You can see this new addition to our garden below how it looked still in the pot.

Our new clematis Rebecca, still in the pot, as it looked in the first week of July 2018.

I twas not in the best conditions and I have received some discount, perhaps I have saved it from dying. It was blooming with a couple of flowers, but some leaves were already dry or quite damaged. It was later planted on the left side of our garden beside our climbing Eden rose. It might be not the best place for it since this part of the garden is facing West-North, but I wanted to add some more colour there.

But let me tell you first more about the already established clematis plants, which were blooming last year.

Our Dark Purple-violet Clematis.

I am not sure what is the variety of this clematis since either it didn’t have a label or I lost in. It might be “Jackman Clematis”. At least it looks very much like it. It has dark purple-violet pretty big flowers with 6 petals and with creamy yellow center. You can see it in the picture below in its full glory in the beginning of July, 2018.

Our purple-violet clematis in the beginning of July 2018 and the other kind of clematis – dark pink variety just starting blooming on the right side and top of the metal arch. Abbotsford rose grows further down on the right.

I have purchased it in the middle of July 2015, my first year or gardening here, so it is its third year in our garden. It has also bloomed very beautifully in the 2 previous years once it got established. You might have seen it already in some of my other posts. I have planted this clematis in the middle of our garden where it gets a lot of sunshine and I gave it a gate forming trellis for support. My idea was to let it grow around it.

This clematis dies back to the ground during winter and then comes back rather fast in late spring and usually starts blooming in June. It continues blooming during July and then most of the flowers are gone, but it might have some occasional flowers later in the season.

It seems to be very strong, vigorous plan growing really fast and then blooming extremely profusely. Here is a close up on its flowers.

I was hoping it will climb all the way up along the metal gate, but so far it usually climbs to about its top ,or slightly above. It seems that this kind of clematis grows quite wide in size and is forming pretty thick bush. I also should have planted it just beside the gate and not further back behind it. Now to reach gate’s side, the plant must grow at least 2-3 feet long.

It bloom so profusely that it has hundreds, if not thousands of flowers, also inside the bush. I think it looks quite amazing when in full bloom for about 2 moths.

However, since it seemed it will probably never grow down to the other side of the metal gate, in the summer of 2017 I have planted another kind of clematis on the other side of the gate – a dark pink variety.

About Our Dark Pink Clematis with Much More Slender Growing Habit.

Our dark-pink clematis in full bloom in about the middle of July, 2018. It is probably Purpurea Plena Elegans.

I have selected this dark pink variety you can see above because I though it will look very nice when its branches will intertwine with the dark purple-violet clematis and bloom with quite different contrasting colour and shape of the flowers.

I liked the fact that the flowers of this new variety looked quite different from the dark-purple clematis we already had. They were smaller (about 2-2.5″) and had a fringed petals. I also wanted to brighten up the the look of the gate by adding lighter and more joyful colour. Do you think I made the right choice? You will see them growing side by side in many pictures below.

I still have the label for this clematis, but I don’t think it was listing a specific name. Right now it is beside the plant and still covered with snow. It is probably clematis Purpurea Plena Elegans (Clematis viticella ‘Purpurea Plena Elegans’).

Here you can have a closer look at its flowers.

Our dark pink clematis in summer of 2018. It is probably Purpurea Plena Elegans.

In 2018, it was its second year in our garden and I was already established. It also pretty much died to the ground at the end of 2017 and then started growing fast in late spring. I have discovered that it has much more slender growing habit than our dark purple-violet clematis. It was growing not as wide and thick, but higher than the other one.

In the middle of July of 2018 both plants were already quite big, in full bloom and have reached the top of the gate. The pink variety was already going onto the other side of the metal arch. Their branches started to intertwine and I think they looked very beautiful. Finally the gate looked pretty much as I have envisioned it, or even better, and it was surrounded by clematis and covered with hundreds of flowers. You can see how it looked in some pictures below.

Here are both of our clematis in full bloom growing on the opposite sides of the metal gate in the middle of July 2018. I think the gate looked its best at this time of the year. when surrounded by so many flowers Later in July the flowers of purple clematis already started to wilt.

Here is a view on them from the other side of the gate.

A view on our two kinds of clematis growing in the middle of our garden in July 2018.

One more view on this gate with more contrasty lighting.

Our dark purple-violet and dark pink clematis growing and blooming on the opposite sides of the metal gate in the middle of our garden in July 2018. I think our dark purple clematis was the biggest and the most beautiful then.

Around the end of July, the flowers on the dark purple-violet clematis, which started blooming earlier than the other one, were almost all gone, but the pink clematis was now still in full bloom and continued blooming in August, with some flowers also during the early autumn.

Two kinds of clematis growing side by side in the forth week of July of 2018. You can also see our pink Latris flowers further down the gate and Abbotsford rose on the right of this flower bed. There are also some petunias growing at the feet of our pink clematis, along with Scotch Moss.

To Be Continued in the Following Post.

This article is getting quite long, so as I have mentioned, I will continue writing more abut clematis in part 2. Part 2 is now ready and you can read it here. You will see there very beautiful 4th variety of clematis we have, as well as the newest pictures of “Rebecca” clematis, how it looked a few months later.

You will also find out how I am growing our clematis vines. So if you would like to receive my future automatic updates, I encourage you to subscribe to this blog.

Do You Have Clematis In Your Garden? Tell US About the Variety You Have and How You Grow It.

If you have clematis in your garden and any tips how to grow these plants, please share them with us via comments under this post. Thank you.

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All photographs and this article are copyrighted by me, Renata Ratajczyk unless otherwise mentioned. I you would like to use any of them in your publications, on your website, or purchase these photographs as fine art prints, please contact me.

My Other Blog – Light Vision.

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