Henryi, my mother`s clematis, jumped the gun like everything else this spring.
A luxurious climber with white flowers the size of dessert plates, Henryi is supposed to bloom around mid-June. But early in May, as I pulled into the family farm in Maryland, there he was, rising a good 15 feet into the sky, spiraling about an old post in a column of bloom that, well, maybe three people could have gotten their arms around, had they joined hands in some kind of ceremonial worship of the thing.
That`s how the plant makes you feel. People see it blooming as they drive past. They venture in the driveway and knock on the kitchen door. ”What is that?” they ask in awe.
I have Ramona blooming now in my Long Island garden. A pale blue creature who`s winding herself about the wild white rose that I usually beat back with an ax. But the rose is so fragrant, and so suited to luminous blue Ramona, that I`m allowing both to ramble.
Once a clematis creeps into your heart, there`s no letting go. You can swear to yourself-after some lovely, expensive creature croaks in the wind, or shrivels up from wilt, or is broken off at the base by the cat-that you will never, ever try another one.
Until, of course, you wander into another garden and find Niobe, so deeply red, she`s almost black, lounging over a wall. Or Jackmanii, spreading his big purple self over a fence in June.
Many varieties
Clematis comes in all sizes and shapes and colors. Some stand out from their vines like big innocent faces. Others hang their heads like girls hiding beneath sunbonnets. Still others ramble all over the place, like unruly tomboys. If you know them well, choosing the right varieties and species, you can have clematis blooming from March to October.
Everyone should have a C. paniculata, now called C. maximowicziana by those fanatical taxonomists who keep changing names. Sweet autumn clematis, as it is commonly known, is white and fragrant and grows like a weed in the fall. There are a few secrets to clematis. They need good soil and good drainage, of course.
Virgin`s bower, as she is commonly called, is a pampered type. You would be, too, if you were named for the Queen-or the Virgin Mary.
There are two stories: A wild clematis, viticella, found growing in Spain, was brought back to England during the reign of Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. Another wildling, C. vitabla, blooms in the English countryside around the Feast of the Assumption, Aug. 15. Take your pick. In his book ”Clematis, Queen of Climbers” (Cassell, $14.95), Jim Fisk explains that clematis that flowers in spring and early summer can take shade; so plant these vines on north-facing walls. Summer blooming types do well on east, west or south explosures, and fall bloomers should face south.
Avoid walls
Don`t plant too close to a wall, because these heat-collectors will drain your clematis of moisture. Dig the hole a good 2 to 3 feet out, and train the vine to the wall on sticks or wires. Or let it grow along the ground, rooting itself as it goes. If you want the vine to climb a tree, plant it far enough from the trunk to avoid the roots, and guide it toward the branches by a pole or wire.
Choose a good site. Dig a good hole: about 18 inches deep and just as wide. Aerate the bottom with your garden fork another 9 inches or so. Add two or three shovelfuls of aged manure or compost. Throw in a couple handfuls of bone meal and a handful of potash or wood ashes. Mix as carefully as you would a double chocolate cake.
Before planting, prune the vine back to its lowest pair of leaf buds. When these break into two shoots, let them grow to 12 inches or so and pinch them back again to the lowest pair of buds. This will encourage a strong, bushy vine, and some stems will root into the mulch below, adding to the plant`s general heartiness.
Plant the crown 2 to 3 inches below soil level. If a pair of leaf buds is underground, all the better, Fisk says, because these dormant buds can come to life if the fragile vine is ripped off by a zealous weeder.
Lots of water
If it`s hot, give the roots plenty of water, up to a gallon a day, and, during the growing season, feed weekly with a liquid fertilizer.
Prune hard in late February, back to the lowest pair of buds on the stem, to encourage bushy growth in spring.
Some plants, like Jackmanii, bloom in midsummer on wood produced in the spring, so they thrive under hard pruning. Early bloomers that flower from April to June on last year`s old wood should be left unpruned.
If you plant in the sun, shade the roots by scattering stones or pebbles about 2 feet around the plant, set in some shallow-rooted annuals that won`t slurp up the nutrients or simply mulch well. Encircle your delicate newcomer with a little fence, so you don`t step on the vine. And give it a windbreak.
I killed a beautiful Nelly Moser this spring by planting her in pre-Fisk ignorance on a windy hill. The leaves shriveled up in a thunderstorm. But Nelly`s roots may take hold, and one of those dormant buds that Fisk believes in may effect a resurrection.
