Need to figure out how to work this...

14 years ago

OK, so I have 2 areas that I am moving some clems to or that I have bought clems for but I'm not sure which way to do this and need a little help, if you guys don't mind.

First area: is in front of the house where two iron trellises are located between 2 foundation bushes. I was PLANNING on putting Rebecca there with Bourbon b/c I thought that Bourbon actually had the wide red rim around the edge of the bloom but further investigation has shown that it is more likely just a dark pink with no red, so I don't think I want to group those together now. By the way, each trellis is about 3 feet wide by 6 feet tall.

Second area: A very large wooden fence that is about 10 feet tall and 17 or 18 feet long. I plan on putting lots of clematis all the way down that. The fence is actually the back side of my raised deck, so on the opposite side is up on the deck, so it would be great if the clems actually bloomed on both sides. The boards are staggered, some more to the front and some more to the back by a couple of inches, sort of woven together, so there is plenty of room for the clems to go around, if they want to.

I haven't researched these at all, yet, but I was thinking that maybe in the front on the trellises, I would put Vienetta with something like Souvenir de Capitaine Thuilleaux or Cassis for a great contrast. I'm not even sure if they are the same group or not yet, but something like those together instead of the Rebecca and Bourbon.

Which means, Rebecca and Bourbon will need to be moved around the side to the fence. Along with them, I have Dr. Ruppel, H F Young, Snow Queen, Pink Champage and one other mystery clem that I have never seen bloom. All of these need to be moved to this location, also. Let's see, that's 7 so far. Not enough or just right? I'm thinking I need something with color impact around there, I am definately a color impact person (no pastels for me, usually!)Some of these are rescues, so to speak, so that is why they are pastels. Also, I haven't looked at the heights yet, but they do need to go somewhere, so I thought if they were too short, then I could just add that one into one with a complimentary color that was taller.

I know this is a lot of detail, but any help, if you made it through reading all of this, would be great. Thanks!

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Comments (3)

buyorsell888
14 years ago
Cassis and Vienetta have similar cultural requirements so they would play nicely together.

Your fence could fit a lot of Clems but they may need wire or netting to help them climb it.

Pink Champagne and Dr. Ruppel are likely to fade in full sun though I do not have those two, I have similar colors that do.

Heights are listed on Clematis on the Web.

In your long growing season you can likely prune Type IIs as IIIs to make it easier.

Miguel, a long time contributor to this forum was from NC and he always recommended Type IIIs instead of IIs saying the IIs severely browned out in summer there.
funnthsun z7A - Southern VA
Original Author
14 years ago
That is very interesting about the type III recommendation. I'll keep that in mind, although locally, almost everything I see is Type II.

I was wondering if I would need something to help the clematis up the fence or not. I am going to paint the fence, and was trying to decide whether to stain it a wood color or paint it dark green like the neighboring shed. Have to think about which one would look better behind the clematis.

I do plan to look up the heights, I was just saying that if one of these that I already have is in fact short, then I can just mix it in with a taller one.

Good to know those fade, I was afraid of that. Thanks for your help!
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buyorsell888
14 years ago
I believe Miguel did a lot of mail ordering to get the ones he wanted. In fact I'm sure of it.

Yes, they will need help up the fence. I have used wide spaced nylon bird netting stapled to 1 x 1 wood strips but it is hard to prune using it, it pulls out when you pull the vines down.

In the future, I will use wire livestock fencing as I have seen done at a local garden with loads of Clemmies. They used it around 4 x 4 posts that supported bird houses/feeders and on their cedar fence. Costs more initially but you can prune easily and it lasts forever.