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Fri, May 23, 08 at 17:35
| Hi,
This is the first year I have ever planted anything and need to know how many clematis vines to plant on one side of a chain link fence that is 4 feet high and 13 feet long. The height of the clematis vines are always mentioned, but never the width? As much as I would love to plant Henryi, I read it grows as tall as 10-12 feet and the total of fence height is 8 feet counting both sides, so that would not be a good choice. I will most likely give Miss Bateman a try. I believe I need 3 or 4 Miss Bateman vines to cover fence. Anyone know I many plants I need? Help would be greatly appreciated! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by jeanne_texas Z 8B TX (jeanne007@hughes.net) on Fri, May 23, 08 at 17:52
| Go to the link I provided below ..the search function at COTW and click on Approx Mature Height and put in the 1.0-1.5 meters(which is 3-3 1/2 feet) and click on Search now and it will show you all the clematis that will fit the bill..you can also do that by color or pruning type...(Stick with the same pruning type..I would recommend the pruning group 3's for easy and vigor& plant alternating colours for interest) I would plant one clematis per 1-2 feet...Jeanne |
Here is a link that might be useful: COTW Search
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- Posted by diggerdave Montana 4/5 (My Page) on Fri, May 23, 08 at 23:03
| The clematis along our 4 ft tall fence are planted 3 to 4 feet apart. That is too close. Miss Bateman gets 8 feet wide in spite of cutting to keep it from overgrowing others. The President is almost as large. In the other direction.... Niobe and Mrs N Thompson get 6+ feet wide. At least Will Goodwin hasn't filled the gap between MNT and Henryi. Henryi is the largest of them all. The other side of the fence? Miss Bateman looks pretty good from that side too. My favorite white is in the background, Gillian Blades. I gave her plenty of room. She gets 12 feet wide. 5 to 6 feet apart is how we plant the newer clematis. 3 feet worked the first couple years. Now I need to figure out which ones to move. |
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- Posted by lovetogarden z4 NY (My Page) on Sun, May 25, 08 at 4:08
| Wow Dave, your clematis are beautiful. What is the purple one in the middle in the second photo? Is that Niobe, and if it is, that sure looks different from the Niobe I have, which has smaller and deeper red (almost maroon) flowers than that. And the one to the left of that? I'd love to know. Thanks. |
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- Posted by diggerdave Montana 4/5 (My Page) on Sun, May 25, 08 at 9:07
| Thank you lovetogarden :) That is Niobe. She looks more red in the sun. Blooms are pretty large. Here is a link to our Niobe page: Deb & Digger's Niobe The other is Mrs N Thompson. |
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| Ilseschuhe, for 'height' read 'width.' You don't have to worry that your fence is not ten feet high. The 'height' of a clematis means that's how long the plant will grow in any direction. So for your 13'-long fence, I'd probably plant a clematis 4 feet from each end of the fence. |
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- Posted by nckvilledudes OrwellianzQ (My Page) on Mon, May 26, 08 at 19:17
| I have a 10 foot long trellis I constructed that is about 8 feet tall and I have clematis planted one foot apart. I love the tangled interwoven effect you get when you overplant, but then I am and always be a shameless huzzy when it comes to planting clematis as close together as possible. |
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- Posted by diggerdave Montana 4/5 (My Page) on Tue, May 27, 08 at 7:50
| I went the opposite way. When Deb first got some clematis (4), I planted them in pairs a foot apart. I didn't care how close they were. The things didn't take up as much room and were away from roses. After all... they were just weeds Deb wanted to have. It wasn't like they were important :) I didn't care if they competed for sun and root space. Somewhere along the line.... I became fond of the things. Watched Dr Ruppel strangle Ramona and Jackmanii almost did the same to Ernest Markham. I was amazed at the size of the rootballs when I dug up established clematis. The roots on our 12 year old Dr Ruppel are 2 feet in diameter. Don't know how deep they go on him. I had to move the 12 year old Jackmanii and it was 18 inches in diameter and 2 feet deep. I began to respect them as good plants in their own right. I was also glad I had planted clematis at least 2 feet from the roses. Never expected weed roots to get so large. Hope you realize I am a very strange gardener. I get claustrophobic seeing clematis wrapped around rose canes. I try to keep the clematis on the fence or trellis. I want the plants to have room for their roots to grow. It makes for a strange garden too :) It is a jungle but I like to consider it an organized jungle, lol. Not saying my way is right or that planting clematis a foot apart is wrong. Just trying to explain why I no longer plant them so close together. Have to admit, life was much simpler when I just planted the rascals together out of the way. How can a rose guy justify spending time taking care of weeds.... or, heaven forbid, using precious garden space for a nonrose??? *sigh* OK, I'll shutup :) On preview I realized we do have some new clematis I leave close to other plants. We find volunteer seedlings and leave them where they come up for a few years. A couple of them are huge now and I'm gonna have to transplant them soon. How did a rose guy get so tangled up in weeds?? |
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- Posted by nckvilledudes OrwellianzQ (My Page) on Tue, May 27, 08 at 8:50
| Hey Diggerdave, we all do things to suit ourselves and that is the way things should be. I love that tangled look where you can't tell where one clematis begins and one ends--sort of the English secret garden look. I view it as survival of the strongest in my garden. If one doesn't cut it, it gets weeded out by its neighbors. Things might have been done a little differently for me if I had been into clematis when I first built this house almost 10yrs ago. Quite a few nonclematis plants wouldn't have been planted, allowing me more space for more clematis that might not have to have been planted so closely together. |
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| diggerdave, beautiful! you are in a colder climate than me, and i see you have many mature type 2s and i'm curious how you prune them.. do you prune them to the ground every year or leave them be now they are mature? |
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- Posted by gardengirl_17 z5 OH (My Page) on Thu, May 29, 08 at 20:23
| This is a great post for me too. We don't have chainlink fence but instead have a cedar fence that is only 4' high. Unfortunately before I discovered my love of Clematis I planted several shrubs along the fence for "bones" in my garden. I am finding spots though to tuck Clematis in here and there and adding Obelisks and non-climbing varieties wherever I can. I found some sturdy green coated wire with a grid pattern about 2" apart and we staple sections of wire to the cedar fence supports and the clematis grow on them and then grow over into their neighbors. I'm with Miguel, I love the "secret garden" romantic look of them all growing together. I have some open fence on the east side of the property and I"m looking to add more clematis there. I have a Macropetala up at one end and I was thinking of putting 'Bill McKenzie' in but I haven't heard much about it on here. Not sure whether to do that or stick with my Type 3s. I will keep them plenty far away from the macropetala. |
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- Posted by diggerdave Montana 4/5 (My Page) on Mon, Jun 2, 08 at 7:40
| kitova, thanks :) No, I don't prune the type 2s to the ground. Occasionally I will give them a severe haircut in spring. Two of our Henryi and Dr Ruppel got cut back to 2 feet tall this spring. That was because they had gotten too large and unmanageable. I do that about every 3 or 4 years with the monsters. I should have cut Niobe and Miss Bateman back more this spring too. The rest of the group 2s get shaped before they begin showing new growth. I can't seem to cut them when they show growth. How much I trim them depends on where they are in relation to the roses and other clematis. I try to leave a little room for new clematis to grow. Gillian Blades on the west fence gets very little trimming. There are trees in the yard west of us so Gillian isn't shading the roses over there. That is one reason she is 12 feet wide :) Note: Deb brought home a Fireworks she just had to have. It is along the west fence now. She knows she is out of control regarding clematis. That was Miss Bateman Friday evening. She is just getting started :) It is great having blooms again. Nelly Moser, Pink Champagne and The President began opening over the weekend. What a great time of year! |
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