THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502100093
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
CLEMATIS IS sometimes called the queen of flowering vines. It will grow on almost anything, and new varieties provide larger flowers and more choice of colors than ever before.
Colors range from the familiar dark purple of ``Jackmanii'' to shades of blue, mauve, pink, red, white, yellow and bicolored. Flowers vary in size from clusters of 1/4-inch blooms to blooms 10 inches across.
Sometimes hard to get started, clematis are as hardy as giant oak trees once established. They will grow on a trellis, fence or tree trunk or ramble over a low-growing shrub, step or patio.
``Elsa Spath,'' with beautiful blue-purple blooms, is a very vigorous plant and prolific bloomer. Another purple, ``Perrins Pride,'' blooms profusely with dark purple flowers and works well as a cut flower.
Many new introductions are coming from Japan, including a large flowering mauve-pink variety, ``Pink Champagne.'' It has deep rosy-pink blooms that grow 5 to 6 inches. ``Guernsey Cream'' is a new introduction from Europe, said to be a beauty, with 6-inch creamy white blooms.
Bicolor varieties include ``Carnaby'' and ``Lincoln Star.'' They have large white sepals, or petals, with a dark pink to red bar down the center. There are also lavender and purple varieties with a red bar down the center of each sepal. One bicolor named ``Bees Jubilee'' has a reputation for doing well on the north side of homes.
In addition to these many new varieties, there are new ways to use clematis. One suggestion from grower Dick Donahue is to plant a small flowering variety with a contrasting color of a large blooming variety. Plant them on a trellis or fence. One such combination would be Viticella, ``kermasina'' or ``Julia Correvon'' with many small red flowers, planted with a large flowering pink such as ``Comtesse de Bouchard'' or a white such as ``Marie Boisselot.''
Another idea is to train a small bell-shaped yellow blooming variety such as ``Tangutica'' up a tree trunk and give the impression that your tree is blooming. ``Tangutica'' is extremely fast growing.
With so much choice, the right selections can provide blooms throughout the entire growing season. ``Montana Grandiflora'' is the heaviest blooming of all clematis and one of the easiest to grow, with hundreds of blooms beginning in May.
Donahue's Greenhouse in Faribault, Minn., grows all of these varieties and more. They have grown more than 90 varieties of clematis for the last 22 years.
To use clematis as a cut flower, choose blooms that have a thick strong stem and a flower that has just opened. Remove any leaves and place immediately in cold water, as deep as possible. Condition all blossoms overnight before arranging.
Clematis can be planted almost any month you can work the soil, says Donahue. Spring is one of the best times.
Donahue recommends you dig out 18 inches all around and below the place you intend to plant. Mix compost or quality potting soil and some granular fertilizer with some of the soil you dug out of the hole. Then plant your clematis 2 inches deeper than it was in the pot. One set of leaves should be below the soil level. Water thoroughly and mulch the soil around the plant to keep the roots cool.
Be sure to place a stake or two near the plant for it to grow on until it can grow up a trellis.
The first year, you may only have an occasional flower. Pruning first year shoots back once or twice to half their length will give you a bushier plant for future years. By the third year, your clematis should be filled with blooms that will repeat year after year.
In this area, because of hot summers, it's best to plant clematis where its roots are shaded but the vines receive sunshine. Plants may be purchased in garden centers or by mail this spring. If your garden center doesn't have the varieties named, ask them to contact Donahue's Greenhouse. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DONAHUE'S GREENHOUSE
A ``Comptesse de Bouchard'' clematis weaves its large pink blooms
around an apple tree.
by CNB