Monthly Archives: May 2024

Clematis Queen of the Climbers

The Joy of Clematis: Elevating Your Garden with Color and Charm

Discovering Clematis: A Gardener’s Delight

Few plants bring as much joy and elegance to a garden as clematis. Known as the “queen of climbers,” this versatile vine offers a stunning display of flowers, ranging from delicate, star-shaped blossoms to large, luxurious blooms. Clematis is one of the most versatile flowering vines as they are well-behaved and come in many color options. Clematis are a long -lived perennial that will clamber gracefully across the top of a fence to fill in bare spots without ever behaving invasively.  Clematis not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of your garden but also brings a sense of achievement and satisfaction as you watch these beautiful flowers flourish.

Why Plant Clematis?

  1. A Burst of Color: Clematis comes in an array of colors, from deep purples and reds to soft pinks and whites. This variety allows you to create vibrant, eye-catching displays or subtle, harmonious blends in your garden.
  2. Versatility: Clematis is incredibly adaptable. It can be grown in pots, trained up trellises, arbors, and pergolas, or allowed to sprawl over shrubs and trees. This flexibility makes it an ideal choice for any garden size or style.
  3. Extended Blooming Period: With proper planning, you can enjoy clematis flowers from early spring through late autumn. By selecting varieties that bloom at different times, your garden can be awash with color for much of the year.
  4. Attracting Wildlife: Clematis flowers are a favorite of pollinators, including bees and butterflies. Planting clematis helps support these important creatures, adding to the ecological value of your garden.

Designing with Clematis: Tips and Inspirations

  1. Creating Vertical Interest: Utilize clematis to add height and depth to your garden. Train them up trellises, fences, and walls to create living tapestries of color. Pair with climbing roses for a romantic, cottage-garden look.
  2. Perfect Pairings: Combine clematis with other plants for stunning visual effects. For instance, planting clematis with evergreen shrubs can provide a backdrop that highlights the vibrant flowers. Clematis also looks beautiful intertwined with wisteria or honeysuckle.
  3. Container Gardens: For those with limited space, growing clematis in pots is an excellent option. Choose compact varieties and provide a trellis or obelisk for support. Place containers strategically around patios and balconies to enjoy the blooms up close.
  4. Seasonal Succession: Plan your garden to feature clematis varieties that bloom at different times. Early-flowering clematis can start the season, followed by summer-blooming types, and finishing with late-flowering varieties. This succession ensures continuous beauty and interest.
  5. Color Coordination: Think about the color palette of your garden and choose clematis varieties that complement or contrast with existing plants. Harmonizing colors can create a soothing effect, while bold contrasts add excitement and drama.

Planting clematis is more than just adding flowers to your garden; it’s about creating an atmosphere of beauty, serenity, and ecological harmony. These magnificent climbers provide endless design possibilities, making them a favorite among gardeners. Whether you’re a seasoned horticulturist or a beginner, clematis offers an opportunity to transform your garden into a paradise of color and charm. Embrace the joy of growing clematis, and let your garden bloom with inspiration.

Clematis Quick Tips

Clematis are sun lovers, preferring 6 hours of sun, but love to have cool “feet”.  Protect and cool their “heels” by mulching and/or planting shallow rotted perennials at their base. Some of our favorites to plant at their feet include: Drift Roses, Penstemon, Catmint, Salvia and Veronica.

Plant strong colored clematis in the sun and paler colors in the shade.

When Growing in Containers use a good compost such as BumperCrop

The container should not be made of plastic, and should be at least 18”x18”

Use summer flowering annuals to add interest and to shade their root system

In clay soils add pine mulch to provide drainage

Designing with Roses

Designing with Beautiful Roses

Roses are one of the most beloved and iconic flowers in the world. It’s no wonder why, with their alluring fragrance, exquisite beauty and diverse range of color. Roses have unrivalled versatility due to the many different types you can find from adorable miniatures, tidy landscape roses, towering climbers to romantic English roses. Utilize our design tips to bring these beauties into your yard this year!

Choose your Style

Roses fit in any garden design or style you can think of! Roses look fabulous in a formal garden achieve this by enclosing roses in boxwood hedging. Great varieties to create this look with are ‘Olivia Rose Austin’ or ‘Queen of Sweden’. If you enjoy cottage gardens there are many roses that are more rounded or arching to create a relaxed feeling. Using roses in a tidy landscape planting? Choose low growing and smaller roses such as Drift roses or shrub roses. Roses can even fit a contemporary style by being placed in modern planters and set around a patio, porch or even in the landscape bed.

Garden fence, pink roses, speedwell, catmint, sage… Beautiful landscaped flower bed bordering sidewalk

Design Tricks

-Plant Roses close to paths or seating areas so their beauty & fragrance can be enjoyed up close.

– Plant in mass color for drama! Group three of the same roses 18” apart so they will grow to look like one big, beautiful shrub.

-Color block with roses and perennials for a big impact. Grow groups and clusters of each to create blocks of color. A favorite combo is pink ‘Olivia Austin’ rose with purple ‘Cat’s Meow’ Catmint.

-Make rose blooms stand out by planting contrasting perennial flower colors and shapes (think spike shaped flowers like lavender).

– Have a specimen plant already? Make it stand out even more by planting a ring of roses around it!

– In small gardens select a few key rose specimens rather than trying to crowd in a lot of different varieties.

-Limit the color scheme to one or two hues so the design doesn’t look too busy.

-For smaller areas choose roses with lighter colored flowers in hues of  soft pink, yellow or white to make the space look larger and brighter.

7 Great Companion Plants

-Allium

-Catmint

-Foxgloves

-Lavender

-Ladys Mantle

-Salvia

-Yarrow

Care Tips

  • Select a spot where the rose will receive at minimum 4 hours of direct sunlight, 6-8 hours is best.
  • Roses like rich loamy soil (our native soil is clay) to achieve this at time of planting incorporate generous amounts of Bumper Crop compost and pine fine mulch onto the planting hole.
  • Roses are heavy feeders and love being fertilized with Rose-tone apply in early March and early May.
  • Roses benefit from yearly pruning, be sure to shape and prune out dead wood in March.