The beauty of clematis

You can find a clematis flowering in an English garden most months of the year. This popular garden plant in addition to providing colour in a garden has several other uses for example.

Clematis armandii can be used for screening in areas of full sun and some shade. An evergreen quick-growing clematis with spectacular flowers in May it can be a useful screening plant, especially when grown on a trellis or a garden fence or building.

clematis jackmanii can be planted with existing shrubs such as ceanothus and hypericum Hidcote to grow through the shrub flowering later in the season after the shrub has flowered in the spring or early summer. clematis jackmanii have very light foliage and so will not smother the shrub they are planted with. 

Not all clematis are the same clematis montana although having a fantastic show of flowers in the summer can quickly become woody and in the winter once the leaves have dropped look more of a thicket than and attractive plants so regular hard pruning is essential to keep the stem you and maintain the size and flowers.

Traditionally clematis is grown with stones placed around the base of the stem to provide shady and cool conditions around the roots. Clematis have evolved to grow in shady positions often at the base of trees and other plants growing through the tree or shrub to flower in the sunny position at the top of the plant. 

To create the ideal conditions for clematis and advice on pruning contact your MyGardenTeam advisor 

Recommended Clematis and flowering months

January/February

clematis cirrhosa vars, eg clematis var. purpurascens ‘Freckles’ and ‘Wisley Cream’

March

clematis armandii ‘Enham Star’ and ‘Apple Blossom’

clematis var. purpurascens ‘Freckles’ and ‘Wisley Cream’

April

clematis alpina ‘Frances Rivis’, ‘Constance’, ‘Ruby’ or ‘Pamela Jackman’

clematis macropetala varieties, eg ‘Lagoon’

clematis armandii ‘Enham Star’ and ‘Apple Blossom’

clematis cartmannii ‘Joe’

May

clematis macropetala vars, eg ‘Lagoon’

clematis montana var. wilsonii

clematis montana var. rubens ‘Tetrarose’

June

clematis montana var. wilsonii (early June)

clematis ‘Carnaby’, ‘Miss Bateman’, ‘Guernsey Cream’, ‘Proteus’

July

clematis orientalis ‘Bill MacKenzie’, tangutica vars

clematis uncinata

‘Perle d’Azure’

‘Prince Charles’

Viticellas, eg ‘Madame Julia Correvon’, ‘Étoile Violette’, ‘Royal Velours’

August

clematis orientalis (or tangutica varieties) ‘Bill MacKenzie’

clematis rehderiana

clematis texensis hybrids, eg ‘Gravetye Beauty’

clematis uncinata

clematis x triternata ‘Rubromarginata’

Viticellas, eg ‘Madame Julia Correvon’

September

clematis rehderiana

clematis orientalis ‘Bill MacKenzie’ or tangutica vars

clematis x triternata ‘Rubromarginata’

October

clematis orientalis ‘Bill MacKenzie’, tangutica vars

clematis rehderiana

November

clematis orientalis ‘Bill MacKenzie’ seed heads;

clematis tangutica vars.

December

clematis cirrhosa varieties, eg clematis clematis var. purpurascens ‘Freckles’ and ‘Wisley Cream’