Clematis flammula and cirrhosa
All references say that clematis like moist soil, but I suspect that is an urban myth. C. vitalba grows on chalk, which dries out fairly well, and C. flammula and C. cirrhosa seem to be plants of the maquis and similar dry-summer ecologies. When we were on holiday in France, the people we were staying with pointed out that their C. cirrhosa was growing where the soil was very dry in summer, and it grew as a summer-deciduous plant. Also Bean says that it typically grows only a few feet high, but my neighbour (no gardener!) has one growing 25' up a conifer. My attempts to grow C. cirrhosa have been a dismal failure, but I am going to try again, planting it in a place where it DOESN'T get as much water! What are people's experiences with this? |
Clematis flammula and cirrhosa
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message ... All references say that clematis like moist soil, but I suspect that is an urban myth. C. vitalba grows on chalk, which dries out fairly well, and C. flammula and C. cirrhosa seem to be plants of the maquis and similar dry-summer ecologies. When we were on holiday in France, the people we were staying with pointed out that their C. cirrhosa was growing where the soil was very dry in summer, and it grew as a summer-deciduous plant. Also Bean says that it typically grows only a few feet high, but my neighbour (no gardener!) has one growing 25' up a conifer. My attempts to grow C. cirrhosa have been a dismal failure, but I am going to try again, planting it in a place where it DOESN'T get as much water! What are people's experiences with this? Clematis have very strong deep root systems and prefer to grow in situations where the surface is relatively dry but there is an underlying water supply, in these situations (such as chalk and limestone areas) they can and do out compete other plants, its not the lime but the drainage that is key, plant grow equally well on acid soils. The problem for gardeners is that in the wild a clematis seed will take many years to form a large root system before becoming a big plant, but planting a largish plant a gardener would be well advised to supply regular large quantities of water down deep to the roots until they can tap in to their own water supply, and its quite noticeable that clematis will only self seed in wetter parts of the country onto the tops of wall etc while many friends from the SE report self sown seedlings in their gardens, I have never seen one here despite some 150 plants in the garden. The size of Clematis cirrhosa types is amongst the largest of any clematis and I have seen stems in this country over 5" in diameter! once established they can be happy to the point of being a pest. -- Charlie, gardening in Cornwall. http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and Lapageria rosea |
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