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?

"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