"Chris Boulby" wrote
snip
I'm nuts about clematis though, even though many of the large flowered
hybrids struggle to do well here. The species love my slightly acid,
well drained, sandy soil.

Yes, I fell in love with them many years ago and, at one time, I had
dozens packed into a very small north-eastern garden. That was several
moves ago and I'm now trying to re-establish them (and myself) in SW
Essex, which is a long way, in distance and soil type, from my original
garden.

The one thing that occurs to me is to mention that the montanas, and some
of the other "species clematis", root very well from hardwood cuttings.
It's a bit late bit for this year now, but I used to do quite a few
internodal cuttings, in early January, from my established plants.

The thickness and age of the wood doesn't matter. I'd just snip up a few
stems, strike them in a 50:50 grit/peat mix and leave them in a shady part
of the unheated greenhouse. They had rooted by April and could be potted
up in early May. I could have them in 2 litre pots by the autumn.

C. heracleifolia and its close relative C. x jouiniana 'Praecox' were
equally successful, but getting sufficient wood from the former was
sometimes difficult.

I did experiment with some of the large flowered clematis and C. 'Hagley
Hybrid' was one which I did root, but the strike rate was only 1-2%,
compared to 90%-odd for the "species" I've mentioned, above.


- Tom
Blackmore, SW Essex.