Clematis Rhapsody

Indeed you are so right gardening grandma, I took to examining the gorgeous cflematis (and other plant) displays I saw at garden shows, rather more closely than perhaps I was supposed to.  The beautiful displays did indeed have anything from 4 - 8 plants per pot - no wonder mine looked skimpy in comarison.  Also, most of us try to grow just about everything we can, and clematis will be part of that, whereas many nurseries of course concentrate on the plants they are wishing to grow and sell.  Always good people from whm to ask advice though, as they have superior knowledge, even if for only the plant(s) in which they specialise. 

Clematis do thicken up with time.  i planted one Etoil Violette some years ago and it did take a couple of years to get going but now that one plant produces dozens of stems from the base each year and is rapidly outgrowing its arch support.   Same with a Princess Diana that has outgrown its obelisk so i now train it over onto a tallish acer Sango Kaku.   Red Robin is another that grows very thickly and other clems are finally beefing up too.

It's that age old thing of gardeners having the patience to wait for the full effect whilst growers have to display their plants as best they can and in tip top condition, especially at shows, so use tricks to get the effect of mature plants.

This is my first attempt at growing a Clematus & it is climbing well.  I'm not sure how to prune it as not sure which bits are dead & I'm also afraid to cut off where it grows from as the main stem is just a single very, very thin stem & could be broken so easily.  I have a gnome standing just where it comes out of the ground & daren't move him as he seems to be guarding against it being attacked!

It's now in it's third year of blooming, is climbing further up an old wall & doing well. As it's at the bottom of my garden, it gets very little attention & I have never pruned it.  It seems to do well left to it's own devices.