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Climbing plants or clematis for pot and obelisk
* Red Dahlia *
Posts: 694
in Talkback
Hi all. I have 2 metal obelisk and I quite fancy putting climbers in the pot. The obelisk stands about 5ft tall. I quite fancy clematis as they are so showy but worried about the length of flowering time and pruning. If anyone can suggest 2 colours/ varieties. I'm looking for something that may be evergreen and long showy flowering season without having to have too much over winter care.
i saw some stunning clematis today and walked away in favour of asking everyone here, how I managed it I will never know. Thanks in advance
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The evergreen clems tend to flower in winter or early spring and then look dull the rest of the year so need to be planted as a backdrop to other plants that carry on the display the rest of the year.
Clematis are hungry and thirsty plants with lots of thick, fleshy roots so your pots will need to be deep enought to let their roots grow and have access to plenty of food and water which will mean frequent waterings and feeding over the growing season.
Have a look at this site and research flower colours, flowering periods and also a suitable height for your obelisks. http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemlistsearch.cfm
montanias do well on climbing on things like obelisk.
Montanas are beautiful for a couple of weeks in spring but tend to need a whole house or lots of trellis or a long pergola as they are so vigorous. There are smaller clems with a longer flowering period that will be far better suited to obelisks.
thanks. The clematis ranged from 6.99-23 pounds yesterday so I need to get it right. Am I too late to plant??
No. Just make sure you get the planting soil and depth right and keep them watered and fed regularly. Never let them dry out but don't let them sit in a puddle either. Expect them to take a year or so to settle in and start really performing well.
..you might like the dark blue Clematis 'Arabella'... it's herbaceous so grows up vigorously from the base each season...so pruning is easy, just cut it all off.. I have this planted in the ground with an obelisk on top... it's one of the longest flowering Clematis there are, so I believe... some might find it a bit dark, and the flowers on the small side.....it's also a bit short..maybe 4 - 5 foot...there are taller types... have a look and see what you think...
My Arabella is lilac/mauve and is supposed to get to 2 metres - http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=110 but I find that with each successive year it gts a bit bigger and produces more and more flowering stems that sprawl about as it is not self clinging. I love it and it does flower for a long time. It's also very hardy and copes with seriously cold winters. Mine is planted in good soil in a hot, sunny bed and scrambles happily through a purple leaved cotinus.
Like the look of the Arabella but worry as it states non clingy, won't I have problems getting it to furl around my metal obelisk. I do fancy the type I have to prune right back as I don't like dead twiggy look over winter. I have tried looking at the link given but my iPhone struggles to load the searches
Red - they have bred clematis specially for pots too - think they are called patio clematis or boulevard series. I have just used Taylors Clematis mail order and was delighted. Really big plants for £8-10. Very friendly people too - i'm sure they would be happy to advise if you gave them a ring
..what I do is, I keep the canes in the middle of the Clematis so I can loosely tie in wayward shoots, [it doesn't twine or cling]...and I also push any shoots that want to grow outside the obelisk, in towards the middle, until they reach a higher point near the top.. then I allow some stems lower down to grow outside the obelisk.. this results in a cascading effect at flowering time... as some of the stems might flop which can put a dent in them, but this doesn't seem to affect the flowering... just carries on...
..incidentally...my growing conditions are quite different from obelixx above.... mine is growing in shade of north facing wall.. never gets the sun.. but is in good moist soil... I underplant with Geranium 'Cambridge'... as with all clematis I watch out for snails at this time of year....