One for the Clematis Enthusiasts

[BoJoHoNo]

I've recently planted several small (9cm) clematis in my garden with the hopes I can eventually get them to cover and cascade over a big ugly wall. The varieties I decided on are Montana, Cirrhosa and Armandii (tried to go for year round interest). When I planted them, I gave them all a generous couple of handfuls of vitax organic clematis feed and watered them in with some liquid seaweed.

I wondering what feeding regime I should go with to encourage them to grow quickly and healthy? TIA

Clematis are greedy and like to be feed regularly. Through summer roughly every couple of weeks I give mine a liquid feed of tomato feed.

@Proudboomer

Clematis are greedy and like to be feed regularly. Through summer roughly every couple of weeks I give mine a liquid feed of tomato feed.

I don't feed mine at all. Presumably I have a naturally high nutrient garden.

I wouldn't worry about encouraging C montana - it's a brute, and quite happily cover trees and houses if left to its own devices.
It'll be fine.

I have tightly packed beds with lots of established and hungry plants so to help them along I feed the soil. Tomato feed is cheap and easy to use and does the same job as more expensive named products.

I'm with @MereDintofPandiculation, I swear clematis montana would cover a sizeable tree if you planted it in a shoebox full of grit.

Mine is in a very dry bed of poor soil, alongside the garage. It took all of 2 years for it to reach and cover the garage roof. I cut it with the hedge cutters every year, and my poor neighbour hacks it back as well as it's trying to take over her garden too.

I do love it though. It's beautiful, birds love it, slowworms appear to live in it and it smells lovely when it's in flower.

I keep going back and forth on getting a c armandii for along an 18ft stretch of fence. It would like it there, and I love the look of it (the leaves especially), but between that and next doors grape vines I suspect it might become a matted mess in no time at all!

@LakieLady I'm so jealous of your slow worms! I had a Montana in a pot that grew a foot a week, nothing exciting lived in it though.

The montana was previously in a container in a half sunny half shady spot and only grew about 6ft last year. I'm hopeful it'll fair a bit better now it's in the ground in a sunny position. I do have an ugly outbuilding I'd like to cover, so I may have a go at taking some cuttings next spring. Also very jealous of your slow worm Lakie Lady, we're massive reptile and amphibian fans in this house . I'll settle for getting a few frogs to find my newly built pond, I keep checking for signs of them everyday at the moment!

[quote Pinkywoo]@LakieLady I'm so jealous of your slow worms! I had a Montana in a pot that grew a foot a week, nothing exciting lived in it though.[/quote]
I love my slow worms, too. I often find one having a snooze when I take the lid off my compost bin, and when I had the guttering replaced, the builder found one living in the guttering.

However,

do not read on if squeamish

my lakeland terriers once used one as a tuggy toy, the little bastards.

I cried.

I bought 3 clematis yesterday in asda for £5. It was suggested to me that i plant them in pots until strong enough to be planted in the ground.

I bought 2 last year and watered and fed and planted in the ground but they soon died. I left them hoping they would miraculously come back to life!

Is this the best way?

My clematis always die :( I just bought another and this time will plant in ground instead of a pot and hopefully it will make it. I have fairly heavy clay soil so I'm not sure if that is a problem - we shall see!

I planted an Armandii last summer. It didn't flower this winter, but it's grown a foot in a week. I'm training it up an obelisk. I got a clematis romantika at Morrisons yesterday for £2. I'm trying to decide where to plant it.

I have just got about 15 clematis plants from Morrison’s too, I think I got carried away!

Soil in the garden is heavy clay, so would it better to plant in containers? If so, I do have large clay containers but how many clematis can I plant in one container? Please help

I have a Montana I inherited in the garden. We had the whole garden relandscaped and no sign of it last year.....this year it's back! Got to admire it's tenacity. I'll put some wiring up to help it on its way