Plant profile - Clematis Montana

Clematis is a plant I have never really paid much attention to until a couple of years ago when I went up to Mansfield in springtime and saw the most beautiful pink clematis. Thats it in the background there. Until then I wasnt aware what an abundant performer it was.

At the moment I work in a nursery and we have had some in stock and the one which particularly caught my eye is Clematis Romantika, which is a deep velvetty purple absolutely sublime. We have a light purple which i have planted into a pot on the back deck and ultimately would love to have both this and a crimson one also climbing around the verandah out there. They are very pretty and beautifully perfumes too.

Clematis are interesting as they come under 3 seperate catagories, I am

just learning about them so am a beginner at this. But from what i have read and seen it goes something like this.

Group one are Spring flowering,  Group two are Spring, Summer and Autumn flowering; and Group three, late Spring and Autumn flowering. Now i could go into great lengths about pruning and caring for Clematis but i have found this really good website which has lots of information about and a couple of really cool

videos about pruning them. So I will attach the link here :

http://ahn.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=100078

Its well worth a look.

Meanwhile here are some other Clematis photos, the varieties seem to be endless. Its a wonderful vine to grow up an old tree, cover a chook shed, grow over a pergola or abor, or have growing on your verandah. Clematis is happy growing alongside roses and enjoys similar treatment and plant food so they will do well together.

Remember comments are inspriational so anything you have to say is more than welcome.