Clematis is a flowering ornamental plant that enjoys incredible success among flower growers. The culture is good for vertical landscaping. Beautiful plants bloom in large bright colors. It is enough to see clematis once to love him forever. But in order to grow a culture, you need to know all the nuances of care. Clematis is very demanding, and therefore require a reverent attitude.
A little bit about the plant
Before starting the story about what care clematis requires, it is worth mentioning the diversity of cultural forms. The plant belongs to a large family of buttercups. In the wild, clematis grows in the temperate zone in a subtropical climate. In total, there are approximately 300 varieties of culture.
In the genus of clematis, there are curly vines and ornamental shrubs. Gardeners generally prefer to grow plants with creeper stems, and use arbours, verandas, pergolas, and small architectural forms for landscaping. The plant feels great in open ground and in winter gardens.
Different types of clematis significantly differ from each other in the structure of the root system, the size of the flowers and other signs. Among all the variety of plants, one can see forms with large and small flowers. The color of their petals varies from white to dark purple. Very often the corolla has a multi-colored color, colored spots or contrasting stripes. On average, the height of the plant reaches 2-4 meters. And the diameter of the flowers reaches 15 centimeters.
Clematis Classification
The variety of clematis varieties has led to difficulties in classifying the culture. Now flower growers use a more simplified form of classification according to several criteria.
Clematis flower sizes differ. If among garden crops preference is given to large-flowered forms, in nature natural varieties usually have small flowers.
Shallow forms
Among the finely colored forms, it is worth highlighting the tangutu. Plants of this species reach four meters in height. These clematis bloom from mid-summer to mid-autumn. The plant has yellow bell-shaped flowers. Creepers are frost resistant. The Tangut species is able to withstand cooling to -30 degrees.
Another representative of small-flowered plants is panicled clematis. This form has the largest length, which can be 11 meters. Clematis begin to bloom in the second half of summer. Milky white flowers are small - no more than three centimeters in diameter. Creepers of the plant are completely covered with inflorescences.
Jacquman's Grade
The hybrid variety was obtained by crossbreeding in the nineteenth century. The large liana has a developed root system, which easily holds the ground part. Flowers appear on new shoots of the current year, and therefore winter pruning of clematis is allowed. Caring for plants of this variety is no different from other varieties. Clematis flowers are colored in purple and reach 15 cm in diameter. Vines are planted near the walls of houses and powerful supports to provide support for clematis. Plant care consists in choosing the right place for planting. The culture prefers bright areas of the garden with good protection from the winds.
Viticella
Plants of this variety reach a height of five meters. But at the same time they do not require winter shelter and are easy to care for. Photos of Vititzella clematis allow you to appreciate their beauty.
Flowers appear on the shoots of the current year, so for the winter lianas are pruned greatly. The size of the flowers and the intensity of flowering fully depend on the number of top dressings.
Patens
A winding shrub reaches three meters in height. Flowers are formed on the branches of last year already in early spring. Many varieties have an amazing aroma. For winter, plants are pruned slightly so as not to disrupt future flowering.
Choosing a landing place
Care and reproduction of clematis are simple, if you know all the features and requirements. The first thing you need to pay close attention to is choosing the right place to land.
If you want to be delighted with blooming bloom of clematis flowers in the future, care should begin with preparing the place where you plan to plant your plant. Most plant varieties have a heavy terrestrial part. Therefore, it is necessary to plant a culture near fences, walls, outbuildings or supports. If there is nothing suitable on the site, then you can plant the plant in the place where you can build supports.
Clematis does not tolerate strong winds and do not like drafts. This is worth remembering if you plan to provide the plant with proper care. Clematis (photo is given in the article) can even die in a draft, especially when it comes to a young, immature plant. Therefore, for culture it is worth choosing a secluded quiet place.
Clematis prefer moist soil, but at the same time they do not like wetlands. It is preferable to place plants in sunny, windless areas. In regions with hot climates with bright sunshine, flowers and leaves of the crop may get burned. Florists believe that the ideal site for planting is a stretch of garden facing east.
Landing in spring
You can plant clematis in the spring with the advent of sustainable heat - in late April or early May. Pits for landing should be prepared in advance. If you plan to plant clematis on a site with poor soil, you should introduce a nutrient mixture. It can be made from a mixture of sand, peat, compost and garden soil. In addition, dolomite flour and superphosphate can be added to each hole. Enrichment of the soil will facilitate further care. Clematis is planted in open ground, having done drainage. At the bottom of the pit, a drainage layer of expanded clay, fine gravel or broken brick is covered. Prepared nutrient mixture is poured on top of expanded clay, and a seedling is placed on it, which is covered with soil on top to the first internode. It is not recommended to fill the tree trunk circle to the full height, leave a recess up to 10 cm deep. Mulch is poured into it from above, leveling the site. Clematis care in the spring consists of installing supports. It is better to put them during landing. This will facilitate further care.
If you plan to plant several plants, then between the bushes you must leave a distance of at least one meter.
Autumn landing
In autumn, clematis can be planted in open ground only in regions with a warm climate. Landing pattern is no different from spring. True, the use of insulation is supposed to be on top of the soil. After wintering, seedlings are opened, removing 10 cm of soil. During the season, the recess is filled with soil, doing so gradually. This will make it easier to develop new shoots that grow from underground internodes.
How to grow clematis from seeds: planting, care, photo
Varietal seedlings take root well when planted. But their cost is quite high. Therefore, gardeners very often make attempts to grow a plant from seeds. Experts note that the process is not easy, because it requires a lot of time.
Large seeds sprout for a long time. The emergence of seedlings can be expected up to 8 months. For a very long time the seeds of the varieties Jacqueman and Duran sprout. Coarse seed hatch for a long time and often unevenly. Sowing seeds is recommended immediately after their collection.
Medium-sized seed germinates a little faster - from two weeks to four months. The most amicable seedlings can be expected from small seeds that are sown in March. For this, only fresh seed is used. It is believed that germination lasts up to four years, but subject to a certain temperature regime (+10 ... + 23 degrees).
You can speed up the process of seed germination using pre-soaking. The seed is soaked for ten days, replacing water daily. After the seeds are placed in a mixture of peat and sand. Pots with crops are best placed in a greenhouse.
Seeds or seedlings?
Experienced gardeners recommend stopping your choice on ready-made seedlings, as this will facilitate further care. Clematis flower is incredibly difficult to grow from seeds. Gardeners prefer the hybrid forms that have the greatest beauty. Varietal clematis should be grown only from seedlings.
How to care for clematis after winter
Clematis care in spring consists of removing the top of the soil. This must be done immediately after the cessation of frost. The technique is used to simplify the process of germination of stems. In this case, the appearance of the first flowers can be expected in early summer.
In spring, you need to start watering clematis. It is enough to moisten the soil once a week. It is not necessary to fill the plant too much until it reaches a height of 50-60 cm, since at this time the vines are most vulnerable to rotting. As clematis grows, you will have to add soil until the height at the base reaches 10-15 centimeters.
In addition, in spring, plants grown from seeds are planted in the ground.
Watering the crop
How to water clematis? A description of the care would be incomplete if you do not remember what watering should be. In summer, the plant must be watered at least twice a week. With an increase in air temperature to +28 degrees, the amount of watering should be increased up to three times.
Do not forget about the features of hydration of exotic varieties of clematis. Care for them should be more thorough. Varieties such as President, Countess Lovelace and Niobe should be watered more often. Such clematis have large and bright flowers, which indicates their origin. However, it is worth remembering that excessive waterlogging can cause root decay.
Top dressing
For each grower, it is important to get abundant flowering clematis. According to reviews, the care and cultivation of the culture is impossible without fertilizing. They provide bright flowering. An organic concentrate intended for strawberries, which should be diluted according to the instructions, is applied twice a month to the soil. In addition, experts recommend watering the plant with lime milk once a month. This tool can be replaced with dolomite or flour diluted in water. Such a composition is safer. In addition, it is easier to cook. Exotic plants should be fertilized with copper concentrate with the advent of summer. It is bred in the ratio of 1 tbsp. l on a bucket of water.
Pruning
Clematis pruning is possible in several ways. The choice of method depends on which group a particular variety belongs to. There are two groups of plants: A, C and B. Care for clematis of type A consists of pruning drying and weak shoots, since large flowers form on perennial shoots.
Group B plants are pruned more seriously; damaged stems are removed completely. Clematis species C are completely trimmed to the level of rhizomes. In this state, they hibernate, and such varieties do not need strong shelter.
Plants of groups A and B require some preparation for winter and care. Autumn clematis must be prepared for frost. For the winter, creepers should be covered with suitable material. The shoots are pressed to the ground, and on top they are covered with dry leaves. Shelter can be made from special materials or pine branches.
Plant supports
For clematis, support must be used. Without them, plants simply won’t look beautiful. If you do not use home-made fortifications, then you can purchase them in specialized stores. Growing, clematis becomes heavier, so the supports should be made of durable material.
Breeding methods
We have already mentioned that clematis are sometimes propagated by seed. In addition, young plants can be obtained using summer and autumn layering. To do this, young shoots are pressed to the ground. After some time, roots appear on the layering, after which they can be separated from the mother plant and planted in open ground.
Reproduction by dividing the bush is another way to obtain young clematis. It can only be used for plants no older than six years old. It will be much more difficult to work with older bushes, because they have a powerful root system, which will be very difficult to separate. Clematis is dug up and cleaned of the earth, after which it is divided by secateurs.
To obtain layering in October, leaves are removed from the shoots, they are twisted into a bundle, and then they are laid in grooves with peat. On top of the workpiece sprinkled with soil. For the winter they are covered with dry foliage and spruce branches. With the advent of spring, the planting site must often be watered. After emergence, the soil must be mulched with humus and peat. By autumn, some plants will be ready for transplanting. Young clematis should be dug with a pitchfork so as not to damage the roots. Layings can be laid in the summer, but then it will be very difficult to maintain them in the winter.
In the spring, you can pin the shoots of last year at the point of the node. To do this, use pots with peat, which are buried in the ground below ground level. As the seedlings grow from above, they add earth to the pots. By autumn, good seedlings are obtained from shoots.
Pests
Clematis, like other cultures, is susceptible to fungal diseases. The appearance of the disease can be judged by the loss of elasticity of the tissues. Pathogens affect primarily the root system, so it is important to follow the rules of agricultural technology. Otherwise, its violation leads to the appearance of diseases. The first signs of ailments can be seen in the spring. In May, you can cut the damaged branches, and then shed the roots of clematis with a two percent solution of Azocene or Fundazole. Heavily damaged plants should be removed with an earthen lump. And the place of growth of the culture is treated with the above solutions. Preparations "Azocene" and "Fundazole" are good for the fight against powdery mildew and gray rot. Sometimes clematis is affected by rust, which is a fungal disease. An ailment is manifested by the appearance of red pads on the foliage and shoots. Subsequently, the greenery dries and deforms. To combat rust, use a 1-2% solution of Bordeaux mixture. You can also use "Oksikhom."
In mid-summer, gray necrosis may appear on shoots and foliage. You can get rid of the disease with a solution of copper sulfate.
Instead of an afterword
Given the popularity of culture, many flower growers dream of having beautiful flowers on their site. Growing clematis is not so difficult if you know all the subtleties of the process. Minimal care, proper planting and preparation for winter will allow you to get a wonderful flowering plant on the site. We hope that our article will help you understand the issue of breeding clematis and care for them.