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Clematis (Greek name of a climbing plant). Ranunculaceae. Familiar garden plants, prized for their handsome and often very showy flowers followed in many species by attractive feathery-tailed fruits.
Climbing vines, or erect or ascending perennial herbs, more or less woody: lvs. opposite, mostly slender petioled, usually pinnately compound, lobed, or in some species entire and rarely sessile: sepals usually 4 or 5, sometimes more, valvate in the bud, rarely imbricate, petaloid; petals none (or small in Atragene section, usually considered as petaloid staminodes); stamens many; pistils many: achenes in a head, 1-seeded; style persistent, long, plumose, silky or naked. Fig. 983.—About 150 species of very wide geographical distribution, most abundant in temperate regions. About 20 species found native in N. Amer. and about 80 in E. Asia. Les Clematites, Alphonse Lavallee, Paris, 1884; referred to below by "Lav."—The Clematis as a Garden Flower, Thomas Moore and George Jackman, London, 1872; referred to below by "M. & J."—Clematises, Dr. Jules le Belc, in Bull, de la Societe d'Hort. De la Sarthe; republished in The Garden (vol. 53), June-Oct., 1898.—O. Kuntze, Monogr. der Gattung Clematis in Verb. Bot. Ver. Brandenb. 26 (1885).—A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1:4-9, 1895.—Finet & Gagnepain, Contrib. Fl. As. Orient 1:1-42 (1905).
The culture of clematises. (K. C. Davis.)
A rich soil of a light, loamy character is the best for clematises, and a little mixture of lime will make it better. The soil must be well drained, and must be kept rich by at least annual applications of horse- or cow-manure. On dry, hot soils cow-manure is best, while on heavy soils a thorough dressing of rich leaf- mold would best serve the purpose. Mulching with half-rotted manure on the approach of winter tends to increase the strength of the plants and the size of the flowers. In dry seasons, spraying is always helpful during the growing period.
Clematises belonging to the Montana, Patens, Florida, and Lanuginosa types should be pruned in February or March, by cutting away all weak, straggling and overcrowded branches. The first three mentioned flower from the ripened wood; it is essential, therefore, that in order to secure blossoms, enough of the strong one-year-old wood should be retained, viticella, Jackmanii and Lanuginosa should be vigorously cut back, say in November; they blossom from the new shoots. Those of the Patens type should be pruned very little, soon after the flowers have disappeared, by simply trimming off useless branches and seed-bearing peduncles.
Clematises of the vigorous climbing varieties are used in many places to cover walls, root-fences, mounds, arbors, balconies, trellises, small buildings, and, in fact, many other places the ingenious gardener will think of. For pot culture in the greenhouse, and for conservatory walls, the less vigorous species are best suited. All the many varieties and hybrids of the Patens and Lanuginosa types, including Henryi and the forms of Jackmanii, are well adapted to this use, as well as for outdoor purposes. The dwarfer and more bushy species are used in greenhouses to some extent, but are found principally in borders or on large rockeries. Of the latter J. B. Keller says: "Their flowers are not so large as we see them in most of the climbers, yet they are indispensable in the flower-garden, being prolific bloomers and free growers in ordinarily rich, deep garden soil. There is room for improvement in this class, however, and specialists, who hitherto have done so much for the cumbers, ought to direct their efforts now to the long-neglected bush clematises. A noble beginning has been made, resulting in the large- flowering C. Durandii, but we expect more of them in the future." Sec special notes on culture and hybrid forming qualities after the descriptions of some of the species and varieties.
The most common method of propagation is by grafting. Roots of C. Flammula or C. Viticella are used; the cions are taken from plants that have been grown under glass, and are used before the wood is entirely ripe. Cions taken from plants grown in the garden in summer are rarely successful. The grafts, in pots or trays, are grown in a moist coolhouse, over gentle bottom heat. Another method of propagation, involving less labor but usually successful, is to take cuttings of nearly ripe wood, grown under glass, and treat them as the cions first above mentioned, without the roots. The latter method is practised preferably in summer in gentle hotbeds; shading, spraying, and later on airing, must be strictly attended to. Layering is practised when large old stools are at hand. The knife is not used in the operation, but a twist of the stem will split the inner bark lengthwise. Every other joint is thus treated, pegged down, and covered with soil. It is best to leave the layers undisturbed until the following spring. Many of the species are often propagated by seed, and many new varieties have thus been secured. The number of hybrids is almost countless; in this account are carefully recorded those in the American trade which are traceable to their origin. The clematis is subject to a very serious disease, due to the depredations of a nematode worm in the roots. This trouble is most serious under glass and alongside buildings where the ground does not freeze deep. The parasite is probably distributed in the soil adhering to pot-grown plants. It is probable that hard freezing kills the parasite. There is no remedy; so far as known, for affected plants. Using only soil which has been frozen is to be recommended to the propagator.
The kinds of clematis. (Jackson & Perkins Co.)
The hybrid varieties of Clematis, commonly known as the large-flowering sorts, are, when successfully grown, among the most beautiful of hardy climbing plants. The commercial propagation and growing of most of the large-flowering varieties, however, is attended with so many difficulties and disappointments that it has never been very generally attempted by nurserymen or florists in this country. At the present time there are scarcely half a dozen houses on this continent who attempt the propagation of clematis to any considerable extent, and it is only within the past thirty years that clematises have been commercially grown even by this limited number. Prior to that, practically all of the large-flowering clematises planted in this country were imported from Europe, the major part being supplied by Holland, whose moist atmosphere and black soil produces large, vigorous plants, out whose climatic conditions are so entirely different from those usually found in this country that the plants often failed to adapt themselves to their new surroundings, and did not thrive to the extent that their good size and vigorous condition seemed to give promise.
The propagation of clematis throughout Europe is usually effected by grafting pieces of well-ripened, year-old wood upon roots of almost any of the more vigorous-growing species, Clematis Flammula being most commonly used. In this country, on the contrary, the method commonly pursued is by means of cuttings from young wood, stuck in sand, with gentle bottom heat, usually during May or June. So far as concerns the comparative vigor and desirability of plants produced by these two methods, there is small choice between them. Propagation by cuttings is, in this country, the more rapid and economical way, and further, it removes the possibility, sometimes realized in grafted plants, of sprouts being thrown up from the roots, and, if in the hands of an uninformed amateur, entirely "running out" the variety grafted in; thus considerable annoyance is avoided.
Clematises hybridize so readily that the number of varieties resultant from various crosses forms a long list. But while so many have been dignified with names and places in the catalogues of nurserymen, yet the varieties of large-flowering clematis that have proved so valuable as to secure permanent places for themselves in popular demand can almost be counted upon one's fingers. There are many varieties possessing most beautiful shades and variations of coloring that fail to attain popularity, chiefly on account of deficiency in two essential characteristics—vigorous habit of growth and abundance of bloom. Clematis Jackmanii, purple, originated in 1862, by Mr. George Jackman, was one of the first hybrid clematises introduced, and still stands as the most popular, and, of its color, the most valuable variety yet known. The variety, Madame Edouard Andre, a deep rich crimson, is distinct and novel, being at this time about the best large-flowering sort of a truly crimson shade. It is not quite so vigorous habit as the Jackmanii, but its flowers are similarly massed, though not produced in quite such profusion. Clematis Madame Baron Veillard is a distinct variety. It is of exceedingly vigorous habit, and the flowers are quite freely produced, though, being more dispersed over the plant, they do not make so much of a show as do varieties whose flowers are closely massed. The flowers are of very large size and of a light rose-color, shaded with lilac. Of white varieties, Henryi, Mrs. George Jackman and Lanuginosa Candida, all of them introduced long ago, still remain about the most desirable ones known. Ramona, deep sky-blue, is a variety which originated some twenty- five years ago. It is of extra-large size often 9 to 10 inches across, of very vigorous habit and free- flowering.
Of double-flowered varieties, Duchess of Edinburgh, white, is the best known in this country, and about the most desirable. John Gould Veitch is a double sort with flowers of lavender-blue, but has seemed a shy bloomer and of weak habit. Mme. Grange (purplish violet), Star of India (purple), Velutina Purpurea (purple), and Viticella Venosa (reddish purple), are all desirable varieties.
Although they are in reality slightly less hardy than the Florida and Patens types, varieties of the Lanuginosa, Viticella and Jackmanii types, which produce their flowers from young growing wood, are recommended for northern localities. Plants of these types, even if frozen back to the ground, will still produce a good show of flowers, since, as stated, they bloom from the recent vigorous wood, even if the old tops are killed. Indeed, they need to be pruned back considerably anyway to induce a free growth of young vigorous blooming wood. With plants of the Patens and Florida types, however, which blossom from year-old wood, a severe freezing back of the plants would destroy the crop of flowers for the year.
Of the small-flowering varieties, Clematis paniculata (white), introduced from Japan, has proved to be a wonderfully valuable acquisition in this country, and has become exceedingly popular. It is of remarkably vigorous habit, often making a growth of 20 to 25 feet in a season. It seems thus far to be entirely free from disease, is delightfully fragrant, and so floriferous that the blossoms form a dense sheet of bloom, remaining in full beauty for several weeks. The foliage is very thick and heavy, thus making it very desirable for covering porches and arbors.
Crispa (blue) and texensis (red) are species with very pretty, bell-shaped flowers. They are easily grown and do well in almost all situations.
The perennial, non-climbing varieties of clematis are most pleasing border plants, succeeding well in all ordinary soils and making a rich show of bloom at their flowering season. Davidiana (blue) and recta (white) are about the best known and most desirable varieties of this class.
To grow clematis most successfully, they should be given a good depth of loamy soil, with a fair supply of well-rotted manure spaded in and thoroughly distributed through the soil. In hot, dry weather, the plants should be regularly watered in order to obtain the greatest number of flowers possible, for the plants are very susceptible to injury by drought. A point of great importance, especially in caring for newly set plants, is to provide a firm support for them to climb upon. A solid wooden or metal trellis is preferable, for the reason that it prevents the plants from being whipped about by the winds, which often results in breaking the stalks just above the ground or else in cracking the outer bark of the stalks and rendering them more liable to the attacks of insects and fungous diseases. Training the vines upon strings, or a pliable support of any kind, is not to be advised for this reason. Propagation of the hybrid varieties is effected both by cuttings and by grafts. All of the type varieties grow readily from seed.
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