Clematis Species for Your Garden

Gardener's worldwide are familiar with the many Clematis cultivars available today. These have bold flowers and love climbing up trellises, through shrubbery, or even up small trees. Although these plants are definitely colorful, they can't compare to the subtle beauty of the Clematis species. Christopher Grey-Wilson provides a guide to the species in his newly released book, Clematis The Genus: A Comprehensive Guide for Gardeners, Horticulturists, and Botanists. This was released in North America by Timber Press and is dated 2000.

Grey-Wilson divided the book into three main sections. The first section discusses how to grow these plants. He covers topics such as soil type necessary, locating the plant in the garden, and selecting plants from the many species available to us today. I appreciated his instructions on how to plant out a newly acquired plant which is in a nursery pot. Did you know that rather than planting the plant so the top of the root ball is level with the surrounding ground, you should actually plant it deeper? Be sure to read page 10 to find out why! This section concludes with information on propagating the plants through various means, pruning them at the right time in their life cycle based on the species, fertilizing the plants, and of course, pests and diseases which may affect the plants.

A thorough description of the parts of the Clematis plant is provided in the next section. I was surprised to learn that what most of us call "petals" of the flower aren't petals at all. They are really sepals. In most species the true petals are smaller than the sepals and much less obvious. This section concludes with a thorough discussion of what characteristics botanists use to place a plant in the Clematis family. A thorough discussion of the classification of Clematis species follows. Someone with a taxonomists' background will understand this section much better than the average gardener. I won't even try to explain how they break the Genus into subgenera, and the subgenera into subsections. I'll leave this to the experts to explain.

The remaining section discusses all the Clematis species available today. Unfortunately, they are organized by subgenera and sections which makes it difficult to find a plant without having the proper name and using the index. Fortunately, most gardeners either don't worry about species names or buy only plants that come with labels (assuming the label is correct). Once you look up the plant you've just bought, you will find some key characteristics identified in the description. Many also have distribution and habitat information too. Some are illustrated.

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