Some years ago I admired a clematis flowering in the early, early spring in a friend's garden. Its modest pendulous flowers were a curious, dull, luminous yellow-green, speckled with wine. Its evergreen leaves were dark and finely cut, like a delicate fern. At that moment, I thought it was the daintiest thing I'd ever seen at that time of the year.
Now, in my own garden, a specimen of the very same plant, Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica is blooming, but the effect is not at all what I had in mind. Instead of gently weaving itself through the bare stems of the roses that ramble over the trellis, it has stealthily slid up to the top of its 10-foot range and knotted itself into a number of clumsy snarls. Only the birds of the air and the people in the upstairs flat next door can enjoy its clusters of maroon-flecked pale bells.
Of course, travelling up and up is exactly what most clematis are designed to do. Just look at our wild version, Clematis vitalba, or old man's beard: it climbs as high as it possibly can and piles its little white flowers (which are followed by fluffy seed heads, hence the name) on top of its host. But that's no use to the gardener who wants a nice, even dressing of foliage and flowers over a trellis.
In my experience, clematis rarely do what you want them to do. Unless you watch over them as you would a much-loved family pet they're bound to cause trouble. The minute you take your eyes off them they start galloping off in the wrong direction, or pining for attention - or they disappear altogether, leaving behind only a lonely bamboo cane with its flapping label. Or worst of all: one day they seem healthy, happy and full of promise, and the next they hang like a rag, stricken with wilt (or Ascochyta clematidina to give it its full, awful name), a fungal disease that particularly favours the large-flowered, showy, show-off hybrids.
These big saucer and dinner plate clematis are demanding and fickle, so if you want to grow them, be prepared to lose them - time and time again. A far more reliable - and wilt-resistant - tribe is of those which derive from Clematis viticella, a plant from southern Europe and Asia. The species (a beauty in itself) has simple blue, purple or reddish flowers, but its cultivars are all within the purple, wine and red colour-range. Especially lovely is the real mouthful, Clematis viticella `Purpurea Plena Elegans' which bears numerous old-fashioned-looking, dusty purple pom-poms. `Madame Julia Correvon' and `Etoile Violette' are two other sturdy lovelies, the first with rosypink flowers, the second with violet flowers, and both with a central boss of glittering cream stamens.
But whatever variety of clematis you choose, all of them (except for a few ascetics, like the New Zealand varieties) lead a really gluttonous life. Therefore, when you plant a clematis, it's best to imagine you are planting a small tree; a hole that is a couple of feet square and deep is what you need. Dump in a bucket or two of well-rotted manure (seek it out via an ad in your local paper if you have no ready source), cover that with a mixture of soil and garden compost (or stuff in a bag from the garden centre) and plant your clematis. Water it very, very well. Continue to give it several gallons of water a week, especially if you have planted it at the base of a wall, a dry situation where the plant may become stressed (clematis do much better in the open ground, trained up an arch or pillar). In early spring (now) give it a handful of bonemeal and a mulch of well-rotted manure. Some gardeners feed their clematis with dilute tomato feed during the summer.
And, as if that's not a strenuous enough regime, there is the whole tricky matter of pruning. Clematis are divided into three pruning groups, depending on when they flower. The first group includes all the early varieties such as the Alpina, Macropetala and Montana types (and my runaway Cle- matis cirrhosa var. balearica). In theory these need no pruning, but in fact they often do - to keep them contained within their space. So, if they've gone walkabout, prune immediately after they finish flowering. The second group flowers in early summer, and these plants should be gingerly cut back in winter or early spring to the first set of healthy buds. The third group is of late summer bloomers (including the Viticellas) and these can be cut back now, either to the very lowest set of healthy buds, or to the area where you want the plant to start blooming: at the base of a trellis, for instance.
Clematis is a subject that is far, far bigger than can be covered here - there are, after all, over 600 va- rieties. If you're plugged into the Internet, the International Clema- tis Society (and its considerable ex- pertise) can be found at: http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/clematis
The largest collection of clematis in Ireland - with 420 varieties - is at Grove Gardens, Fordstown, Kells, Co Meath (telephone: 046 34276). The gardens reopen on March 17th (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, admission £3). Early varieties such as the Alpina and Macropetala types will be in flower then.
Diary date: Today at 3 p.m., rose pruning demonstration at Hosford's Geraniums and Garden Centre, Cappa, Enniskeane, Co Cork.