HARDY CLIMBING PLANTS 77 



adapted for rambling over old trees and evergreens. C. paniculata is 

 very similar to C. Flammula, but flowers a month earlier. C. patens 

 bears large white flowers. Good varieties of this Clematis are : Duke of 

 Edinburgh, violet-purple ; Fair Rosamond, white ; Mrs. Crawshay, pale 

 pink with bronze stripe ; and Stella, pale violet. Of the large-flowered 

 Clematises the Patens group is the earliest to bloom, commencing in 

 May. They flower from the old wood. 



The only pruning they require is the cutting away of dead wood. 

 The Florida group commences flowering a fortnight or so later. The 

 plants require the same treatment as the Patens varieties as regards 

 pruning. The Lanuginosa group begins to bloom in June and flowers 

 on short summer shoots. Moderate autumnal pruning is requisite. 

 The Jackmani group is the last to flower, blooming from July to 

 October. The plants flower on the new wood and should be cut down 

 to within twelve inches of the ground during the winter. 



Clematises Dying Off. It is perplexing and disappointing to find 

 Clematises dying off without any special reason. Mr. Jackman, the 

 well-known raiser of Clematises at Woking, in a lecture given some 

 time ago, makes some useful observations as follows : 



" There is no doubt that frost is the cause of some deaths, and too 

 much water and bad drainage others, but I cannot agree that either of 

 these is the sole cause of all the losses. My experience is that the plants 

 mostly succumb during the summer months when the ground is driest 

 and the sun has most power, and in the majority of these cases I could 

 not detect any sign of the plants having had too much nourishment or 

 water, or that the drainage was bad. . . . Grafting also cannot be put 

 down as the direct reason, as plants on their own roots go off in the 

 same manner. 



"I do not think, however, that C. Vitalba, which is so generally 

 used as a stock, is entirely suitable for some of the large -flowering 

 hybrids. The roots differ from those of the latter, being of a hard, 

 wiry character, the hybrids appearing, after they have had sufficient 

 time to get established on their own roots, to ignore the stock, which 

 eventually decays. . . . 



"I am of the opinion that it is mainly due to loss of constitution 

 through over-propagation, which has been brought about by the great 

 popularity of, and consequent demand for, the hybrids, and, being of a 

 soft, succulent nature, have responded only too freely to the treatment. 

 My other reasons for coming to that conclusion are, as already men- 

 tioned, that the plants mostly go off on the hot, bright days of summer, 

 and in many cases after having made several feet of growth, and are 

 forming the flower-buds, which seems to me to imply that they are 

 wanting in vital power, and are unable to withstand the extra call upon 

 their strength and the extreme heat. If it is not loss of constitution, 

 why was the 'dying off' not noticed twenty-five years ago, and why 

 has it increased of recent years, not only in this country but on the 

 Continent, and how is it we do not see the rampant, robust growths of 

 former years 1 Again, it seems strange that whilst the large hybrids 

 have been so badly affected, I have never seen C. montana, C. Flammula, 



