MY ADVENTURES IN CLEMATIS 
Every gardener no doubt has problems 
in overcoming certain limitations of his 
garden, or attributes of his own make-up. 
My difficulties arise trying to couple my 
very limited space with my desire to have 
something blooming throughout as much 
of the year as possible. And in spite of 
reading here and there that such a problem 
is impossible of solution, I feel that I have 
not done badly. In addition, I have sur- 
rounded my 275 square feet of soil with 
what I suspect is one of the most complete 
collections in this part of the country of 
my gracious and charming favorite, Clematis. 
During 1951, the first snowdrop greeted 
me on February 20th. From then through- 
out the entire year flowers of some sort 
were in continuous bloom. The last  shiv- 
ering Dianthus finally gave up on January 
6th, 1952, after having come through temp- 
eratures below 10 degrees of frost, twice 
in December. Two weeks later, on Janu- 
ary 21st, the first 1952 snowdrops (Kalan- 
thus Elwesi) came into bloom. As_ spring 
progresses I look forward to a success- 
ion of Crocuses, Daffodils, Muscari, Crown 
Imperials, Hyacinths, Ipheion, Tulips and 
other bulbs. After them will come Heuch- 
era, Lilies, Callirhoe and summer annuals. 
Last season 180 varieties bloomed; many 
among them were unusual fellows not often 
seen. I cannot resist trying new things 
from seed. 
But my chief joy are the Clematis. I re- 
cognize that there are flowers surpassing 
them in various respects, in delightfulness 
of fragrance, brilliance of color or other- 
wise, but all things considered, the com- 
bination of delicacy, graceful charm, ex- 
quisite coloring, refined grandeur cf dis- 
play, together with an unusually long bloom- 
ing season, which comes with Clematis, have 
entirely captivated me. Moreover, fer me, 
they excel in beauty per square {oot of 
planting space, and for a prolonged season. 
That is exactly to my liking. 
My garden is new and my plants all young. 
Many are not old enough to bloom. but even 
so, in the past summer seven plants, among 
themselves, produced flowers continually 
from May 6th until November 30th. with 
more maturity, I expect fewer plants will 
will provide a longer succession than that. 
If only because these vines produce a dis- 
play during the weeks following the roses, 
when other flowers seem to reach a low ebb, 
many gardeners are depriving themselves of 
real pleasures by neglecting to grow Clem. 
atis. 
Of the large-flowering hybrids, Jackmani 
seems to be the popular favorite. Driving 
through the summer countryside between 
Maryland and Illinois, it is the only variety 
I have seen (and not very many of it). Jack- 
mani does give a gorgeous display of vel- 
vety purple unequaled among flowers, to 
my knowledge. But other verieties have 
both prettier flowers, and, for me, a longer 
blooming season. Not enough of my col- 
lection have reached blooming size for me 
to render judgment as to “the best” var- 
iety, but these at least are particularly 
charming: Lady Northcliffe, Ramona, The 
President , Ville de Lyon, King Edward VII. 
I have no doubt there are even more 
charming ones,but I cannot speak from 
experience now. I have read of a variety 
producing white flowers more than 11 inches 
across, but none of mine are so gigantic. 
The books seem to regard Clematis as 
somewhat harder to grow than other plants. 
By Joseph F. Paydon, Md. 
They may be, but I have not found them 
hard to manage here so far. My spot 
doesn’t seem to be one that the books 
would regard very favorably, either. Clem- 
atis are supposed to require a cool root- 
run, and I do make an effort to provide 
that, either by keeping a mulch around them, 
or by planting leafy perennials near them 
on the sunny side: But it is hot in Ann- 
25 
ly produce blossoms. In a few years when 
these vines become better established. I 
suppose I will be overwhelmed by the riot- 
ous display. 
I would be delighted to correspond with 
anyone who is interested in these beautiful 
vines. 
Editor’s Remarks: The matter of keep- 
ing the roots cool is especially important 
with the large-flowered Clematis. This is 
best accomplished by a good mulch. 
The GIANTS OF CALIFORNIA ZINIAS are about the most popular Flower 
PRUNING THE LILAC 
apolis, and cool rooft-runs are hard to 
come by, by any method. Moreover, I 
have hadto leave them entirely untended 
for extended pericds during the heat of 
the summer. Yet they have grown well. 
My soil is light and dries out quickly in 
the summer; probably some watering dur- 
ing the weeks when I am not here would be 
a cultural improvement. I certainly have 
no reason to call them harder to grow than 
most other things I have. ; 
I have set out the purchased plants in 
the fall and my greatest loss has been that 
some of them did not start out the follow- 
ing spring. The reason isn’t clear. Other 
than this, only one plant has died and one 
other was broken off by dogs and did not 
‘survive. 
During the coming season I hope to have 
growing here 65 or more different var- 
jeties of Clematis, nearly all being thd 
large-flowering types; fifty of these will like- 
After a Lilac has become established 
it is very important that they be pruned 
regularly. Do this twice a year, first 
just before the flowers open, removing, 
suckers and weak inside shoots and second- 
ly, right after they have flowered. 
Remove all old flower heads and any 
superfluous shoots recently started. Leave 
as a rule 2-4 shoots below each flower 
head. If attended to promptly, the flowers 
for next season will form better and more 
uniform display will be had. 
Remember Lilacs flower on the previous 
year’s growth only and thus early spring: 
pruning as well as in the fall only cuts 
off flowering wood. 
ORDER YOUR IRIS NOW 
Now is the best time to order Iris; you 
will get what you want and as dug. 
