Planting Clematis Outdoors (Video)

How to Plant Clematis in a Border (Video)

This video applies to all Clematis varieties; here, we are planting a Clematis montana Grandiflora, which will flower heavily in late Spring.

The best time to plant pot-grown Clematis is any time of the year when the ground isn't frosty and hard, as long as you can water regularly and well in dry weather. Here, we are planting in November, which is a convenient time of year thanks to the rain. When the dry weather returns in summer next year, these plants will be quite well established and will need less regular watering compared to newly planted ones.

TRANSCRIPT

We're going to plant a Clematis montana grandiflora. And this is what you'll get when you get one from Ashridge Nurseries. Aggod plant in a three-litre pot, three canes, all nicely tied in. Montanas flower in the spring. This one will produce a mass of white flowers, hopefully, within a couple of years, it'll get to the top of the fence and just scramble all the way down the fence, and in the spring, it'll be covered in white flowers. So, pot-grown Clematis, you can plant any time of the year. I mean, at the moment, we're planting in November, as long as the ground is not frosted and you can get a spade in.First we'll dig a hole. So, just choose where you want to plant your Clematis; we're going to plant it right slap-bang in the middle of this fence panel and just don't dig your hole right up against the fence panel, go about six to ten inches away from the fence. All right. So once you've dug your hole, just try it out. Just leave it in the pot, and see if it sits in there comfortably, a couple of inches all the way around the hole to let the roots get into there, and just deep enough for the soil to reach the soil level of the pot. Leave the canes in because we can use them to train the climber up against the fence, but just take it out of the pot and just angle it in the hole so the canes are sitting like that. Put a bit of soil in and hold the canes, firm it down.If you plant it so you're just about seeing the top of the pot, once you've watered it in, it'll get to its own level. So, once you finish planting it, don't forget to give it a good drink. This time of the year, the soil's moist enough. There's still enough warmth in the soil for it to start establishing before winter, and in the spring, just start training these up along the fence.If you want to take the canes out, wait until it's established and it's started showing new growth and then take the cane cap off, which is a green, rubber thing at the top. And then slide the canes down from under it, from the ground [i.e. do not pull the canes upwards]. Easy enough to do, or you could just leave the canes in. It'll give it a bit of support to reach the fence.