Question
I planted a Crimson King clematis in the spring of the previous year. The following summer it wilted completely and I thought I’d lost it. I put a booster on it then and this spring too. Now it’s growing, but the leaves are yellowing and still quite stiff. I’m having great success with its neighbors, a ‘Comtesse de Bouchaud’ clematis and a ‘Candida’. Does ‘Crimson King’ have a reputation for being temperamental?
Answer
All large-flowered clematis are considered “temperamental”. Even when given seemingly identical conditions, there are always some that do wonderfully well… and others that take a nosedive. Give your plant another year to prove itself (it’s not unusual for a clematis to languish at first, only to take off in the end), but if it doesn’t do any better next spring, pull it out. You can replace it with another clematis or another ‘Crimson King’ clematis: who’s to say you won’t succeed next time?
And beware of “booster” fertilizers: they can do more harm than good! When a plant is in bad shape, the last thing you want to do is fertilize it, especially with a “kick-start” fertilizer: you could have finished off the plant! A plant in poor condition can’t absorb fertilizer through its roots: they’re too weak. When the plant starts to get better, that’s when you can fertilize it. Think of fertilizers as rewards: you give them to plants that do well, but never to plants that do badly.
Tips for Growing Clematis
- Sun and shade: Clematis like their leaves to be exposed to the sun, but their roots to remain in the shade. To keep the soil cool and moist, plant annuals, perennials, small shrubs or other plants with dense foliage around the base of the plant.
- Mulch: Mulch helps reduce water evaporation in dry weather and acts like a sponge to absorb excess moisture in wet weather, keeping the soil constantly slightly moist, an ideal condition for clematis. Cover the soil at the foot of your clematis with 5 to 7 cm (2-3 inches) of shredded leaves, fragmented ramial wood, forest mulch (or forest compost) or any other decomposable mulch. Avoid using “cedar mulch”, as it is slightly toxic and unsuitable for fragile plants like clematis.
- Root protection: As clematis roots are fragile and sensitive to disturbance, mulching eliminates the need to weed, protecting the roots from damage.
Larry Hodgson published thousands of articles and 65 books over the course of his career, in both French and English. His son, Mathieu, has made it his mission to make his father’s writings accessible to the public. This text was originally published in Le Soleil on July 10, 2005.