As you have probably noticed, I work with Proven Winners to test out their plants and then help you (through this website) learn more about them.  Every spring this means that boxes of new plants arrive for me to plant in my garden, experiment with, generally get inspired by and ultimately write about.

This year I requested some clematis because Joanne Neale’s fantastic article about easy care clematis in the summer issue of PITH + VIGOR got me in the mood to add some of these fantastic climbing vines to my garden.  When the boxes arrived, I was expecting one or two, but I got 16 (this is obviously not a complaint, just a statement of fact).  I have eight Clematis Diamond Ball and eight Clematis ‘Sweet Summer Love’ and finding homes for all of them isn’t all that easy.  So far, I’ve planted three of the ‘Sweet Summer Love’ (and I’ve worked out places for 3 more) and I’ve planted none of the Diamond Balls (some removal of other plants and bed prep is currently underway), but I have a home for at least 5 of them.

With a quarter of the plants still needing placement, I’ve been playing a new little game around here….its called where to put the clematis vine. The rules are easy, but the game is hard, finding at least 16 interesting places to plant a beautiful clematis in the garden is a challenge even in a big garden like mine.  Climbers need a place to climb and while I’m still working on where they all will go….I’m inspired by the dilemma and I found these 16 clematis design inspirations.

1) Plant it near a container garden and let it scramble through other textural plants.

2) Train it on a staircase railing.

3) Grow it over a picket fence in a cottage garden.

4) Pretty-up a chain link fence.

5) Plant in a container and grow on a topiary frame.

6) Hide the mailbox.

7) Intertwine with another climber (like roses).

 

8) Frame a shed door.

9) Cover an old ladder.

10) Romantically dangle over a rustic shed.

11) Train over a lamppost (yes I know it isn’t actually on a lamppost – but you get the idea… p.s. is it actually growing on an apple tree, which is another bonus option).

12) Support it with a trellis or a downspout.

13) Surround a window with delicate stems.

14) Engulf a front a pillar.

15 & 16) Go crazy and let clematis scramble through climbing roses and under-plant with herbaceous perennials to include peonies, poppies, foxgloves, campanulas, pinks, nepeta, lavender, foxtail lilies, and alchemilla (among many others). (like at Mottisfont Abbey in the UK).

Just as soon as mine have grown enough to actually attach to their climbing frames (and I have found homes for each plant) I will share my own placements which include training over a pergola, covering a garage wall, and hiding part of the old chicken coop.  But have I missed anything? How do you grow your clematis?

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Proven Winners. I am not an employee of Proven Winners and all opinions are my own.

images: jacki-dee (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), jacki-dee (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), putneypics (CC BY-NC 2.0), jacki-dee (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), Proven Winners,  Karen Cardoza (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), Klasse im Garten (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), peri stracchino (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), shout it from the rooftops (CC BY 2.0), caroline (CC BY 2.0), erik forsberg (CC BY 2.0), andrea_44 (CC BY 2.0),Rolf Blijleven CC BY-NC 2.0), B.D.’s WorldCC BY-NC 2.0), ukgardenphotos  (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). 

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