Finally, Clematis Leaps Into Bloom

By Dottie Evans

First year, it sleeps,

Second year, it creeps,

Third year, it leaps.

For most gardeners who are partial to that beautiful, blooming perennial vine known as clematis that is now taking center stage in many Newtown gardens, this little rhyme just about sums it up.

When newly planted, clematis can be disappointing because nothing much seems to be happening. Maybe there will be one or two flowers, and maybe a couple of leafy vines will twine part way up a supporting trellis that seems much too large for the purpose, but that’s about it.

The second year –– if the impatient homeowner has not already pulled the young clematis out and tried something else in its place –– there might be four to six blooms and another foot of growth.

But the payoff comes the third year and after, as demonstrated by the six-foot tall, light blue clematis vine overwhelming its lamppost at 8 The Boulevard. Here is a good example of what can happen when a gardener such as Candace Bouchard keeps the faith and exercises a little patience.

“I was always told clematis liked its roots to be cool and shady,” said Ms Bouchard, who has planted tulips, daylilies, and other perennials around the base of her plant to keep it happy.

In fact, if a gardener follows a few a basic rules during planting, it seems there is almost no discouraging clematis once it has passed through its cranky adolescence. Not even whacking it back or transplanting it.

Ms Bouchard first planted this very same clematis when she living in Redding in 1996. A year later, she moved it to Sandy Hook. Three years after that she moved it one more time, to 8 The Boulevard where it has settled in very nicely.

“Last year it was so big, I decided to cut it back in the fall. I guess I didn’t cut it back far enough,” she joked, adding she turns on the lamp light at night “just to show off the huge blossoms.”