Widely grown for their colorful flowers, clematis are among the most popular of vines. Perhaps most familiar are the modern hybrids with their large, showy flowers and restrained growth habit - many will only attain heights of six to twelve feet, making them ideal for growing over shrubs and in other situations where a more rampant grower would smother its neighbors.

The blossoms of clematis encompass nearly the entire color spectrum and blooming times range from early spring to fall, depending on the variety.

We usually plant clematis in full sun as the part of the plant above ground prefers it. The roots of clematis prefer to stay a little on the cooler side so we always plant a low growing shrub or some type of evergreen groundcover around the base of the vine to provide some shade for the roots.

The uses for clematis are many. We plant them on fences, arbors, trelises, mailboxes, posts, partitions and sometimes to grow up small trees.

Some of our personal favorites that we use in landscape plans are shown to the right.