I found this article written by Dr. John Howells on how deep to bury clematis. With so many people planting deeper these days, it could partially explain why so many people are seeing their clematis wilt.
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"Growing clematis is surrounded by myths, most of them wrong. Even planting has a myth. You should plant deep it says. That is wrong too.
The myth originates from the grower Rowland Jackman who, faced with wilt in his clematis, thought that if he planted deep this might cause extra shoots to come from the soil and these would act as a reserve should the main stem get wilt. No one has ever shown it works.
There are strong arguments against doing this. The most nutritious soil is near the surface and that gives your clematis the best start. If you want extra shoots then Jim Fisk showed years ago you can get them very simply by pruning the plant after putting it in the ground. Now that we know more about wilt we know that the affected node is often a bottom one; if you plant deep you will pull that node into the soil and increase the risk of wilt."
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For the rest of the article:
http://www.howellsonclematis.co.uk/Pages/Gnews13.html
Too much wilting?
bet that is a good article. i am sticking with my guideline that i have learned thru trial and error.
vitacella about an inch deeper than current level when bought
totally herbaceous such as harkuree and species, at same soil level as current when bought....
large flowered no more than 2 inches ever
texensis same as vitacella, or even just a half inch
integrefolia same as herbaceous and species
diversafolia as vitacella above
off top of head this is what i do. planting deeper causes problems for me, but some are areas may be different.
These are great guidelines. I have one clematis that has taken over two trellises and I'm starting up a purple one to go inside it. The purple one is VERY slow. I guess that is good? I know know I need to cut it way back. And look more into the wilt issue. I don't know the name of this clematis but it has a wonderful fragrance and blooms from August until late September early October as long as we aren't hit with a hurrican. I might have the purple one in too much shade. There was more sun until the other white clematis grew more!
Here is the new purple vine.I guess I will try to move it in the fall, unless someone can let me know if they transfer well in the summer. It is in the 90's during the day here.
I've seen so many references on the internet recently, recommending a 2-4" planting depth. I'm still going to use the one recommended planting depth that I posted a couple of weeks ago, but I posted the article to hopefully save someone from planting too deep.
The combination is Lady Banks Rose, Clematis, white and purple..I grew it so I could look out my window while working and see the rest of the garden through the arches. I probably won't be able to see anything if I don't keep it trained properly.
This side shows the huge vine. I planted this one as recommended, (not deep) and I keep the base shaded with Wormwood. The Brugmansia on the side will grow as tall as the trellis and fill in some shade for the base. This has grown in the two weeks since I took the picture, now the area at the base is filled with shade for the Clematis. I tried to prune it back every year but this past year it was too massive to handle and all we could do was secure the trellis with an extra post. I need to find out the type of clematis to see if it should be pruned to the ground every year. It is now 5 years old.
belledonna, the small white is clematis paul farges. it is favorite of mine, and by the way it is very easy to start cuttings from. and it is a species so there are no royalities or anyting, so you can start lots of them. i have about 7 and all started from my main plant that i initialy purchased.
jj i agree ,planting too deeply causes problems in my zone. i like to get that inch or two on most, except species and herbaceous types do not like to be planted deeper than they come to you.
I just looked it up, you are right! Wow! But there were two others and they looked similar. This one does grow other shoots. I will have to look it up to see how to make extraones! It smells so nice! I love the droning of bees when it blooms, sounds like it is alive and humming to itself!
Maybe the propagation section in DG will have something on how to make more of them. I thought a weed was growing or a morning glory. I've been pulling them up! Dumb me!