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The Mountain Clematis
Clematis montana.
VIRGIN'S BOWER and traveller's joy are names of which any wild vine may be proud. Our clematis of the hedge-rows and railway banks is the only British species, and it is so beautiful as it grows up above all the more robust vegetation of an old hedge-row in a chalk country, that it seems to prepare our minds to give welcome to the many hardy species of clematis that have been brought into our gardens from the most distant parts of the world. Of these we have already discoursed, but the present figure takes us away from the Jackmanni group to one less attractive but not less interesting, and, we must say, not less beautiful, though its beauty is of a quieter order, and is supplemented by a fresh fragrance that gives general delight. The mountain clematis is a native of the Himalayan Mountains, and is perfectly hardy in the English garden. It is a free-growing, free-flowering, climbing shrub, running twenty to thirty feet, and well adapted for clothing a trellis, or rough garden hermitage, or for displaying a wild luxuriance on a spacious rockery, where, if well placed, it will be most effective and delightful. Its flowers are so like those of Anemone sylvestris that it has been catalogued as Clematis anemoniflora, and it is also known as C. odorata, in allusion to its agreeable odour. To grow it well it should be planted in a deep, rich, well-drained soil, and be allowed to run its full length, for to cut it in severely will be to prevent its blooming as freely as it otherwise would. The flowers are produced in prodigal profusion from the well-ripened shoots of the previous year, and pruning back simply removes the flowering wood, and, in respect of the flowers, occasions the loss of a season. The same thing happens in the case of many of the more rampant growing roses; their beauty is seen only when natural growth is allowed, and with them, as with this clematis, clever pruning consists in occasionally cutting clean out to the base any old rods that can be spared, but otherwise preserving the whole of the growth in all its original vigour.
Closely allied to this clematis is the winter clematis (C. calycina), a beautiful climber, running twelve to twenty feet, and producing during the winter flowers of a greenish-white colour dotted with purple spots. This is a native of Minorca, and is not quite so hardy as the mountain clematis, therefore it requires a somewhat sheltered situation, which it will pay for by its winter flowers.
Another near relative is the evergreen virgin's bower (C. cirrhosa), which makes less growth than the species noticed above, rarely extending beyond ten to fifteen feet. It is a native of South Europe and North Africa, and scarcely hardy enough for the climate of London, but thrives in a cool conservatory and on open walls that are well sheltered. Miller, the renowned manager of the Chelsea Botanic Garden, said: "Those which have been growing in the open air at Chelsea more than fifty years have resisted the greatest cold without covering." But Mr. Moore, the present curator there, says, "It gets cut to the ground in severe winters, even in Devonshire." In the woody parts of the Atlas Mountains and about Algiers it is a vigorous climber and a strangler of trees; but here its vigour is subdued, and it makes no impression of a capability to give a character to forest scenery. Its flowers are white or cream-coloured, and somewhat campanulate in structure.
A new and brilliant clematis should here be mentioned, as it is a most valuable acquisition to the garden--the scarlet virgin's bower (C. coccinea). It is of light elegant habit, the leaves roundish, the flowers borne on long slender stems; they are bell-shaped, of wax-like consistence, and a brilliant scarlet colour. It is likely to become a general favourite, being perfectly hardy, and needing no special conditions for its growth. For cultivators who take special interest in plants of this class we can also recommend C. campaniflora, with bell-shaped flowers of a light purple colour; C. erecta, with large white flowers; C. tubulosa, with flowers like those of a hyacinth, the colour blue; and C. riticella, with blue flowers. These are all adapted for rockeries, bowers, and other rustic scenes. An effective mode of displaying a collection of clematis is to train them to poles on the margin of a spacious lawn, or next a path somewhat remote from the dressed grounds. In adopting this plan care must be taken to prevent small birds alighting on the poles, for they not only defile but injure the plants, and may even kill them. The grey flycatcher is a common offender in this way; but if the poles are sharp-pointed, or have a stout spike driven in at the top, the birds will be careful not to alight on them.