The high climbers

April is the perfect month to plant a clematis. Monty reveals his favourite varieties and shares his growing tips

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Every garden can find room for at least one clematis and you would be surprised at how many can be squeezed into a very small space by covering every vertical surface and then erecting wigwams, which make an ideal showcase for them.

Clematis can be categorised into three broad groups, and I know people can feel that this makes pruning potentially difficult, but just remember the little ditty, 'If it flowers before June - don't prune', and you will not go far wrong. The first of these groups includes all the familiar spring clematis such as Clematis alpina, C. montana and C. armandii. They all have lots of small flowers and, allowing for variations in season and position, most appear between the beginning of March and the middle of May. They all produce their flowers on the previous season's ripened growth, so should be pruned - if at all - immediately after they have finished blooming, certainly no later than the end of June.

The second group is made up of all the large-flowered varieties with some very familiar names such as 'Miss Bateman', 'The President' and 'Lasurstern'. These produce their first flush of large flowers on the previous year's growth and often a second showing in late summer of smaller flowers with the buds formed on the current season's growth. So, if you want large blooms in late May through to mid July, prune them very lightly in early spring, but if you want a mass of smaller flowers later on, prune them harder in March.

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