I would like to plant clematis behind my mailbox. I want them to bloom from spring to fall if possible so was thinking of buying two different kinds. Would clematis bees jubilee and clematis henryi be two good type to have? I really think the Henryi is so beautiful that I would love to have it all by itself but think it only blooms in the summer. Is this correct? I'm pretty sure it is the type that I see each summer when driving by a certain house. It's so beautiful each year with huge white flowers.

Thanks for any feedback on these or other types of clematis. My mailbox does get full sun.

Carol

Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7

Henryi will bloom heavily in spring, and then it slows down later, at least for me. The flowers are heavenly. Bee's jubilee is an early bloomer. I have Niobe and jackmannii which bloom for a long time. I usually cut down the clematis after the spring flush, and they then put out a second set of blooms.

Priya
Zone 7, Maryland

Carol, if you're going to plant 2 different clematis together, you'd probably do well to look up their pruning requirements. As I recall, clematis are divided into Type I, Type II and Type III. If you let the vines grow together, you'll want to prune them the same way.

Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place

There seems to be a lot of talk about how hard Clematis is to grow, but really they are pretty easy. In the hot and humid south and even here in the northeast the problem for large flowered Clematis is a wilt virus. The small flowered ones with Italian Clematis genes don't get the virus and many bloom for 3 months. Polish Spirit is one I would love to grow. Clematis in general are great companions for honeysuckle. I was checking out an old fashioned one I grow with pale blue bell flowers, Betty Corning, the other day. In about 3 weeks it had gone from sprouts to 5 feet tall. That one grows with a thornless climbing rose and when the rose is recharging after its first flush of bloom it gets replaced by great masses of clematis flowers and if we have regular rains the flower display lasts into September. There is a texensis hybrid on the back porch ready to be planted so it can grow on a cut-leafed Staghorn Sumac. It seems to take forever for clematis to get well established, for they don't reach their full potential until after the 3rd year.

If you plant one put it about six inches deeper than it was in the pot.

Ward, thanks for the great information. I have a burgundy/maroon? Clematis that I bought for $3 at a Fred's discount store 4 years ago. The first 2 years it didn't do squat, last year it bloomed and did ok but right now it is full of buds and a couple of them may open today. I have no idea what kind it is.

Linda
ne AL
zone 7b

Just tossing this in...

I have Clematis 'The President', and it blooms from spring until fall non stop. If you like purple this is an easy one to grow.



Maryjane
W Ga
Zone 8a

I have been avoiding this thread as the only one I had was Sweet Autum and after the tangled mess I had last fall I cut it all the way to the ground in hopes that it wouldn't come back. Well come back it did and I just spent the las hour trying to get it out of the ground. I ended up shovel pruning it in three sections and I still had a heck of a time getting it out but I am pretty sure that I did get all of it. It was gorgeous in the fall and must have been very happy because it had a root system that just didn't want to quit after just one year in that spot. I now have transplanted one of my Agastache rupestris in that area.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

The Italian hybrids are nice because they can be cut to the ground. Their flowers really liven up a mass of honeysuckle in summer and the honeysuckle supports the clematis.

I will definitely keep that in mind. I never thought of growing one with the honeysuckle

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

I must confess that I have never followed the correct instructions for Type 1, 2, 3 pruning. The clems here always start to look tired in mid-summer. I cut them to the ground in late July, and they put out new growth and usually a second flush of flowers.

Priya
Zone 7, Maryland

Hi Carol,
I have a drop dead gorgeous Henryii that I planted under a 4x8 sheet of lattice at the end of my porch. If I don't prune it back in the fall and only cut off the dead stuff in the early spring, I get two flushes. My blooms are probably in upwards of 8-9" across! I was told it wouldn't like where I planted it (facing North, but receiving morning and late afternoon sun). I've had it for about 10 years and it is by far the most beautiful one i've seen. I would watch out for the height of this one, like I said, mine is probably growing 10' high freely. It may be a lot of pruning and trimming to keep it on a short mailbox. I have no knowledge on the other variety that you mentioned. I would def. look for a shorter variety though.

Thank you so much for the feedback everyone! Maryjane, I will look into "The President" also.

Carol

Carol R
Tennessee
USDA Hardiness Zone 7
Heat Zone 7

Hello Carol R,

I'm glad to see you got a lot of great info. I never grew Clematis so I wouldn't have been able to help you...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Carol,

I always liked the way Mandivilla looked climbing up a mailbox pole, but in my neighborhood the kids use my mailbox for "second base". Clematis is more of a messy trellis type plant, but I guess if you plant it BEHIND the mailbox that would be pretty.

There are so many pretty colors and I believe the hummer like them!

Alas, I have Henryi for 4-5 years in a pot and it does wonderful in full sun. It blooms all summer, never prune it until late winter very early spring. Definitely grows upwards of 10 feet.



Pam NJ 6B