Tips on how to keep the garden colourful from spring to autumn with Hannah Stephenson

Among the glories of my garden are clematis - I love the big showy flowers of the hybrids as well as the early season types, such as C. macropetala, cascading over walls or scrambling up shrubs.

In fact, there are clematis for virtually every setting, whether you want them to hide a structural eyesore, or providing colour and interest intertwined with evergreen shrubs. There are even clematis specifically bred for containers, which will add a flourish to your patio.

Combining clematis with other choice plants, such as roses, can create a focal point in the garden which will be colourful from spring to autumn.

Roses and clematis are particularly good partners as they have similar feeding and cultivation requirements. I have a gorgeous shrub rose, Rosa "Gertrude Jekyll", which is heavily scented, bearing double, dark pink flowers in summer and autumn, growing up an obelisk, combined with C. Nelly Moser, an early- to mid-summer clematis with pink striped petals which fade in the sunlight. It makes a fantastic focal point, and as the clematis starts to fade the rose comes into its own.

Early-season clematis, such as C. Alpina and C. Macropetala, have bushy habits which are naturally suited to training up and hiding the bare stems of climbing or rambler roses.

Early- to mid-summer clematis, including C. Lasurstern and C. Marie Boisselot , are better if thinned to five or six shoots before being tied into a rose.

Evergreen and deciduous shrubs can be perked up when planted with large-flowered hybrids, viticellas and compact species clematis, which flower from mid-summer to autumn.

Mid-season, large-flowered hybrids will happily grow through evergreen shrubs like rhododendrons, while summer-blooming clematis with shorter stems and closer flowers, such as C. “Fuji-musume†and the lilac C. Josephine, are more suited to combine with smaller shrubs with compact crowns.
The dramatic, velvety deep red flowers of C. Niobe will climb happily through the popular evergreen shrub Choisya ternata, while many hebe cultivars make a good foil for clematis. You can also buy more compact varieties of clematis which will engulf a wigwam or other support in a pot.

Plant compact clematis in a moisture-retentive but free-draining soil, where their roots are shaded but top growth is in the sun. Check the variety for best location.