How to Get Bountiful Clematis Blooms
If you press me, I will admit that people admire my Clematis jackmanii. This admiration has led several, including neighbors and friends, to ask me how to get more plentiful Clematis flowers. Sparsely blooming Clematis, apparently, is a not uncommon problem.
The thing is, I really don’t know why my Clematis jackmanii blooms so happily. I mean, I don’t know anything beyond what you could find from a cursory Google search. For example: head in the sun, roots in the shade (in my case, the shade is provided by a thick layer of periwinkle).
Also, I have a vague memory of reading that Clematis are heavy feeders, so every year they get an extra generous helping of compost. Plus, some years I also give it a dash of organic 3-4-5 slow release fertilizer.
I have wondered if this Clematis likes alkaline soil. Our soil is normally alkaline, and it is growing in a spot that should be extra limey because it sits between the driveway and the west-facing brick wall of the house. But the sources I’ve looked at say that Clematis are adaptable as to soil pH.
I suppose the extra warmth from that wall, which is painted white, could also be a factor.
Bottom line, though, is this: I’m lucky. Because I know people who have done all the things I have done and still have been left with a poor excuse for a Clematis.
Luck plays a big part in gardening, I think. We can follow all the right practices and fail, or we can ignore them and succeed. Perhaps it isn’t luck, but a mix of factors that are just too complicated to untangle or understand. Because a garden is a living thing, not an internal combustion engine.
As Koheleth (Ecclesiastes), a founding member of the Garden Writers Association, wrote many centuries ago:
“… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong … nor yet disease-free roses to men of understanding, nor yet the tastiest tomatoes to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all.” – Ecclesiastes 9:11, New Rodale Translation.
Have you ever had inexplicable success or failure in the garden?
gardeninacity 
I’m having pure Clematis envy here. If I get between one-five blooms per plant per year, I am happy because some years all I get all leaves. Yours is absolutely GORGEOUS. Maybe they just like you better. 🙂
I don’t know, they never say anything to me.
I didn’t get any flowers on mine ,,, why. Not
Oh my…I am so admiring your Clematis jackmanii as well! I would love to have a spot for a bloomer like this! And yes I do think that luck has a bit to do with it…and I know this sounds nuts but I think that plants sometimes know that they are cared for as yours are! Truly beautiful Jason! Happy day to ya! Nicole
We keep discovering that plants have a kind of awareness of more and more things so maybe it’s not so crazy.
In the spring I lightly dig around mine and add lime to soil mix in. And cover.water.
Our soil is so alkaline there is no need to add any lime.
My luck seems consistently bad, but every now and then the successes erase that all.
I’m sure if I would finally plant shade plants in the shade and keep them watered that would improve my luck considerably, but I’m a slow learner!
It’s always worth experimenting with pushing plant boundaries.
I’m going to join Judy in her Clematis envy. I have several in various locations throughout my garden, but none have thrived to the extent that yours have. Mine are still in their first few years though, so I’m hoping that in a year or two as they mature that they’ll reach something approaching yours.
Mine are about 6 years old, I think.
I gave up trying to grow this clematis. I have a neighbor that totally ignores hers and I often think it needs some water as it clings to their mailbox. But then it comes out of it and blooms like crazy!
Yes, I have some Lilies that everyone ask me what do I do with them, and I say, nothing! I have question for you which may be wort a post. Life and death in the garden. Is a good gardener one that have killed many plants before?
That is an excellent question! My own view would be it is very hard to become a good gardener without killing a lot of plants along the way.
That is, indeed, one beautiful clematis!
I’ve had my share of successes and failures. A recent one that surprised me is Convolvulus cneorum: I tried twice before and lost each over winter. My third try inexplicably made it through this past harsh (for us) winter and is happy as a clam.
So I had to look up Convolvulus cneirum. Nice plant, though I wondered if that species name was a typo. Really looking forward to seeing you again at the fling!
What zone are you in ? Thank you Iris
5b
Good old Rodale! Keep doing what you’re doing with this clematis. Sure is a fine one.
I’m not doing much, which makes it easy to keep doing it.
What a stunner! You lucky thing, you! It’s beautiful and prolific and what a gift this is. Way to go.
Thanks.
I too can grow clematis to fill a trellis. It really is about keeping the roots moist and cool. I have an old garden design that I showed in 2010 that was a wall of clematis. As for garden failures, I guess I have to say, it is my job not to have them.
I guess since this clematis is near the water faucet it tends to get a lot of extra water. Should have thought of that.
The white wall reflects plenty of sun to the back side of the plant and I’m sure that along with the compost has a lot to do with its vigor. When a clematis starts to bloom sparsely, cutting it back will give it a good boost. You need to read up on how to cut back your specific plant though, because plants with different bloom times have different requirements when it comes to being cut. Some people cut them back every year and others never cut them.
I generally cut this one back to about 18″ in February or March.
Is this one plant or many? I have a new clematis that I thought grew really well for it’s first year, but I’m scared to cut it back next winter. Seems counter-intuitive if I want it to be really full like yours. So you get all that growth in one season, apparently. Wow!
Michelle, mostly it is one plant, but there is also a smaller, younger one. Don’t worry about cutting back, the clematis vines will return with amazing vigor.
Such a beautiful plant. I have had a Jackmanii for years. At and elevation of 7,250 ft I thought is would surely die. BUT every other year I dutifuly cut it back each spring when the first leaves appeared. It flourshed at the base of a downspout, small boulder rocks warmed by the sun in the mornings, with 3xweek watering schedule kept fairly healthy. Blooms were all over the ONE vine. It didn’t seem to like to spread out. Ill health and a couple of years of no gardening did it in. This spring I will start again. I love the minimal care needed for this plant and the beauty it brings.
It can be finicky, but also very rewarding.
I certainly have never grown one so successfully, I don’t even think I have seen one growing so lush. I think you are right that somehow, sometimes all the requirements for a specific plant are met and it does particularly well.
And when that happens it makes up for all the frustrations.
Jackmanii is possibly my favorite clematis. I love the color and how they bloom like it was an emergency situation and only lots and lots of flowers will save the day. I have one growing on a fence in acid soil but with shaded feet and it just gets better and bloomier every summer.
I like that description. “It’s an emergency! We need all the flowers we can get!”
I like that New Rodale translation! 😉 Yes, I’ve had both good luck and bad luck, and more often success based on experience and trial and error over the years. Our ‘Nelly Moser’ Clematises were lush and thick like yours when we moved in to this house. One year I trimmed them back too dramatically and they died. For several years, I tried multiple techniques with no luck. Two years ago, I added fencing and aluminum foil to repel the rabbits so they would get a good start in the early spring, and voila! The Clematises are now nearly back to the full beauty of what we had originally. So, in my case, it was mostly experience and experimentation. But there have been many lucky and unlucky garden adventures, too! Great post!
Experience and experimentation count for a lot also.
I agree, and am often mad when something is planted in the right position, right soil, etc and then just doesn’t thrive. I have more or less given up on clematis altogether, as they never do well – yours is quite simply happy where it is and is a real star, so whatever you’re doing is obviously right! 🙂
This one is actually the first to do well for me.
You have green fingers and a caring way that can’t be bottled, your Clematis lives at the right house! I have one Etoile violet that is prolific, not quite as stunning as yours but I am proud of her none the less. 🙂
Just looked up Etoile Violette, seems quite similar to the jackmanii.
Jason, I never call it luck when something grows well for me. I try to imply ( as modestly as possible) that it is all down to my greenfingers , or ‘ thumb’ as you Americans call it.
Your Clematis is amazing and I’ m sure ‘ luck’ had nothing to do with it. You have green fingers……and thumbs.
Fingers, thumbs … I wonder if you could have green toes?
With a Clematis as magnificent as that I am sure you must have.
Different types of clematis require different types of pruning. Also, different varieties have different bloom times. I had a spring-bloomer that required no pruning but would turn into a giant tumbleweed every so many years. I would hack it down periodically and it would grow back and bloom prolifically; it received morning sun, its feet well hidden amongst the mugo. I replaced that with one that is supposed to bloom all summer, but I am having trouble keeping it alive, thanks to rabbits and neglect. I moved it to try to eliminate the latter, so we shall see.
Didn’t know rabbits will go after clematis. That hasn’t happened to me yet.
Yay, count me amongst the lucky ones. Well, where clematis is concerned, that is, because that is one of my plants that consistently flowers beautifully too. Now, if my Wisteria would learn what the clematis knows, I’d be a very happy gardener!
Yours is gorgeous, as is everything you feature on your blog, including the birds and butterflies.
Hi, Clematis and wisteria need completely opposite conditions so if one is happy its unlikely the other one will be.
As is so often the way with plants.
I haven’t even tried wisteria, good to hear your clematis does well.
You really are lucky. So beautiful. I planted a native Texan clematis this year. I hope it will look even a fraction as gorgeous as yours.
We have one native clematis here that I know of, C. virginiana. Is that the same one you have in Texas?
That grows here also but I planted Clematis texensis. The flowers are bright pink. The hybrids Princess Diana and Duchess of Albany come from it. http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CLTE2
That particular variety is very free flowering, I also noticed that it looks like it might be near a tap where the hose is, it loves moisture so maybe there’s a small leak or just that it is easy to give water to in that postition.,
Yes, it does get extra water, every time I water the containers I give the Clematis a drink. (Though I’m not doing so much watering this year with all the rain.
Add me to the list of those envying your clematis blooms. I’ll try your tips re fertilizer and perhaps give it a little more water than I typically do.
Hope you are successful.
I completely agree. You can do everything right and fail, and do everything wrong and succeed. As my husband likes to say, Better lucky than smart. That being said, you are probably being a bit too modest about your drop-dead gorgeous clematis. Take some credit, for heaven’s sake!
OK, fine, it was all me.
Drat, I thought you were going to reveal your secret to producing that utterly amazing show of the Clematis Jackmanii. I’ve been wanting a flower-covered clematis for years but haven’t managed yet, having said that, the clematis I have are rather young so maybe I just need to be patient. The bargain Clematis “Chantilly” I got from a garden centre last year was smothered in flowers this year so perhaps there’s hope for me yet.
I would be surprsed if there wasn’t.
Whatever you are doing – keep on doing it because it is clearly working ! I think clematis are quite unpredictable. I have planted some which romp away immediately, and others which almost disappear for two or even three season, before growing and flowering fantastically well.
Time seems to be an important factor, as you say.
Now that is one fantastic clematis, what a lovely shade of blue. Each year I have success and failure, there seems no logic to gardening at times.xxx
That’s what I think.
Hey my brother in arms,
Jackaminii was the favorite choice of Jim Crockett of Victory Garden fame. Only one I recall my biggest mentor ever espousing and he had his own testimonial plant. Thanks for sharing,
Patrick
Jackmanii I think is one of the most popular species of Clematis.
However you got that profusely flowering clematis, thanks for sharing it; it’s gorgeous!
Thank you!
I JUST planted 4 clematis plants together in my garden and I am hoping for the best. although I don’t think I am going to see anything interesting this year yet. I wonder how long it will take. You’re right you are pretty lucky, that plant is very prolific!
Oh too many times I get lucky with plants especially the clematis. I find you really have to get their feet in the shade and heads in the sun. So I plant them in sunny or part sunny spots and lots of plants at their feet with roots deep in the soil…or I plant the vine at the foot of a shrub and let it grow through.
I think I tried to grow clematis once but I gave up. Yours is stunning! And I love that deep purple color. I’m pretty sure they won’t grow in Florida.
Maybe not – too hot and humid.
I always add 1-2 spoons of Epson salt around the base of the vine in early spring. Lot’s of growth and lots of blooms. Has never failed me yet.
Thanks for the tip!
I cut my clematis back to about 8 inches tall..every year..it’s a jacmani also and it looks like the one in the pictures..it’s on a light pole that no longer works and I have to tie it up several times as it’s growing..it’s beautiful. .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
I agree with your tips and add one more. I have always read clematis like their head in the sun but feed in the shade. Maybe the roots are kept cool here while the plat receives plenty of sun?
Yes, there is a thick layer of groundcover keeping the roots cool.
It really is beautiful and I’m having a bit of clematis envy.
Last fall my beautiful jackmani clematis I have had for 25 years was sprayed with fertilizer weed control, it killed most of the clematis last fall, I was hoping it would come back this spring, nothing. Very disappointed! Planted a jackman, does not compare to my jackmani
So sorry to hear that. Give the new one time, it may surprise you.
I was given a clematis, l don’t know the name, it’s purple and has a drop look, like a bell, I don’t know what to do with it, do I just leave it or cut it down?
Hmm. Hard to say for sure, but most likely you should either cut it to the ground or leave about 18″. Best time to cut back is late winter, very early spring.
That is a remarkably beautiful clematis! I hadn’t been feeding mine, so now I know to do that. Shade has gradually been increasing in my yard so eventually I suppose mine will give up altogether.
What you say is so true. In our forest preserves sometimes populations of special plants decline even when we are managing for them. Microbes in the soil, insects, all have a role to play and it is impossible to unravel all the factors entirely.
There are a few Clematis that are more shade tolerant. Have you seen ‘Nelly Moser’?
I didn’t know about ‘her’~she’s lovely in her candy stripes! Thank you for telling me about that one.
I have lots of lovely honeysuckle but I have always been nervous about clematis. You have given me a little nudge. Thank you.
A light colored wall is actually cooler than a dark one.