Life stories of my two varieties of Clematis Montana, Rubens and Elizabeth
Elizabeth and Rubens were a good pair
until I went and cut down all Rubens’ hair
now Rubens in my garden’s no longer there
and Elizabeth looks like she needs some care.
*******
Clematis Montana “Rubens”
Oh Rubens, you were so rampant you just wanted to take over.
At first I was glad because you made a good dog run cover,
giving shade from sunshine, shelter when it was snowing.
But for years later on you just kept on growing and growing.
The weight of you collapsed my archway over the dog run, so
I made the rough tough decision that you would just have to go.
Tenacious as you are though, some of you got left behind
and is screening overgrown Leylandii. That I don’t mind!
Of course, because of its sheer dominance in my garden, the best plant of the month in May 2012 just had to be Clematis Montana “Rubens” which sprawled over the collapsing archway in the middle of the garden and across the back end of the dog run. This mass of pale pink started from a cutting I took from the mother plant in about 2001 which was ten times bigger.
The mother plant had been a tiny plant bought by my mother when I first moved into my new house in 1988. It had been planted in a six inch strip of gravel and builder’s rubble between the pathway round my house and the house, between the kitchen window and the back door. I didn’t really expect it to survive. But survive it did, and how! By 2012 it had climbed up the wall almost to my roof, covered the back end of the garage roof and the front end of the dog run and clambered up the giant Leylandi tree in the garden next door.
It made a fabulous natural roof for my aviaries which later became the dog run. Crawling further and higher each year, it was supported only by a trellis panel on a sturdy framework and the aviary roof netting. It shaded the aviaries nicely and only in a heavy downpour would rain penetrate through its growth, summer or winter.
By the time I made the decision to cut it back during the garden transformation in February 2014, the trellis was showing signs of collapsing and I didn’t want that lot to come down on my head or on that of my dog.
When it was cut back, it was obvious I would need to completely renew the whole dog enclosure, so it was cut back to the main trunk which was by now looking like a trunk for an oak tree. I never thought it would grow again.
But grow again it did. It was making its way back at the end of the new dog run by the house. There were no flowers on it in May, but I did get a few later on. By the time I had decided to have a perspex roof over the dog run in August 2014 it had crawled over the garage roof again, halfway up the wall to my roof and was on its way across the top of the dog run trellis, in spite of the fact that I trimmed it back on a daily basis. It just had to go!
I don’t miss it really, and now in May 2015 I am so glad it is gone and I have space for a wooden mini greenhouse where it grew. It had always looked very pretty in May, but for the rest of the year it was a pain in the neck. I was allergic to the smell of the flowers, so it made me sneeze a lot. Then when the flowers faded there would be a daily ocean of petals and fluff to sweep up from the dog run area, the patio and pathways. Pruning was a constant headache. But several pairs of blackbirds and dunnocks had raised their families in it over the years. They miss it.
Suffice it to say that now I have finally got rid of Clematis Montana “Rubens” I won’t be replacing it. However, somehow it has managed to propagate itself just beyond the new dog run between my fence and next door’s Leylandii and is climbing up those aging eyesores nicely in May 2015. I dare say in a few years time as it spreads further it will provide a better backdrop to my garden than those dreadful Leylandii.
In that case “Long live Clematis Montana!”
*******
Clematis Montana “Elizabeth”
Oh Elizabeth, I’m so sorry that I keep chopping you down
but if I didn’t you’d probably have reached the other side of town.
But you are a tough cookie and you keep on coming back
and climbing up the fence, although a trellis you lack.
I promise that next year, before you start to climb again
I will buy you a support that’s on a sturdy frame.
I cannot promise though that I won’t curtail your growth,
but I’ll keep you nicely trimmed, that is my oath.
However, although I have rid my garden of rampant Rubens, I still have a less rampant variety of Clematis Montana. “Elizabeth” is on the other side of my garden on the fence near my patio doors. She too has suffered the ravages of my garden transformation. Firstly, she was draped over the fence nicely when high winds from across next door’s garden blew down the fence that was totally unprotected by shrubs on their side. That was years ago, probably about 2006 or 2007.
I therefore needed a new fence and commissioned Fencer Jack to provide me with one, with more secure concrete fence posts. Poor Elizabeth had to be cut right back to the ground but she recovered well and made a significant contribution to the colour in the garden while her more rampant brother Rubens was hogging the limelight on the other side of the garden.
A few years later, the same fence panels blew down again. Fencer Jack’s concrete posts had been leaning precariously at an angle for ages, so it was no surprise to me. They were put back up again, after having cut back hard poor Elizabeth again. That seemed to do her good, as she flourished well that year.
Then for a third time, down came the fence again in February 2014, just as the lads were about to revamp my garden. How convenient was that? The lads quickly re-concreted in the fence posts and put the fence back for me. Yet again Elizabeth had to be cut back. But she survived to give me a show again.
October winds again! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! High winds, fence down AGAIN!
Down came the by now rotten fence panel, leaving the concrete post intact. That was it. A new couple of panels were put up in October 2014. This time they were hand built vertical panels, and I was assured they would last through the severest winds. We will see.
I trimmed poor Elizabeth right down to the ground this time, as her trunk was getting scruffy. As I write, at the end of May 2015 she’s on her way back up the now much higher fence panel. Will she reach the top and flower before the end of June?
She’s a survivor. God bless Elizabeth!
*******
This article seems to have been an epitaph to two faithful old favourite friends.
Update Mid May 2016
Clematis Montana Rubens, the rogue left over from my previous plant, is flowering again, giving a bit of light relief to next door’s massive ugly Leylandii trunks. However it is much later than the plant two doors down which has bedecked their back wall for the last couple of weeks, making me sneeze as I pass it when walking my dog. At least my sinuses are spared these days in my dog run, and I certainly don’t miss the ensuing mess that my massive plant used to make when all the flowers turned to fluff.
Clematis Montana Elizabeth did actually manage to climb to the top of the new fence in 2015, but sadly it was too late for her to flower. The shock must have been too much for her. I trimmed her back in Autumn 2015 to keep her tidy, and she now has a trellis to scramble over. As I write on 14th May 2016, there are plenty of flowers about to come out. I am not happy with the messy stems at the base though. I really would like to start again and I have taken a cutting in the hope I can start a nice tidy new plant to cover the back wall.
My Garden Transformation 