Companion Plants

Growing roses without growing clematis is almost a crime. They are supposed to be great companions for one another.  It’s not the term I normally use but this is what I read in gardening books and websites.  I can confirm this information as accurate having now grown a few kinds of clematis with roses.  Lucky that I didn’t try to grow the Clematis ‘Montana’ (Clematis Montana var. rubens) and Clematis ‘Sweet Autumn’ (Clematis terniflora) with any roses.  They are very unruly, very fast growers and would have suffocated the roses.  They are better standing alone or climbing a tree.

What we have in the garden seems to work well with the roses.  It’s the type that grows 8 to 10 feet high like the clematis pictured below.

The clematis ‘Crystal Fountain’ is lovely next to the ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’ rose.  There were more flowers in late spring, but now just a scant few blooms here and there.

We grow Clematis ‘Belle of Woking’ on the opposite side of Rose ‘Blaze’ on a trellis.  They seem to do well together especially when the ‘Belle of Woking’ flowers are fully opened and turn from lavender to almost white in color before the petals drop.

We added the Clematis ‘Betty Corning’ (Clematis viticella) to the garden planted near the ‘Eden’ rose last year.  It has proved to be perfect.  Though it is a fast grower, it’s very well behaved and produces plenty of little lavender colored flowers with a faint fragrance.

Most of the clematis flowers have faded away by now.  Although the ‘Betty Corning’ is still producing flower buds.  I did add another clematis this year after I realized that, except for the Montana and Sweet Autumn, all the clematis in the garden have bloomed in a similar shade of lavender.  So I added Clematis ‘Rubromarginata’ (Clematis x triternata) which is supposed to produce small cream colored flowers with a violet edge, with an almond scent.  Let’s see how it turns out.