How to Train Clematis Vines to Climb: An Easy Hack
Clematis vines are renowned garden climbers. But not all vertical surfaces are clematis-friendly. Know how to train your clematis vines to climb. Here are some simple techniques you can use to help these climbers get a leg up on a tough ascent.
Ah, Clematis vines…
I can remember seeing the luminous blue flowers of an H.F. Young for the first time many years ago. They were set amidst whorls of green foliage that were swarming up a trellis in a garden in rural Indiana. Those nodding, salad plate-sized blooms covered this vibrant green tower from the ground to the uppermost reaches of its questing stems, some ten feet off the ground. I was enraptured. I had to ask the white-haired gentleman who was watering it with an ancient sprinkling can (and who turned out to be its owner) what it was. “Clematis. Clematis H.F. Young. Been here almost twenty-five years.” was the answer. I knew right then and there, that if I ever had a garden, a Clematis H.F. Young would be growing in it. I also knew, right then and there, that I would indeed have a garden. At least someday I would.
Those of you who are subscribers and regular readers of The Renaissance Garden Guy know how this story ends. I’ve got a garden now. And there is indeed an H.F. Young growing in it. In fact, there’s also a Jackman’s clematis (better known as a ‘Jackmanii’) growing in it. And they’re growing together on the very same structure I installed almost two years ago. They’re growing on a wrought iron garden arch – H.F. Young on one side, Jackmanii on the other, meeting in the middle and overlapping each other at the top. You may have seen the pictures. End of story.
Ok, sort of, but not really. Where one story ends, another one usually begins. And if a new one doesn’t begin there, then there’s at least a backstory waiting to be told…
And that’s what this article is all about: The backstory of the existing clematis scene in my garden. Don’t worry, it’s short, but hopefully informative. And it comes about as a result of a good plan and a wrongheaded decision.
Smart but Stupid
Pretty Smart
In my article, “Stupid Proof Your New Garden: 5 Huge No-No’s” from February of this year, I talk about the importance of doing all of your garden planning and construction before you actually plant anything. Although I’ve been in violation of this all-important rule at almost every turn right from the start, when it came to the installation of my clematis vines’ arch, I was surprisingly compliant.
As a result of that first encounter in rural Indiana with a quarter-of-a-century-old H.F. Young, clematis vines were shoo-ins for spots in my starting lineup. I knew I wanted them, and I knew where I was going to plant them. I decided that H.F. Young and Jackmanii were the two cultivars that would inhabit my garden, and I actually measured and sketched out the entire planting features in which they’d reside. I knew they’d be growing on a wrought iron garden arch (actually black powder-coated steel) and I knew how big that arch would be, and how I was going to anchor it. Then I bought the arch and installed it with concrete footings to make it a permanent garden hardscape feature. Man, I planned for these vines.
The Stupid Part
I bought a garden arch based on the appeal of its appearance, while ignoring the needs of the clematis vines to which it would play host. “Needs of the clematis vines?” you ask. Yep. Turns out that clematis vines accomplish their feats of vertical ascent with only the assistance of their leaf stems. They don’t spiral and twist their main stems around lattice slats, poles, or any other structures, and they don’t have aerial roots that can dig in and attach to vertical surfaces. They actually use their leaf stems to wrap around and “grab” relatively slim vertical surfaces. This phenomenon is known as a thigmotropism. The clematis leaves and leaf stems “sense” the presence of a grabbable structure and immediately attempt to gird it. The problem is, clematis leaf stems, on average, are not terribly long. For most clematis vines, the thickest material they can completely encircle with their leaf stems is not much more than 1/2″ in diameter. Sometimes less. I’ve found that Pruning Group 3 clematis vines (those that flower on new wood only) tend to have longer leaf stems than Group 1 or Group 2 vines. So Group 3 vines (like my Jackmanii) have slightly better wraparound capabilities. I can’t say for certain that this is universally true, but in the case of my Jackmanii versus my H.F. Young (Group 2 – sets buds on both old and new wood), the Jackmanii is able to wrap more effectively around larger diameter climbing structure members. (For more on Clematis Pruning Groups 1, 2, and 3, click here to read my article from last year, which goes into a bit more detail regarding each group’s respective growth habit, and offers suggestions for pruning and/or deadheading.)
So the stupid part here is the fact that I sacrificed clematis user-friendliness for a “look” I was aiming for in my garden. Although the manufacturer of my garden arch offered a number of perfectly viable, 100% clematis-friendly selections, I opted for the one (had to have it) which was not perfectly suited for clematis climbs. That’s not to say that my garden arch can’t support clematis vines. It definitely can. Certain elements of its design and construction are perfectly suited for providing clematis growth support. But, other elements are not. Some structural members are too large in diameter for the vines’ leaf stems to encircle, and some structural members – although of ideal diameter – are simply located too far apart from one another to allow for an attractive and uniform clematis ascent. The vines can do it, but in unattractive and “gangly” fashion.
Let’s talk about you – and your existing or future clematis vines – for just a second. What do you do if you’re like me and you’ve got an existing structure in your garden that offers less than perfect clematis climbing opportunities, or worse, a clematis-averse (anticlematis?) situation? You really want to see those amazing vines growing in your garden. You’ve gotta have ’em (I get it), but you can’t give them the perfect vertical invitation. Short of letting them climb up neighboring plants (which they’ll gladly do), what’s the plan? How can you fix it so that you can get these coolest of vines to climb all over stuff in your garden AND give them an easy time of it?
The Hack: How to Train Clematis Vines to Climb
The answer is twine. And maybe some twist ties. Really simple. You can tie twine to just about anything. And if the surface upon which you want your clematis vines to climb doesn’t allow for tying twine or twist ties anywhere (a flat outside wall of your house, for example), tap a nail or drive a screw into it, and tie the twine off there. Twine is pretty damned convenient. And it provides the perfect form and structure for clematis vines to grip. I like to use green dyed garden twine. It’s heavy-duty, simple to tie and knot, it blends in with the green plant life clambering all over it, and it’s simple to get rid of when your vines no longer need the benefit of its assistance. I mentioned twist ties. Those can be had in the form of one continuous roll to be cut to any desired lengths. And they’re also green. Made especially for gardening use. These can be used to offer intervals of support for your clematis vines’ main stems as they grow upward along large-diameter structures, or to tightly anchor string to various points of a climbing structure so it doesn’t slide around.
The Techniques
On an arch like mine, the key for me was to invite my clematis vines to cover the entire structure. My arch is designed to encourage dense vine coverage in certain parts, but not so much in others.
Group 1 and 2 climbers. In the case of my H.F. Young, which blooms on old and new wood (Pruning Group 2), and really doesn’t get pruned, once it establishes attachment points up the arch, all future growth can then attach to what has grown before and is already attached. The H.F. Young provides its own climbing structure for new growth in the form of woody stems which have attached to the arch in various locations. So the goal with my H.F. Young (which was planted as a bareroot almost two years ago) was to get its basic structure growing and attached to the less than ideal climbing structure of the arch at ideal points – locations that ensured an even and dense level of coverage over the entire structure. Once those stems attached permanently to the arch, they’d provide a perfect framework for future stems. Any twine that I use to initially train the vine can be removed once the leaf stems of the vine firmly attach themselves to various points on the arch.
- For the thickest parts of the arch’s frame: To allow the main stems of the vine to loosely hug the thickest, outermost members of the arch, I used green twist tie lengths looping loosely around the stems and frame members. Don’t make these too tight – the stems of the vine will grow thicker with age, and you don’t want to restrict their space for expansion, or worse, cause the twist ties to bite into the swelling woody stems. The green twine I use can also be employed here to make this kind of attachment.
- For training and attaching stems to thinner, but more distant, frame components, I use two different techniques with twine to train the vine’s stems. All clematis vines really do well when they’re planted according to the old axiom, feet in the shade, faces in the sun. I planted both of the vines which share this arch as bareroots less than two years ago according to this ancient wisdom. The roots of both vines are protected by clumping plants which provide shade to the ground itself in which the clematis are growing and, to a lesser degree, each vine’s basal foliage. The roots stay cool and shady, and the upper lengths of each vine get loads of sun. Perfect growing conditions. The H.F. Young has rewarded me with explosive growth (as has the Jackmanii) and a profusion of stems emerging from the ground and the massive root ball below. Many of these stems took to the garden arch with no coaxing from me whatsoever and began their aggressive vertical climbs without any training. But a number of them had other ideas and began dropping hints about scaling the bushy rhododendron which was shading their roots. These stems were close enough to the rhodie to grab onto it, but a bit too far away from the arch to attach there. So what’s the fix? Well now pardners, it’s time to wrangle us up some clematis stems! In order to get them to attach to the arch and start climbing it, I used what I call the Lasso Technique. Yeehaw! It’s simple. I tied one end of a length of my green twine around a particular straying vine, just below two protruding leaf stems (trust me, there will be lots of those on your emerging main stems), and I tied the other end – so it gently but slightly firmly pulled the miscreant toward the point on the arch where I wanted it to eventually attach – directly to the arch. That stem looked like it was on a “leash,” or a “lasso.” If you do this, your own clematis’ errant stem will literally grow along this twine, wrap its leaf stems around it, and make a laser-guided trip to the supporting structure you’ve provided and intended for it, where it will then attach itself. Bingo, bango. The second technique I use to train my clematis along more slender structural members is the Matrix Technique. This one’s super simple. I basically tied a bunch of lengths of green twine, vertically and parallel to (and at relatively equal distances from) one another, so they spanned from one horizontal structural member to the next. This created a “net,” or “matrix” which allowed questing vines to cover the arch structure in uniform fashion. Athough the stems would have invariably reached these thinner horizontal members on their own – with no help from me – and attached themselves there, they would have done so with big lateral gaps between them, leaving alot of open space for me to look at. The matrix of twine guarantees full, dense coverage up the entire height of the structure. The great part about using twine in both of these techniques is that it can be removed permanently once the H.F. Young (or any Group 1 or 2 vine) attaches at the desired points of the support structure. Those stems will remain in place for the life of the vine, and will provide a foundation for all future growth.
Group 3 climbers. My Jackmanii vine falls squarely into this category. This old, tried and true favorite sets flower buds and blooms only on new wood. It flowers later in the summer. Since it flowers on new wood only, I pruned it to a height of about eighteen inches in early March to encourage new growth and resultant new blooms. Like my H.F. Young, it was planted as a healthy bareroot less than two years ago. Unlike the H.F. Young, the Jackmanii came out of the ground with one thick main stem only. It differs further from the H.F. Young vine by virtue of the size of its leaves, and the length of its leaf stems. Clematis Jackmanii has got larger leaves and longer leaf stems than those of the H.F. Young. This means that the Jackmanii can grab onto, and wrap around, climbing structure components of a larger diameter than can the H.F. Young. And since the single large main stem of the Jackmani easily reaches the arch structure from the point where it emerges from the ground, there’s no need for employing the Lasso Technique. The Jackmanii vine’s leaf stems are long enough to grasp all parts of my garden arch structure. I still, however, used my Matrix Technique of tying vertical lengths of twine between the thin horizontal structural components of the arch. Even though the Jackmanii doesn’t really need them for grasping and climbing, their presence does provide me with a way to keep the vine’s growth uniform and to ensure complete coverage of the arch structure. As in the case of the H.F. Young, the Jackmanii’s green twine lengths can be removed once the vine has achieved desired coverage of the support structure. But since I’ll be chopping this vine down to 18″ in height this winter, and it will essentially be growing from scratch next spring (albeit bigger, beefier, and more vigorous), it wouldn’t hurt to leave the tied-off lengths of green twine in place so that next year’s growth can receive the same guidance as this year’s growth. Also, I’m lazy. It’s just easier to leave the lengths of twine where they’re at.
Below are a few photos of my H.F. Young and Jackmanii vines. Because the H.F. Young blooms in late spring and early summer, and the Jackmanii blooms later in the summer, and the two vines overlap each other on this garden arch, and each grows up over the top of the arch and back down the other side, there will be flowers covering most of this structure for much of the summer.
The photos below were taken today. The H.F. Young has begun to bloom. It has set over 100 buds. I believe that it’s beginning to make that first H.F. Young that I saw so many years ago proud. The explosion of blooms on my H.F. Young should be interesting. The Jackmanii continues to set buds and will flower later this summer. One of its blooms from last summer can be found on the right in this article’s featured image. The image, a collage of two photos, is also included below. In this image, the H.F Young bloom is on the left, the Jackmanii on the right.
Here, I want to make a few product recommendations. The twine and twist tie material are really must-haves in your clematis training arsenal. I’ll also recommend a couple of Espoma products in the event that amending your soil or feeding your clematis vines is necessary. Please feel free to order any of these excellent products right here, from Amazon. Click on any of the following #advertisement links for information or to order. These are the recs:
Gardener’s Blue Ribbon Sturdy Twists are perfect for use in your clematis training regimen. They’re coated in green plastic and they come in a 100′ roll. Plus, each roll comes with a cutter built right into the dispenser. Super convenient. Order them here, from Amazon, by clicking the #advertisement link.
This 328′ long roll of Shintop Heavy Duty Green Garden Twine is made from hemp and is convenient to use, strong, and easy to cut with scissors or a knife. Its green color blends in beautifully with my clematis vines’ foliage. Click the #advertisement link to order it here, from Amazon.
I love Espoma’s organic fertilizers. Plant-tone is the one I use for the majority of the flowering plants in my garden. It’s got an N-P-K ratio of 5-3-3 and is a great all-purpose organic fertilizer. It works perfectly for plants like corydalis, viola, dianthus, shasta daisies, primroses, and of course, clematis. To learn more, or to order this product here, from Amazon, click the #advertisement link.
Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier is the perfect choice for lowering the pH and increasing the acidity of your garden’s soil. It’s a fabulous organic product which I’ve used to lower soil pH for plants like my blue hydrangeas and my rhododendrons, azalea, and pieris. It’s very effective and allows acid-loving plants like these to properly access and utilize nutrients from fertilizing products. Clematis enjoy slightly acidic soil with a pH of around 6.5. If your clematis are growing in alkaline soil, this is the stuff to use to drop that pH. Click the #advertisement link to order it here, directly from Amazon.
So now you’ve got a handle on my clematis training techniques, and you know what products I like to use and recommend to help teach these guys to climb. Pretty simple, right? The vines do 99% of the work themselves. All they need is what basically amounts to a nudge in the right direction. If you love clematis vines and you know that you want them in your garden, but you’ve got a less than ideal structure to turn ’em loose on, don’t despair. That wood fence, or the side of your garage, or that fabulous, less-than-perfectly-clematis-friendly garden arch you just bought and installed will all still work. Just add twine and maybe a twist tie or two. You and your clematis vines will be good to go. You can watch them cover whatever it is you string them up on this summer while you’re sitting pretty with grub on the grill and a cold drink in your hand. And they’ll be growing tall, thick, and happy with their feet in shade, their faces in the sun, and some green twine to grab onto.
Cheers, and Happy Gardening!
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Thank you again for a great article; invaluable information!
Thank you, Nykki. I’m thrilled to know that this info is helpful. I’ve learned so much through trial and error, and I’m happy when I can help others skip the mistakes I’ve made and get right to the successes. Thanks again, Nykki. I truly appreciate your interest and kind thoughts.
Another amazing article, so complete and precise…..you are definitely a master in gardening !
The images looks enchanting, an absolute plaisir to read your articles ❤️🌸🦋
Merci, merci, mon amie! I appreciate that, Roxxy – so glad you liked the article. My photography leaves alot to be desired, but Mother Nature always provides excellent subject matter – its beauty always prevails! Thanks again, Roxxy!
Can’t wait to see them on the arch in full bloom!
Very interesting article!
Thank you so much, Sue! I’m so glad you liked the article. I’m looking forward to seeing everything in full bloom myself. It’s definitely getting there. Thanks again!
I’ve no idea what clematis grow at my city house as they were already here when I bought it. Though a few grow up poles many seem to spread by themselves. I wonder if that is possible. I find new colors in previously unknown places. Your vines will look spectacular.
I think they’re more alluring when they’re already growing somewhere and there’s no clue about how long they’ve been there, or even about what kind they are. I saw a house in Michigan, when I was out walking my dog, that had some really beautiful clematis growing wild all over some evergreens. The lady that owned the house said she had no clue as to what kind they were or how long they’d been there. They were there when she bought the house. I thought that was really cool. Like Lord of the Flies, or Call of the Wild, but with plants. Civilized plants reverting to a wild state. If you think about it, do you think you might get a picture of your unknowns? I’d really love to see them. They sound fantastic. As always, Everly, I thank you kindly for your interest.
As always, lots of great information. I never realized that the design of a trellis would make any difference when growing clematis vines. Yours are really beautiful. Just imagine what they will look like in a couple of years.
Thanks, Kevin. I’m glad the info was good. And thanks for the kind words about my vines. I do believe you’re right. They’re going to really get bushy. Thanks again!
Thanks for another perfectly timed and helpful article, I’ll be out first thing tomorrow with my green twine, Yeehaw!
Thanks, Jill! I’m glad you got some good use out of the article. Your clematis will thank you for the help. They’ll literally swarm all over that twine. Good luck, buckaroo! Thanks again, Jill!
Looking forward to seeing that arch fill up with clematis blooms.
Thank you, Tess. That H.F. Young vine literally has 100 buds on it. Several more bloomed since I published this article earlier today. I really appreciate your interest, Tess. I’ll keep you posted!
The clematis arch is absolutely beautiful!
I’m so glad you like it – thank you! It will be more densely covered with foliage and blooms with each passing year. Clematis really are amazing vines. Thanks again!