Do You Like Clematis? Plant The Princes! Differences, Landing And Care. Photo

It is difficult to find a grower who would not admire the beauty of clematis and would not like to plant this flower in the garden. However, many are stopped by the difficulties associated with growing this not the easiest crop. Features of pruning, the need for shelter, insidious fungal diseases that can ruin an adult flowering bush overnight. All these questions completely disappear when growing the closest relative of clematis - a modest garden prince. Of course, this liana has a slightly different look - it is not as solemn and noble as clematis itself - but once seeing a blooming prince alive, it is difficult not to love him.

The beauty of this flower is completely different - gentle, modest and mysterious. At present, princes are still not very common in gardens, but they deserve more and more attention. After all, they are much easier to grow, and they will decorate the garden no less than the kings of garden vines - clematis.

Content:

• Differences between prince and clematis
• Planting and caring for the princes
• Princes in garden design

Differences between prince and clematis

The relationship between the prince and clematis is beyond doubt. First of all, both plants belong to the same Buttercup family and have in many ways similar appearance - a liana-shaped stem, compound leaves, large and bright sepals framing the flower.

The botanical name of clematis Atragene (Atragene), and some scientists believe subgenus clematis clematis. Breeders adhering to this point of view are launching new varieties of prickly named Clematis. Therefore, princes are often found on sale under this name, while the Latin name 'Atragene' is often indicated in brackets.

Experts who do not consider the prince as a section of the genus "Clematis" consider this plant to be an independent species. Be that as it may, the prince and clematis have a number of significant differences. Let's try to figure them out.

Flower shape

The main beauty of the inflorescences of princes and clematis is the presence of large brightly colored sepals, which are often mistaken for petals. At the same time, in reality, in clematis, true petals are completely absent, and the flower consists of numerous stamens surrounded by bracts and staminodes. Clematis flowers are in most cases wide open, like saucers, and their size ranges from 5 to 20 centimeters in diameter.

The prince's flower, on the other hand, has the shape of a drooping bell (double forms also vaguely resemble a chrysanthemum or nymphea). The petals are framed by a cup with elegant thin pointed petal-shaped sepals of various colors. In size, the prince's flower is much smaller than that of clematis - 3-12 centimeters.

Foliage features

Clematis and princes climb up thanks to curly petioles that easily twine around thin supports that will meet on the way of their growth. Both plants have a complex type of leaf blade, their carved leaves are most often trifoliate or twice trifoliate.

The main difference between clematis and prince from each other in relation to foliage is that the leaves of the prince have a serrated edge and a pointed shape, while the edges of clematis leaf blades are most often smoothed and generally look more rounded. True, this difference is true only in comparing the prince with hybrid varietal clematis, since species clematis (Tangut, grape-leaved, etc.) can have foliage that resembles the leaf blades of the prince.

Flowering time

As you know, according to the flowering time, varietal clematis are divided into two types: blooming on the shoots of the last year (bloom twice: the first wave in about June, the second in August) and blooming on the young growth shoots (bloom in June-July). The princes bloom very early - in late April - early May (some varieties - in early summer). Sometimes princes can repeat flowering towards the end of summer, but it will not be so abundant.

Relationship to light

Like most vines, clematis prefer to have their "legs" in the shade and "head" in the sun. Thus, the roots of the plant, under the canopy of shorter neighbors, will be protected from overheating and rapid drying, and foliage and inflorescences will receive enough sunlight to grow and develop.

Compared to clematis, the prince is more shade-tolerant and turns out to be an ideal vine for vertical gardening of shady corners of the garden. In the sun, the princes quickly fade, their inflorescences fade and look paler. And young plants planted in a sunny place may even die.

Disease resistance

Lovers of clematis are probably well aware of an insidious fungal disease called clematis wilt. At the beginning of the last century, this incurable disease almost completely destroyed the planting of clematis in the gardens of Europe. The onset of the disease manifests itself suddenly, most often during the period of active flowering of the bush. First of all, the tops of young shoots wither in clematis, after which the foliage and flowers. Also, the plant is covered with individual dark spots or leaves and stems completely blacken.

Currently, there is no effective treatment against this scourge, and breeders are working to develop varieties that are resistant to wilt, some of which can already be found on the market.

As for the princes, in general, they are practically not affected by wilt, with the exception of very rare cases. As a rule, with a successful choice of a landing site and proper care, diseases and pests bypass the princes.

Winter hardiness

The need for clematis shelter largely depends on the variety. In most cases, clematis belonging to the second pruning group (terry, large-flowered, etc.) show less winter hardiness and need careful shelter for the winter. Among the clematis of the third pruning group (Vititsela, Zhakman, etc.) there are both more and less winter-hardy specimens. In most cases, on branded packaging or in catalogs, the manufacturer indicates the minimum temperatures that a particular variety can tolerate in winter.

As for the princes, most of their species and varieties are highly winter-hardy, and without any shelter they endure frosts down to -30 degrees and below. However, in some varieties of large-petal princes, winter hardiness may be slightly reduced. Therefore, when buying varieties of western selection, it is better to study the information about the variety in detail in advance.

The need for pruning

In most cases, the aerial part of clematis is not resistant to negative temperatures, and in winter it completely or partially dies off, while plant growth is resumed by replacing shoots from the roots. In this regard, several main groups of clematis are distinguished: the second - the stems are partially preserved, therefore they are cut off. And the third - the stems do not hibernate, the vines are completely cut off in the fall.

But the first pruning group (they do not need pruning) includes species clematis and princes proper. Due to the winter hardiness of the princes, their lignified shoots are well preserved in winter and do not require special pruning, except for sanitary and formative ones.

Vegetation time

Due to the high winter hardiness and the absence of mandatory pruning at the beginning of the season, the princes wake up faster and are covered with foliage and young shoots earlier, developing from the axils of last year's stems. When clematis only grows aboveground part after winter, these charming vines are already completely leafy and begin to form buds.

Planting and caring for the princes

In nature, wild species of princes are found in almost all mountainous regions of Eurasia - from the Alps to the Caucasus and the Himalayas. It follows from this that the princes are mountain plants that thrive on dry rocky soils. Therefore, for planting these vines, it is recommended to choose a dry place without stagnant water. On heavy damp soils in the planting pit, it is better to arrange drainage.

Considering that in nature princes grow on poor soils, these plants are undemanding to the level of fertility and do not need additional fertilizers to be added to the planting hole when planting on moderately fertile garden soils. The texture of the soil should be loose, light and permeable. In terms of soil reaction, liana prefers a slightly alkaline or neutral substrate.

Princes can grow and bloom in an open sunny place, however, in this case, their leaves and flowers will shrink and their petals will fade. In addition, the total flowering period is shorter in sunny places than in partial shade, although the vines bloom earlier. Therefore, for princes it is better to choose shady or semi-shady places. It is also important that the plantings are located in places protected from strong winds, otherwise fragile stems and flowers may suffer from gusts of wind.

Most varieties and hybrids of princes are winter-hardy enough and belong to zone 3 (up to -40 ° C) or 4 (up to -34 ° C) and they do not need any shelter for the winter. It is also impossible to cut the stems in the fall, since in the spring flowering will begin on last year's stems. If necessary, sanitary or formative pruning is carried out after the completion of the first wave of flowering.

It is necessary to water the vines regularly only in the first year after planting, then their long deep roots will themselves be able to extract water from the deep layers of the soil. Adult princes water only during drought. These plants can do without additional feeding, however, to obtain larger flowers, they can be fertilized with complex fertilizer during the budding period.

Princes in garden design

The princes are ideal as a vertical component of shade flower beds. In this case, vines can be used to create a background, as they will perfectly disguise any fence, and their carved green foliage will be a great backdrop for other plants.

Since the princes respond well to the shading of the root zone, shade-tolerant perennials with large foliage (hosts, brunners, buzulnik, badan, etc.) can be placed at the foot of the vines.

The princes are no less good for decorating the trunks of old trees and snags. Sometimes liana is grown as a ground cover, in such a case it will be especially effective if flowering stems fall from the retaining walls. Often, princes are also used to decorate the northern wall of a house or hide a barn and other outbuildings from sight.