'Mayleen'
Clematis
"Every vine climbing & blossoming tells of love & joy."
-Robert Ingersoll
(1833-1899)
(1833-1899)
'Mayleen' is a cultivar of Clematis montana variant rubens developed in England & introduced to gardening in 1984.
It is a recipient of the Royal Horticultural Societies Award of Garden Merit, given in 2002. The AGM is given to plants that have proven themselves over time in popularity, garden hardiness, & beauty.
This species has smaller flowers than the more in-your-face clematis varieties, & the color varieties are not so extreme, pink to dusty magenta predominating. But it produces its littler blooms in great numbers, & the vine can spread for thirty feet rather than the eight, ten, or fifteen feet of fancier hybrids.In 2002 we planted the Mayleen at the foot of the Franchet Cotoneaster Arbor so that it would weave its way in & about the overhanging Franchet, lending the tall woody shrub its pink blooms to go with the bright orange berries.
'Mayleen' blooms March through May. The top photo from April 2002 shows the young planting when it had climbed four feet up into the cotoneaster arbor, using the large living shrub as its trellis.
The second photo is over a year later, in May 2003. Though finished blooming by May's end, it will have fuzzy seed pods decorative into June.
When long established it'll sometimes rebloom in Autumn. In 2005, ours rebloomed in September, though not nearly as intensely & only on the uppermost reaches of the vines where sunlight was mightiest.
Its bronzish foliage gives it interest even when not in bloom. Like all clematis it is hardy & forgiving of many conditions, but can never have its roots or base in direct sunlight or it will overheat & suffer.
It otherwise does well in moist well-drained soil whether in sunlight or in shade, climbing vigorously toward the light if started in shade.
It does not require much pruning except to restrict its spread, but when pruning is done, it should be after it is finished blooming.