Dealing with clematis wilt

Ruth deals with a devastating, though not fatal, problem

- Ruth Hayes

CLEMATIS are one of our most popular, exotic-looking plants, and with good reason. There are different varieties that flower in almost all seasons, and they can be grown in borders or containers and trained up walls and fences or up elegant teepees in the middle of beds.

However, they can be tricky to cultivate. They like to have their roots cool and damp, but their top growth in the sun or partial shade – even though the blooms of some larger varieties tend to fade in sunlight.

It is extremely disheartening to see previously healthy clematis shrivel and blacken almost overnight, and there are two main reasons – the disease clematis wilt and the environment in which they are growing.

Clematis wilt is caused by the fungus Calophoma clematidina and is more likely to attack large-flowered varieties.