armandii: promise me it's really big?

11 years ago

My bedroom window is effectively three stories high (second story plus a walkout basement on that side of the house). It's way too high to smell or enjoy any of the garden flowers, and from the outside, that wall of the house is large and blank.

Could I rely on an armandii to get all the way up here so the flowers would be just below my window? It's roughly 25 feet. The exposure is western and gets full afternoon sun. I'm in the PNW where we have a lot of armandii and it seems to universally do well. I just don't think I've ever had the chance to see it climb *high* before.

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Comments (5)

User
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Probably. I just got rid of one because it outgrew the 1/2 wine barrel it was growing in for 5 or so years. It grew up the 6ft trellis into a tree and then up another 15 feet or so and would have continued growing if it had been planted in the ground. I loved that clematis and hated to get rid of it but it wasn't good in a container. I do think they need protection from wind and you need to be very careful when handling or pruning because the shoots will break if you look at them wrong. My observation of the armendii is that they want to grow straight up and very vigorously. Make sure your support is super sturdy. Mine grew in a spot that got just 3 hours of sun in the hottest part of the day and very shady the rest of the day and only sun in the summer months. It still got many flowers and it was lovely....

I pruned mine down to the top of the trellis every other year or so, so that the flowers would stay low. I found if I didn't prune the flowers would be too high up for me to enjoy. The last couple of years I knew it had to go so I didn't prune and it grew really high into the tree.
Kristin
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks!
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Michaela (Zone 5b - Iowa)
11 years ago
Sounds lovely - be sure to take pictures & report back please :)
Kristin
Original Author
11 years ago
How would you (general you) train a vine to that high? I can't really see building a trellis 25 feet up and I think mesh or fencing hung on the side of the house would look pretty unattractive for the first few years. Lengths of wire rope maybe?
User
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
The easiest trellis would be screw eyes with a sturdy wire between. You need to make sure the screw eyes extend from the side of the house at least 2 inches to allow for air and for the vine to grow in and out. I have several other clematis and they are all much better behaved then armandii whose vines will shoot up and twist around everything, plus the leaves are kind of leathery and need a lot of room to spread to look good. I haven't found any pics of trellis's on this forum but if you do a google search you will see some good examples. If you have money to spend or are handy or if you know someone who can help you who is handy, you could construct a beautiful trellis on the side of the house. I wanted to say that the armandii takes a few years to fill out, pruning it the first couple of years will help get it going. Also, would love to see pics when you are finished...