up and over: more clematis on more shrubs

I AM IN THE BUNK-BED STAGE OF MY GARDEN CAREER: stacking plants on top of one another, layering the hell out of every square inch rather than making one more king-sized bed I don’t need and can’t maintain. Nowhere is this more on my mind lately than with the opportunities to use vines. At a plant sale the other day, all the seller had to say as I eyed an unfamiliar yellow-flowered Clematis was, “A customer told me he was growing those up his winterberry hollies.” I was sold. Give me some of those…and those, and those, too.

I’ve told you how to do this before with various shrubs, to get two seasons of interest from the same space: with Clematis, and also the oddball called Codonopsis.

After seeing Brushwood Nursery’s selection of vines at the Trade Secrets show last Saturday near me (just a few of the astonishing 400 or so in the online catalog), I’d have to say proprietor Dan Long has something for every shrub, and then some. Wow. Though I had already added four or five new clematis to the garden the last two weeks, I bought five more from Brushwood’s booth, good-sized plants for very fair prices, and tomorrow they will get their homes here.

And then I went back to my place and emailed the very best gardener that I know, the expert among all experts, about Brushwood. I gave him some links to various departments on their site (knowing his tastes in plants just a little, tee hee). And here came the email reply:

“Wow. That’s some list. I want to try everything. How is it that we haven’t known about this???”

My sentiments, exactly. But now we do. So many shrubs (and even trees), so many possibilities (including ‘Polish Spirit’ up and over Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Crippsii,’ below).

Categoriestrees & shrubs vinesTagsclematis

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