I have mildly acid soil [as yet untested professionally but testing mildly acid in off-the-shelf testing kits] where most of my townhouse plantings are going, the majority are rhododendrons/azaleas, heathers and dwarf conifers, and several deciduous flowering shrubs, groundcovers, a shrub rose, hardy fuchsia and a few potentilla. The mornings are shady and the late noontimes to late afternoon sunny on the western aspect, dappled sunlight on the eastern side. I would like to train a clematis up and around a birdbath standing in it, or over one of the shrubs, but have read that they are lime-loving plants and I don't like to disturb the pH balance already successfully growing acid-loving plants. Would any particular variety of clematis succeed?
Clematis do well here on the Island. The acidity doesn't seem to bother them, the reccomendations are for an ideal setting but, in reality, if it works go for it.
That's good, I don't want to add lime in my small acid-soil planted garden. There are a lot of varieties available right now in the nurseries suddenly -- a wonderful number of choices. However, I never see them in the gardens I can see from the street, I suppose they are hidden away in back gardens and where they can reach into some sun.
You could add crushed egg shells to the base of your clem. Clematis armandii would take over your site...
