It will cling to the wire and the rest of possible support, including the rack frame. From my experience with clems, they usually looking for vertical support and grow vertically much faster, when it is found. You can cut those shoots growing in the wrong direction. BTW, what is the size of your rack? By looking at the picture I would say it is quite small for Jackmanii. When established it can grow shoots of 3-4 m long in one season. It will swallow the rack in no time.

I agree. Trying to keep it controlled is almost a daily job.




It easily passes 12' here.

I am worried that it will grow out (south) facing the sun and not want to cling to the trellis which will be behind in (north side of the vine). I have bad luck w clems and my mom grows this one w success so I thought I'd try it.

What problems do you have with your clems? May be we can help?
About Jackmanii - clems looking for vertical support first. This is in their nature. Those shoots that have support grow much longer and stronger. Than they start to build up mass using its own stems as a support. Your Jakcmanii will cling everywhere and spill out of your structure. Probably, not in the first year but in the fifth for sure. Is it what you want?

As long as they are in indirect light to full sun part of the day and the root system in always in shade it will do fine. Similar to mine.

This clematis is trained on fence wire and curved in a arch position on the left . I can't climb up on laddders anymore. It was up above with the wisteria originally. They bloom at the some time. It needs at least 6 to 8 hours of indirect light .
Good luck. It's a great idea. It will look lovely in a season or 2.

Fantastic arrangement of plants, Bea. Your photos are jaw dropping.

FrillyIilly: I do, sometimes, have problems with brown leaves. The whole plant slowly becomes brown and crispy. In my case it happens if I don't water them enough (usually pots) or they catch powdery mildew. Especially, Rebecca likes this trick. Solution - after flowering I cut it. I leave about one third and later have another nice flash of flowers and green leaves. If I don't cut, I have brown ugliness and no flowers.
Clems and scissors are good friends!
Bea: love you pictures!

Here it blooms late May and again (more sparsely) in September. Cutting clem's back is one way to get a second flush when we can enjoy the beauty again.

It is really depends on the way you treat your Jackmanii. If you leave the stems in the spring it will flower faster, like group 2. Your flowers will be higher. If you cut it in early spring to 1 foot (group 3), it will flower later June/July and flowers will be lower. Linda Beutler recommends to cut only half the length in late winter for May flowers and then cut again and fertilize to get more flowers in 45 days.

If you want clematis to stay you can try alpinas or macropetalia. They flower in April. Then they from pretty seed heads. I also grow Nelly Moser (group 2). I never cut it for 10 years. Nelly Moser is a sister of Jackmanii in popularity. The only problem I see that you have to look through you window at a tangled mess of stems all winter long.