Clematis tome an exquisite journey> Simple approach helpful to novices

CLEMATIS FOR ALL SEASONS, by John Feltwell, Firefly Books, 1999, 128 pages, paperback, $19.95.

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then “Clematis for All Seasons” is a sight to behold.

The cover, with its dazzling shades of fuchsia, yields the first hint, but you can’t judge a book …

You can, however, judge it on the exquisite journey into the world of clematis, a buttercup relative with enough colors and forms to warrant a book devoted solely to this “queen of vines.”

Author John Feltwell takes a simple approach to what could be a complex subject, given there are about 700 commonly listed clematis that have sprung from about 120 basic varieties.

For the most part, Feltwell dissects his subject in such a manner that even novice gardeners won’t feel intimidated. My only frustration — and it was minor — was to an oft-used abbreviation in the nomenclature: A.G.M. I hunted several times through the first sections to find out what this meant, only to discover it on nearly the last page of the book. A.G.M. stands for Award of Garden Merit, a designation used by the British Horticultural Society as a sign of the plant’s outstanding qualities. (The book was first published in Great Britain, which may explain this and a few other British connections.)

After an introduction that includes everything from breeding to seed pods resembling well-groomed rag mops, the book breaks down the clematis universe into a few major galaxies. The starry glow of Clematis alpina leads to the eye-popping dimensions of the large-flowered hybrids with their literally dinner plate-sized blooms. Then there is the apple-blossom simplicity of the C. montana varieties, which give elegant new meaning. The C. texensis selections blossom into a display reminiscent of lily-flowering tulips, while the nodding heads of C. viticella look like bells just waiting for a breeze.

Feltwell defines these incredible plants through phenomenal photographs, more than 300 throughout the book. The pictures are more than useful in the “Clematis by Color” chapter, where the author begins with the whites and creams before sliding through the rainbow of hues from sunny yellows to lush purples and blues.

Ideas for clematis placement abound in “Clematis for the Place,” which walks us from pillar to post. The book ends with a chapter on the basics for growing clematis and offers a list of more than 400 worthy clematis varieties, most of which, Feltwell writes, are hardy to 10 below to 50 below zero.

That makes me shiver with delight.

Janine Pineo is a copy editor and gardening columnist at the NEWS.