For sheer beauty and colour, it's hard to beat the varieties of clematis on offer. From early spring there's a cultivar to suit every nook in the garden - just be sure you know what you are planting!

You can't help but admire the flamboyant swathes of pink and white clematis that festoon trellises, house fronts and telegraph wires at this time of year.

Clematis montana is one of the most energetic and floriferous of the small-flowered clematis, capable of reaching nearly 50 feet in height in a very short space of time. Its blossoms are especially welcome in early spring, when many other climbing plants have not even begun to think about flowering.

Clematis montana is a native of China and the Himalayas - the species has single, white flowers, a couple of inches across, with creamy yellow anthers. There are several cultivated varieties, the one we are most familiar with is Clematis montana Tetrarose', which has slightly larger, pink flowers with yellow stamens.

Not everyone has the space to grow one of these beautiful but energetic climbers. Although they can be controlled by hard pruning after the flowers have faded, it might be better to plant something less rampant in the first place.

There are two other species of spring flowering clematis which are much less vigorous but just as pretty - Clematis alpina and Clematis macropetala. The first is a European native, which produces a crop of single, bell-shaped flowers each spring. The petals are deep blue with white centres, the flowers are followed by fluffy seed heads in autumn. As ever with clematis there are several cultivars, including C. alpina Constance', which has semi double, deep pink flowers, and C. alpina Pamela Jackman' which has deep blue flowers with blue and cream anthers.

Clematis macropetala comes originally from Russia and China. It has the most charming semi-double flowers, formed from four outer petals with several smaller, petaloid stamens inside. The species is violet-blue and cream, and there are cultivars such as C. macropetala White Swan' and Rosy O'Grady' in white and pink respectively.

Neither Clematis alpina nor C. macropetala needs much pruning and, since they flower on the previous season's growth, any tidying' should be done in early summer, as soon as flowering has finished. Both will eventually reach to a height of between six and ten feet, quite manageable for even the smallest garden.

We have two of these early flowering clematis in our garden, which we bought from a cut-price supplier about 18 months ago, and which are flowering profusely for the first time this spring. One is supposed to be C. alpina Frankie', the other C. macropetala Markham's Pink'. Unfortunately, as I began photographing them and researching this article I realised that neither is what it is supposed to be! If anyone can help me out by supplying the correct names I would be most grateful

Jobs for this week:

Clip over lavender bushes again this month. Cutting right down to the old wood will help to prevent the bushes dying out in the centre.

Lower the height of cut on the mower after the first few cuts. Don't be tempted to cut too low though; if the weather turns dry, shorter cut lawns will quickly turn brown.

If you have a greenhouse or conservatory, plant up hanging baskets now for a head start. Keep them indoors at night until the end of the month.