In a shady spot behind a funky plastic greenhouse, Cindy Tibbetts of Hummingbird Farm is delivering a baby. "I'm a little nervous," she confesses as she contemplates cutting the umbilical cord.

The mother and baby in question are clematis, specifically C. 'Silver Moon', the Nicole Kidman of the clematis world. Hardy and blessed with a long flowering season, 'Silver Moon' loves shade, where its large, shimmering mother-of-pearl lavender blossoms are at their pale, elegant best.

A year ago, Tibbetts started the gestation by inducing a shoot from the mother plant to root while still attached.Layered into a container later buried in the earth alongside mom, the baby will ideally develop a substantial root ball. Tibbetts carefully digs the container from the ground. The root ball is so large that orange roots have escaped the pot, and she struggles to extract it.

Tibbetts, a small round woman who looks far younger than her forty-nine years, breathes a sigh of relief, and cuts the cord.

"Look, it's wilting already," teases her husband, Brian, as he looks on.

"Oh, shut up," she says, affectionately.

The healthy new arrival will join the more than seventy-five varieties of clematis the couple stock at their nursery, located in "beautiful downtown North Turner," as it's always referred to in their lively online newsletter. Not exactly downtown and not exactly a farm, Hummingbird Farm occupies a rural neighborhood lot that Brian, a robust man with a long ponytail who works at Hebron Academy, cheerfully describes as "forty acres of rocks." Three greenhouses and a rustic sales shed are perched at the top of a steep driveway, but what Hummingbird Farm lacks in size, it more than makes up for in selection and customer service.

In addition to the many unusual varieties of clematis, they also sell hard-to-find annuals like pelargoniums (geraniums), brugmansia, peonies, roses, and herbs. Since the Tibbettses don't sell by mail order — and don't plan to in the near future — the only way to buy is by traveling to North Turner. And it is a good idea to come early in the season, since the newer and more sought-after clematis varieties, like the purple-flushed pink 'Kilian Donahue', a precocious adolescent that sprouts buds at only three inches tall, can sell out quickly. Many are available nowhere else in northern New England.

The first family member to greet you is Curtis the Wonder Dog, newsletter fixture and farm mascot, a springer spaniel-golden retriever mix with a wicked case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Then there's the rescued beagle, Roscoe, who struggles with approach-avoidance issues. There are also five cats, all apparently complex-free except the one named Abnormal, and the uncomplicated pairs of ruby-throated hummingbirds that flit through the annuals' greenhouse. But the stars of the family show are undoubtedly the clematis, virtually all of whom Cindy Tibbetts refers to as "she." A magnificent rich claret red 'Madame Julia Correvon', twines around the farm sign and rows of one- and two-year vines in pots line the greenhouses. Asked to name her favorite, Tibbetts protests, only half-kidding, "That's like asking which of my children do I love the best!"

Clematis inspire passionate emotional attachment because they offer a lot to love — more than two hundred species, in thousands of named varieties and countless different hues. Some are destined to be only six inches tall, others stretch to forty feet, and flowers can measure anywhere from a half-inch to seven inches in diameter. Clematis can provide exuberant, colorful blooms for weeks on end. And they play well with others. As Linda Beutler says in Gardening with Clematis, exaggerating only slightly, "All shrubs and trees were put on the planet to support and enhance clematis." The Queen of Climbers can be married with roses and dispatched up tree trunks, used to cover a dull wall or brighten a signpost. They live to run, and will find their way to light.

Part of their mystique derives from their somewhat slow growth. As the saying goes, the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, and the third year they leap. Tibbetts reassures her customers, many of whom are women like herself in their forties and fifties. "It takes wisdom and maturity to grow clematis," she explains. "You have to allow for growth and accept that it will take a while."

Maintaining that longevity means preventing wilt, a fungal disease. Although neither contagious nor fatal, it can cause clematis to blacken overnight. The treatment — amputation below the affected area — can be heartbreaking for many gardeners who would rather be poked in the eye by a sharp stick than have to use clippers on their baby. Fortunately, "it's a childhood disease," explains Tibbetts. "If a clematis survives its early years, it's not likely to be subject to wilt." The Tibbettses take evasive action, for the most part stocking resistant viticellas and texensis species. A clear advantage of clematis for Maine gardeners, however, is that deer and slugs find them unappetizing.

Seated on a sunny deck outside the main greenhouse, the Tibbettses banter about how they got into the clematis business. "You could say it's all Brian's fault," declares Cindy. He came home one morning a hundred dollars poorer, accompanied by a ten-by-twenty-foot plastic greenhouse purchased at a yard sale. Cindy, a New Gloucester native with a degree in animal science from the University of Maine at Orono, was by then a stay-at-home mother, following a stint where both Tibbettses worked at a local dairy after moving to Turner in 1979. To offset the loss in income, the couple grew their own vegetables, and the greenhouse offered a way to extend the season. Tomatoes came first, and an oversupply of tomato seedlings one year led to a yard sale at the bottom of their driveway, which inspired the home business. "I'd always been interested in genetic diversity," says Tibbetts, " and growing tomatoes woke up that part of my brain." The amazing genetic diversity of clematis captured her imagination next. "After I'd murdered a couple myself, I thought maybe I needed to learn something about them." Hummingbird Farm, a boutique business with clematis as its passion, opened in 1997.

Like most autodidacts, Tibbetts is eager to share her knowledge. From the beginning, "People came with questions," she says, so a big part of what Hummingbird Farm offers is cultivation information and advice. The couple believe that one-on-one contact with customers is important, and besides, they say, "We enjoy it." Their monthly newsletter, studded with links to other sites, cultivation advice, photographs of the plants they stock and what's blooming, upcoming events (like Moonlight Madness, an evening featuring music, white flowers, and fragrant plants), farm news, and gardening jokes, is an electronic version of their infectious enthusiasm. Staunchly independent, they don't profit from their links and don't sell their subscriber list. "Because we're self-employed, we can be as cranky and opinionated as we want on our site," says Brian, a native of Cumberland.

They are continually searching out new suppliers and winter-hardy varieties adapted to Maine's climate. A recent discovery is Kivistik, an Estonian grower who breeds from native Russian plant stock. Since Estonia is even colder than Maine, Cindy points out, the plants probably think they're in the tropics when they awaken in North Turner. "Or at least in Boston," Brian adds. Of course, they also stock varieties developed by Raymond Evison, the world-famous English breeder.

Cindy is the day-to-day person, Brian is the visionary, they say. Future plans include another greenhouse and possibly a year-round structure offering coffee and showcasing Brian's beloved brugmansias. Whatever happens, it's sure to be interesting — and fun.

Hummingbird Farm's Guide to Success with Clematis

Pick a suitable variety Varieties with viticella and texensis genes prosper in Maine, as do most large flowered hybrids and the species C. integrifolia. Avoid 'Montana' groups and anything with 'Florida' in its name, as they dislike the cold.

Plant it well Dig a hole the size of a bushel basket, and mix the removed soil with ten pounds of good quality compost, adding a handful of bonemeal. Replace the amended soil in the hole and dig a hole big enough to hold the root ball. Fill it with water and let it drain. Place the root ball in the hole, making sure to bury it two to three inches deeper than it was planted in its pot. Fill around it with the removed soil mixture, and water again. Clematis thrive in well-drained, fertile soil.

Remember Maintenance Clematis roots need to be kept cool and moist, either by mulching with organic matter or by planting low-growing perennials around the base of the vine. Keep the plant well-watered for the first summer, at least an inch of water each week. In the early spring, scratch a cup of Rose Tone (an organic rose food by Espoma) into the surface of the soil around the clematis, and spread compost around the base of the plant, making sure to stay clear of the vines themselves. Do not fertilize once the plant begins to flower, and do not add fertilizer in the fall.

Know When to Prune There are three pruning groups: "No Prune," "Moderate Prune," and "Hard Prune." Plants should be pruned in early spring. Different varieties require more or less pruning, and the plant tag will say to which group a plant belongs. If you've lost the tag, consult the Hummingbird Farm Web site, or Clematis on the Web (www.clematis.hull. ac.uk). If you have lost the tag and don't know the name, some rules of thumb apply. No Prune clematis all bloom early (May in northern New England) and often have downward-facing, bell-shaped flowers. Clematis that bloom later, from June on in Maine, are either Moderate or Hard Prune. All Moderate Prune clematis have the traditionally shaped flowers, and include most bi-colored clematis. If you're still unsure, the best approach is to prune it moderately, cutting it back halfway, then watch it carefully the next summer. A Moderate Prune plant will bloom both on the old wood and on the new growth. If it blooms only on new growth, mostly at the top of the plant, it is a Hard Prune clematis and should be cut way back. Remember, say the Tibbettses, "Nobody ever killed a clematis by making a mistake pruning. The worst you can do is interrupt blooming for a season."

Foolproof varieties To make Hummingbird Farm's "can't go wrong" list, a plant must be Hard Prune (for ease of care and disease resistance); have some bloom the first year, good growth, and significant bloom the second year (to encourage the gardener); and be hardy at least to zone 4: 'Alba Luxurians', 'Alionushka', 'Arabella', 'Hagley Hybrid', 'Jackmanii', 'Madame Julia Correvon', 'Polish Spirit', 'Prince Charles', 'Roguchi', 'Violet Star Gazer'. rebecca martin evarts