Happy Tuesday, Friends! How are your holiday preparations coming along? I realized yesterday that it was only 10 days until Christmas and just about had a heart attack. Totally not ready. But I’m still enjoying decorating the house and all the holly-jolly that goes on around here. In our neck of the woods, it’s been grey day after grey day and the snow we got at the beginning of the month has long since melted. I’m hoping for a white Christmas this year, so Mother Nature if you’re listening…
Even without looking at the calendar, I could tell you what time of year it is just by the number of gardening and seed catalogs now flooding my mailbox. Recently, one arrived with a gorgeous Clematis on the cover and it inspired this post. You see, I realized recently that our garden was sorely lacking in the Clematis department–for no good reason–and a handful were added last spring. A few of them got wilt, and although they did bounce back they did not flower. Some, though, looked wonderful, and although I probably won’t be in this garden for much longer, they will definitely be grown again in future. Let’s take a look!
First up, is Huldine, a large-flowered late-bloomer in a pretty shade of white (sometimes with pinkish accents.) Huldine can get massive. Remember this post? Although ours was set back from the wilt, it did bloom a tiny bit. I can’t wait for it to look like this…
On the opposite of the size-spectrum, we added a container-sized cultivar called Fleuri which only grows to a few feet! She was slow-growing, but a reliable bloomer. Those vibrant purplish blossoms! So pretty.
Sometimes Clematis take a couple of seasons to really hit their stride. Such was the case for Niobe, now a prolific bloomer. Niobe is categorized as a “red” Clematis, but I just don’t see it.
Doesn’t that look more purple to you?
True, her flowers do start out as a deep wine color…
But as they mature, they look like this…
My favorite Clematis of those added last spring has to be, without a doubt, Venosa Violacea. This Clematis is a traffic-stopper to be sure. It grew to about 7 feet in just a couple of months and bloomed for weeks and weeks. Let’s have a little Venosa eye-candy, shall we?
Not bad, eh?
It’s going to be difficult restraining myself when it comes time to order Clematis for future garden, but they really do make a garden feel complete, don’t you agree?
Beautiful! I have a marvelous ‘Josephine’ that I got on clearance one day. Its flowers are huge and have a sort of pom-pon in the middle that remains after the outer petals fall off. That Venosa sure is striking!
What’s that pink rose in the background? I have one that looks almost like it except the blossoms aren’t always double. Smells like pepper.
I wasn’t familiar with Josephine so I just looked it up…what a striking flower it has! Don’t you just love picking up those clearance plants? Some of my best performers cost me just a few bucks. Speaking of which, that rose you asked about was a clearance, and although it was unlabeled, I’m fairly certain it is Flower Carpet Pink Supreme.
I agree – Clematis are fantastic. I keep reading how adding vertical elements are important in the garden. We added a Comtesse de Bouchard, several Polish Spirit, Duchesse de Albany and General Sikorski this year – loved them all. Thanks for this post – it was encouraging to see some early summer flowers right now.
Thanks Cole! It’s photos like these that keep me sane in winter. 😉
Love your Clematis choices. Comtesse de Bouchard was one I hadn’t heard of before so I just looked it up. Are her petals truly that lavender in person? Lovely!
Have you seen this post on Polish Spirit I wrote a ways back? They have several of them at the Arboretum near my house that I drool over every year.
Yes – actually your post on Polish Spirit was very helpful when we were trying to decided which ones to try. I always appreciate your posts because I’m able to see more of the true coloring of the flowers. It’s hard to tell on the internet what color things are! In regards to Comtesse, in my climate there is more light pink than lavender in the coloring. It’s a beautiful clematis that looks great with roses! I have it paired with my 2 Madame Hardy roses.
That makes me so happy that these posts have been helpful to you. And thank you for getting back to me about Comtesse! Sounds like a perfect pairing with Mme Hardy. 🙂
Oooh, just the kind of eye candy I needed today. I have no clematis in my garden now. Might have to rectify that, even if we’re not staying longterm. All of these varieties are so lovely.
Glad you enjoyed! I should have mentioned that I purchased my most recent Clematis additions from Bluestone Perennials and I bought some of them on sale so really didn’t break the bank. 🙂