Clematis: the next GENERATION

This year’s seen a bumper crop of brand new clematis varieties – and they’re all available to buy right now

Known as the ‘Queen of Climbers’, clematis are true superstars of the plant world. Their spindly brown stems somehow produce a range of gorgeous flowers, from tiny nodding bells to large showy blooms, in colours ranging from darkest blue and purple to pink, red, cream, yellow and even pale green.

October is a good time to plant them, as the soil is likely to be moist but still warm enough to help the clematis roots get well established. There are many hundreds of different clematis available, whether you want a plant that will scramble up a small arch, romp along a large expanse of wall, climb through a tree or disguise an ugly shed. There are even ground- cover clematis that you can weave in among perennials in your borders. And if you choose your clematis carefully, you can have a succession flowering right through the year, even in the depths of winter.

Clematis breeders are constantly trying to come up with exciting new varieties, and 2016 saw a good crop of introductions. The prize for the most high-profile one must go to Clematis koreana ‘Amber’, which won this year’s Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year. Launched by Taylors Clematis of Doncaster, it has soft yellow nodding flowers, sometimes tinged with pink, which will appear over a long period, from early to mid-summer and again into autumn. The plant is suitable for a container or planting in the ground. Legendary Guernsey- based breeder Raymond Evison also launched two striking clematis at Chelsea. ‘Tekla’ has reddish-pink flowers and is a good choice for a small or mediumsized garden, flowering in late spring and again in autumn, while pale pink ‘Volunteer’ (pictured below) is particularly well suited for growing in a container. It blooms early to mid-summer, with another flush in autumn.

Thorncroft Clematis in Norfolk pre- sented three new varieties at Chelsea. The eye- catching ‘Picotee’ has large flowers which are white at the centre with a bright cerise edge, and it will flower on and off from May to September. ‘Super Nova’ has two-tone flowers of purple and white which are slightly ruff led. The flowers are produced between the months of June and September. And ‘Rosalyn’ is a Clematis viticella with spiky, multi-layered flowers of an attractive plum colour which appear from June until autumn.

Clockwise from far left: ‘Amber’, ‘Tekla’. ‘Picotee’, ‘Super Nova’ and ‘Rosalyn’