or Durand’s clematis
Unlike its well known climbing cousins, this gorgeous perennial is one of a small percentage of the many species/cultivars of clematis that are non-twining: rather, they are scramblers. With a little ‘help’ they may reach two metres but they do have a mind of their own and I prefer to see them wander about through a lowish open shrub or through a border. I’ve not tried it but I imagine they’d look terrific draped over an old tree stump or even flowing over a retaining wall.
I don’t want to get too bogged down in a conversation about colour but to my mind C x durandii genuinely falls into the blue bracket (apologies for the misrepresentation in my photograph) rather than the purple group. Its flowers are quite unmistakeable – 15cm across and a superb rich blue with interesting grooves along each sepal (of which there may be 4-6) and a central cluster of contrasting golden stamens. The flowers are produced unstintingly through the summer months, also having long stems which makes them good cutting subjects.
In a nutshell, this is a very hardy clematis that is easy to grow, and for me, has never succumbed to any pests or diseases. In pruning terms, it is in Group 3 – the easy one! Just cut it hard down to 30 cm, to a green shoot, in February.
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