The rule of thumb for clematis, no matter where you get them, is first year sleep, second year creep and third year leap. You get some growth the first year but it's best to pinch the tips of the vines back to encourage root development and get a bushier plant.
You can get larger plants elsewhere but I've been happy with the ones I got from Brushwood and the shipping is reasonable partly because they are not as large as some.

The clematis that I have received from Brushwood have come in one quart pots that are very well filled with roots. For me, these have always taken off pretty fast. Even so, I expect to get more vines and therefore more blooms after a year or two in the ground. I have found that the photos Brushwood shows on their website are very accurate in what you can expect to receive from them.

Here is a link that might be useful: size of plants from Brushwood

Thank you both for the feedback.

Julia

Hi, I just place an order with Brushwood Nursery today, after having ordered from them last year. Last fall, I was very pleased with how healthy the vines and root system looked on the clematis from them. I think you will be well pleased if you order from them.

I ordered the following clematis from them today:

Abundance
Ashva
Cicciolina
Gravetye Beauty
Forever Friends
Happy Birthday
Luther Burbank
Madame Le Coultre
Romantika
Royal Velours
Veronica's Choice

Needless to say, I'm very anxious for spring!

Here is a link that might be useful: Brushwood Nursery

Wow, nice selection. I appreciate your vote of confidence in Brushwood.

The ones I want are Huldine, Madame Julia Correvon and Perle d'Azur to start. They appear to be tall ones so hopefully they will in the future get to their full height potential.

Looking for a couple of shorter ones too like MultiBlue.

I saw the pic posted here on the forum of Nelly Moser so I'm debating on that one as it looks to grow pretty tall.

It is snowing here again today so spring is still pretty far off for us.

Julia

I got some in the fall of 2009 from them and as plantloverkat noted, the photos on the website look about right and the pots were well-filled with roots. Despite last year not being an ideal growing season and I was gone for work much of the summer, they grew quite well last season and were healthy, though not their full size, as expected. I would definitely buy from them again, have placed an order for this spring.

Thank you for the feedback nhbabs. I've almost completed my list but still swaying back and forth on a few. Just too many to choose from : - ).

Julia