On first inspection, two clematis come to mind that it might be--Niobe or Sunset. In my zone and garden, Sunset is the first of the two to bloom and both are treated like type 3 as far as pruning goes. However, the color on yours leads me to think that it could be Niobe. The color of clematis can be affected however based on the light the clematis is photographed in and the affect of sun on the blooms. Do you have a picture of the backside of the clematis? Sunset has a distinctive pattern of white down the middle of the tepals that could either rule it out or in as being the correct clematis?

Here is a photo of the backside of a Sunset bloom. If yours doesn't look like this, then I would go with Niobe for the ID.

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Looks like Niobe to me also, mine just started blooming today - it's in a fairly shady area though, so maybe that's why mine is a bit later than yours...

Thank you so much for responding. Here is the backside of the flower. Not as clearly white as yours but -
http://i1.net/~argosy/photos/clematis1.jpg

I bet Niobe based on your picture. The one I took a picture of is a recently opened flower hence the green and larger white midrib area than in your picture.

I bet Niobe based on your picture. The one I took a picture of is a recently opened flower hence the green and larger white midrib area than in your picture.

Niobe is dark red, a scarlet color bloom.
If possible, can you e-mail me a photo of your bloom.
A solution to your problem, is go to the Lowes and see what clematis they were selling. They only sell a small amount of varieties. Also you can go to the website of the British Clematis Society ( I was a menber for approx 5 years) or the American Clematis society, located in california.
I have several clematis reference books that I bought on my trips to England. Perhpas I can help you if needed.

Mrs gardner, as you know if you were a member of any clematis society, any clematis can show up a variety of colors depending on the light situation it was grown in(full sun, partial sun, part shade,etc. as well as the latitude of the location the plant was grown in), the age of the blooms, the soil conditions, the nutrition it gets, the camera and lighting used to photograph the picture, and the age of the plant. The color of flowers grown in England can be grossly different than those same plants grown anywhere in the US except perhaps the pacific northwest which is as close to mimicking the conditions in England as anywhere here in the state. Going on flower color alone is generally not a good way to establish the identity of any clematis.

The physical description of flower colors is also a notoriously bad way to identify colors since everybody's interpretation of colors is different. The best way to id colors is to use a color wheel that is standardized and everyone ides the colors based on that wheel. There are however even problems doing it that way since the colors on the wheel can turn as they age and based on ultraviolet light exposure, not everyone has access to them, and the other factors that can go into affecting clematis color outlined previously.

Excellent response, Miguel :-) In a quest for a true, dark red clematis, I tested out a number of plants including Niobe, Julia Correvon, Rouge Cardinal, Sunset, and Ville de Lyon and none of them came close to published photo colors or to the hue I was looking for. Various factors will influence flower color to varying degrees. Lateharvest, whatever it is, the color is stunning. If Niobe, I only wish mine would provide as intense a coloration as yours does. Mine is budded but not yet blooming - too cold an early spring here and even yet, not very warm.

Excuse me for responding to this question. I can read that I was not helpful in anyway. Declared experts carry on................

MrsGardener, I stand by my assertion that clematis should not be identified based on color alone and that using pictures of clematis grown in England will not give you a true indication of the color of a clematis since the climate and growing conditions are so different from what we experience.

Your initial color description for Niobe was "dark red, a scarlet color bloom.

Following are a variety of the other color descriptions I can come up with for Niobe from various sources.

COTW--very deep red, almost black when they first open.

Joy Creek-dark velvety red sepals.

Chalk Hill--Dark, velvety, ruby red

Toomey and Leeds Encyclopedia--juvenile flowers are velvety,ruby reddish black tepals, that fades to a deep wine red.

Each and every one of them is different and open to interpretation by anyone reading them. What is ruby red to them may not be to me or someone else.

Gardengal, meant to say that you can have some of our weather. 70 on Saturday, 80 on Sunday, 87 on Monday, and 92 on Tuesday. This is after already hitting the mid to upper 80s a couple of weeks ago, only to be followed by three nights where the temps were in the mid 20s to 30. What a year weatherwise so far!

Beautiful bloom- looks just like my Niobe and mine has 1 bloom right now (only bought it last yr.). Brandy

Thank you all for your help. Niobe it is. We all need names, even plants, especially those who need correct pruning. I did go to Lowe's with hopes of finding
another similar clematis. No luck, but a very good idea mrsgardener. Thank you again to each of you. I am indeed a "lateharvest". Having fellow gardeners to connect to has
renewed my gardening interest.

Did you go back and ask the Experts at the store what variety it is? Later Gianty.

Experts at Lowes or Home Depots? You must live in a different world than I do. Most of the people working in the garden centers at the big box stores around here wouldn't know the difference between an annual and a perennial. I am sure there are some knowledgeable people who work in those stores, but I have yet to find one.

Last year, my Niobe had dark, dark red blooms without any hint of mauve or purple.

Yours looks identical to my first bloom this year, picture taken Monday or Tuesday.

Gary

Here is a link that might be useful: Niobe

Here is my first bloom on Niobe also which tends to resemble the almost black red coloration. This was prior to the flower being exposed to much direct sunlight also.

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Hello everyone. I'm a new guy on the block. I just purchased two clematis from Lowes and don't know much about them. One is a niobe, if not both. I didn't see a tag on the other when I got it home. How do I prune a type three, and is it typical to loose a few peddles when first planting?