I wouldn't think if you purchased Carnaby that it would have blooms other than what you would expect from Carnaby. There is no telling how the clematis was treated prior to purchasing it that could have caused the bleaching out of the color of the sepals. You could also have a purchased a plant that actually had two different plants in the pot. Plant it and let your experiences tell you what to expect in the future.

The Carnabys that I saw for sale at Lowes had very bleached out flowers, too.

Carnaby fades fast in the sun. I read that after I bought mine so I put it in a container (half a wine barrel) under a dense spruce tree where it gets only a little sun late in the day. It does well there and does not fade. I had to use a container because of the tree roots. If the plant you bought had a lot of direct sun it probably bleached the blooms white.
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Bob!!..JUST GORGEOUS!!...Jeanne

Thanks Jeanne. I like all my clematis but am partial to carnaby because it brightens a shady part of my garden.

It's nice to see that it does so well in shade. I moved mine a few weeks ago into dappled shade, and I'm hoping that in a year or two it looks as nice as yours.

Can I ask what it is climbing on?

Bob that is a gorgeous Clemmie!

Well, it was in more shade than sun when I bought it and it is in full sun now but who knows...It could have been in full sun before. All of the blooms were BRIGHT white. I thought it was just mismarked with the wrong name but when I planted it the blooms opened to what a carnaby would look like. I was just wondering if it actually bloomed with 2 different flowers.I wish the white flowers hadn't died, I could take a pic. Guess now only time will tell if I see another white bloom...just thought ti was strange. Glad it returned to pink though looking at your pics Jeanne

When that picture was made I had 3 metal plant stakes (7 ft.) arranged in a triangle. After it finished blooming I cut it all the way back and anchored 2 of the stakes against the side of the barrel and put plastic coated fencing between them.

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Now it looks like this:

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I see in your pic of Carnaby that the stems on the pic that you had cut down are nearly devoid of leaves. I did this last year on 3 of mine and never saw them since. I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong. I have 5 more that are nearly naked at the bottom, and I'd like to try again, but I'm afraid to. Do you give them any special care when you cut down this severely? I didn't get them cut back this spring as I had to spend a lot of time in the hospital.

Fertilize them and they may surprise you and sprout.

That's all I do fertilize them with rose fertilizer and keep them watered - I have to do that because in our area of California there is no rain between The end of April and usually sometime in October. I use a drip system on a timer to keep my clematis and roses watered.

here was a pic I posted of my Carnaby a couple years ago...It was a normal colour the first year, then the first bloom the 2nd year was white with each bloom after being normal...It was just trying to trick me

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Sorry Bob...those were your beautiful pics....Nice. Yeah Josey.....that's what they looked like....but even whiter...crazy....I kinda like it though

the first bloom had started to deteriorate when the second ones came out...the first one started out much whiter

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