Oooh fabulous!!! Love each and every one. Sigh, I NEED to get more clematis plants, the blooms are so awesome. What a beautiful yard, pics - thanks for sharing.

I'm always curious about how they are staked up, I know a lot of people make their own, wish I was crafty with a hammer, (sad face) and could make something to get my clematis off the ground, to be more showy.

Your clems look great, you have a lovely garden. I can't imagine growing Polish Spirit and Betty Corning on the same trellis!

Love your Betty Corning. She's on the top of my want list.

Joan

Joan --Betty Corning is worthy of everyone's want list. It has been a super grower for me. In fact, I think it's one of the reasons I finally caught the Clematis bug. Until then my experience had been with Type 2s that wilt.

sachow --Had I known how robust Betty Corning and Polish Spirit both are before I planted I may have separated them. They seem to do fine however and haven't toppled the obelisk --yet! I'm greedy though and like to pair my clematis whenever I can so I get double the fun when the bloom.

Gardengirl, love your pictures. Your plant combos are terrific looking. I especially like your Juuli with the geraniums.

What is the structure to the right side in your pictures of Petit Faucon? Looks like some hypertufa structure.

so glad you posted these photos. I was surprised to see mikelite (i did not know it) looking so much the color of niobe. i have MULTIPLE niobes because i couldn't find others w/ her coloring. how would you describe the diff. between niobe and mikelite in coloring and habit?

also, are you letting pet. f. ramble on its own? if so, how does that work for you? Much to my surprise,i have found clematis to be very hurtful of my conifers( blocking adequate sunlight and causing big holes); even the viticellas- which is mostly what I grow. so i've reverted to obelisks and growing a few over deciduous shrubs. how about you?
thanks much,
Mindy

Miguel, the structure next to petit faucon is a birdbath, which I believe is made of granite. It is extremely heavy, even though some of the center of the base has been cored out. Here are a couple of photos from previous years that show more detail of the bird bath.

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Mindy, I don't own Niobe so I'm afraid I can't comment on how they compare. I believe Miguel has both so maybe he will be able to answer. Mikelite to me is very dark purple red. I guess I always thought Niobe was a truer red but I've never seen it in person.

I let Petite Faucon and my other integrifolias ramble among my perennials or into deciduous shrubs. I have tried keeping things off conifers for 2 reasons. (1) I am afraid of what you describe. My sweet autumn clematis killed off some of the back section of one of my arborvitae screen when it left its fence planting and latched on to the arborvitae. (2) Most of the conifers are my husband's picks and he would be highly p.o'd if I let a clematis damage one of his babies! :) Mikelite is grabbing onto the back of the arborvitae but only a little so I haven't been too worried but I will keep an eye on it.

Gardengirl, I love that birdbath. It is great looking in your garden.

Will try and get some pictures of Niobe and Mikelite together so you can see the color and size differences but I am not sure how large the flowers on Mikelite might actually get since it was just planted last fall and the flowers are probably not true to size yet.

I have Juuli and Pamiat Serdtsa growing over Blue Pacific junipers and have Duchess of Albany growing over an Otto van Luyken laurel and haven't had any issues with them causing issues on the "carrier plants". Maybe there is some variation depending on the type of evergreen plant clematis are grown on.

To me these two clematis are totally different colorwise. Niobe starts out as a red-black and lightens up to more of a deep burgundy. Mikelite is dark magenta with a lighter reddish purple bar. Here are two shots of the clematis flowers side by side, one photo with flash on and the other with it off.

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Awesome. I love it when you post those shots. Again, it's very generous of you and so helpful.

Love the photos Miguel. That is a great representation of the color of Mikelite. Now I know that I must add Niobe to my list if it is a group 3! :) I would say the blooms on Mikelite are similar in size to Polish Spirit for me.

Glad to be of help.

Very pretty...I too also love your Birdbath...Glad to see your pics of "Perrin's Pride"..I planted two of those this past Spring..and look forward to them looking like yours one day..thanks for sharing...Jeanne

Lovely! And I, too, love your granite birdbath. It fits in perfectly with your plantings.

I just got Niobe from Bluestone. I am so looking forward to its blooms.

TFS!
Diana