Franziska Maria, I have had for 4 years and have had 3 blooms total! It never grows more than 2 ft tall and is still spindly despite my attempts to cut back to the ground to get more vines. It's gone in spring! I have several other clems in the same bed that do much better!

Hmm-m-m-m . . . GC is one of my happier type II clems, and has bloomed well since its second or third year. It grows in more than 1/2 day shade up into a lilac in a bed of well-rotted manure over fine sand.

My dud is Niobe. It's probably about 6 years old and never gets bigger than a few stems that are 3 1/2 feet high with about 3 flowers a year. It gets sun until about 1 PM and then bright shade for the afternoon. It's the only plant in this bed that doesn't thrive. Anyone have suggestions as to how to make Niobe happy?

I also have a Polish Spirit (or that's what it was labeled) in 1/2 day sun that hasn't ever bloomed and is probably in its fifth season. It grows smaller than PS is supposed to also, though a Texensis hybrid right next to it on the same trellis blooms just fine.

I may move both of the duds to see if they will be happier in full sun before shovel pruning since I don't have a space problem currently.

I have decided that there are no duds, only bad locations/culture.

Many of my Clematis were not planted in properly dug and amended holes and not hard pruned the first few years either.
Many were planted right in the middle of mature fir tree roots without a barrier.

Most of these have been duds. Hard pruning and fertilizer has helped some but some are still poor growers barely hanging on with a few stems and blooms.

My friends yard has no tree roots, little clay and she takes the ones I can't stand anymore and they grow like crazy for her without any special care. This has happened about six times now over the last few years so I can only assume my conditions were the problem, not the individual plants.....

I agree with nhbabs: Niobe is a dud!

Twice I have planted her in two different spots, both of which should be good for clematis, but all she does is struggle to survive the first year and fail to return the second (and succeeding) years.

Obviously I don't know how to make her happy. The other 30 clems I have not only grow and bloom--they do it pretty much on their own. About all I remember to do with them is prune them in the spring and water occasionally during the hot summer. That's enough for them--they are happy as larks!

But Niobe--nada!

Kate