There are plenty of smaller Clematis happy to grow in containers but you might need to bubble wrap it or use lights to keep it warm enough. Being in a container would make your zone 2-3 not 4-5.

I have successfully overwintered many tender (for my zone) container plants by moving the containers close to the house foundation and piling tree leaves on them.
In your zone it might be even easier if you have a significant snow coverage. Snow is a good isolator.
Also, if you have several containers, move them close to each other. If you do not have enough tree leaves, cover containers with a piece of burlap.
And nothing will help if you do not have an excellent drainage in your containers. The roots will just rot if the soil gets soggy.

Otherwise, as BorS stated above, just opt for a smaller variety.
My favorite is Piilu. All Evison's Patio Clematis were duds for me - never returned. Too expensive for annuals :(

Piilu in container (the third year, never protected):

{{gwi:269725}}

I garden on a balcony, and have several clematis in containers: Jackmanii, The President (both 5+ years), Mme. Julia Correvon (4 yrs.), Niobe (3 yrs.), Avant-Garde (2 yrs.) AND Sweet Autumn (6+ years), which reseeds all over the place.

In winter, I mulch them well and pull the pots closer to the building wall. Nothing else. I was very surprised at how hardy clematis are.

Clematis in Pots

PV

Oh WOW so this is Piilu in a container ~ she is in my wish list ~ the reason I came home w/ Pink Chiffon HH last Sunday was in search of Piilu! Was it buyorsell or gardengal ~ posted very recently Piilu in a walkway bed?

I'm saving a p/s site for Piilu very close to Marie Boisellot the reason I am thinking of setting HH Pink Chiffon in a container.

I've pretty successfully overwintered marginal-bloomer-Hydrangeas (old canes) seriously w/ burlaps & cages filled w/ collected dry-leaves. Clems' roots have to be coddled ~ if I apply my system similarly around the container & away from our blizzardy winds ~ should work then! Is your container of synthetic material or mortar?

I'm glad now that I planted my Cezanne-R Evison-Patio Clem in the ground in 2006 to climb on a link fence ~ whew!!! Has performed really well except for heat strokes a couple of Jul-Aug but always bounces & blooms again in Sept!

The container with Piilu is plastic. Again, it was never protected.
Glad Cezanne performed well for you. I tried 6 Clematis from the Patio collection - not a single one survived. All were potted in large containers. I really liked the look of Angelique and Bourbon... Oh well... you can't have them all.

Thank you for posting your flicker album pvick ~ I'm encouraged despite the warnings from a local nursery guy (zone diff)! Love the Herman's Pride in a pot. I just now discovered & got 1 I'm growing in a container 'til Spring after I get rid of (DNR listed) Class5-Noxious-Weed-cousin *Yellow Archangel L*

Alina ~ 6 Patio Clems ... ouch & I'm sighing for you!!!

You're welcome, ditas - I did forget to make a note of the zone diff; with a little more protection (wrap the pots in burlap or bubblewrap or some such), I think yu can be successful in your zone.

And alina - I wanted to say that the combination of the Piilu with the roses is gorgeous!

PV

Thanks for your kind word guys!
It was Buyorsell's Piilu that inspired me to buy one. Than another one :) So I have two of them now, which is unusual for me.

BTW, I bought both Piilu Clematis at the local Lowe's under the name 'Little Duckling'. Maybe, it can help you Ditas to find one.

Really great cultivar, although mine does not bloom in doubles like BorS's one :(

I have two clematis, Florida Seiboldi and Cassis, in large plastic pots that I overwinter in our unheated garage. Leaves are added to the tops as mulch then they are placed in the garage and nothing is done to them until I bring the pots out in the spring. Sometimes there is new growth before I can get the pots out.

This spring I planted Crystal Fountain and Bijou in one container for the deck. It will also go in the garage for the winter.

I have also done the containers close to the house with bags of leaves surrounding and covering them but not with clematis. Most plants survive very well.

PV, great to see your patio photos. You amaze me with the amount and variety of plants you have each year. Anything new to you this year?

mnwsgal ~ when you bring your container-grown-Clems in your unheated garage - do you prune down first & remove the trellis/obelisk?

I'm practically out of planting sites & am considering adding a few more to the 8 I have but have to go the container-way, if it is not too cumbersome hauling! I already have 10 Hydrangea Divas I slave to, around Thanksgiving time & a fruiting Ginkgo tree to clean after!

Yes, I prune back the clematis after it has died back from frost. Then I remove the trellis to make storing easier. The pots are on my patio at the back of the garage and I use plant dollies to move the large pots around the patio. They are even with the garage floor so it is not hard to move from patio into garage.

Thank you mnwsgal for sharing your *how to* ~ that would make it less cumbersome & doable!

I do have a slope to climb w/ my grnd-dau's outgrown-wagon I now use as gardening hauler but the suggested large & deep container might do ok outdoors following good over-wintering protection.

Thanks again!
`

I have my all-time fave clem, Elsa Spaeth, in a large plastic pot that I overwinter every year in the garage with some old water softener insulation wrapped around the bottom, top and sides of the pot. I cut her down to 4-5 inches each late fall when I garage her. At 5 years of age she is 5 feet tall on a 4 1/2 foot tall obelisk with large flowers in varying shades of violet-blue, along with attractive foliage all the way down to her feet all season long, as she has been from age 3. After a long first bloom period I cut her back to about 3 feet and she blooms again. I cannot find her locally, after being introduced about 10 years ago at K-Mart (of all places) where I snatched her up because she was priced so low. So I have obtained the rest of my many Elsas online. I can't figure this because she has so many outstanding qualities along with being really easy to grow and faster to mature than most clems. But anyway, she is reliable potted with a bit of insulation and garaged in a very cold climate.

Thanks for your input j~d! I just had a very old dying Vivarnum cut down ~ now a p/s site that I thought perfect for Clems. I'll have to wait a while to clear the place ~ meantime I'll have to use containers there. I checked on Elsa after reading your post considering our similar zones!

Would love to see pix if you could post! TIA!

Elsa Spath is a great clem, was my earliest bloomer this year with very large deep blue-lavender flowers. Still putting out a few blooms. ditas...you are in Iowa...check your HyVee, ours still had an Elsa the last time I looked.
As for container growing, have not tried it, winters are nasty here in NE Iowa. No room in garage...it's FULL of garden decor & furniture, etc. Can barely make room for cars!!!
Marlene

I am trying my first hand at overwintering a clemmy in a whiskey barrel this winter. I got Madame Julia Correvon in the barrel and she's doing awesome! First bloom on her today and more buds coming.
I have overwintered hosta's in the barrel but not a clem, so we'll see how that goes!
I'll do the same thing I did to the hosta over winter. I placed boards across the pot, then a tarp over all of it to keep the snow and ice from crushing the plant. I weigh down the tarp with a couple bricks. Worked like magic on the hosta, not sure about the clem, but I bought it after reading the MJC is a hardy clem.

I'm completely new to clematis and am wondering what the smallest size container is that I could get away with putting a Nelly Moser in. I'm not too concerned with overwintering it. I plan to just wrap the pot and all with plastic and dig a hole to bury it in until next spring.

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Crystal

You're welcome ditas. I'd love to post a pic but I am too blonde to know how to do it on this forum...ha! And too new...joined the day I posted about Elsa. Spose I should've introduced myself before posting so here goes. I live in SE WI with my husband and three Australian Shepherd rescues. I have two rather innocuous addictions...dog agility and gardening. Love to garden...it provides a respite from my stressful job in a busy trauma center blood bank and a daily reminder of God's many blessings. :-)

Welcome to GW j~d! I'm ROFLOL ... yes U can *j~d too-blond*! I'll be 74 in a few w/ nearly, fully platinum top! The kids got me this little pocket digi-cam, installed iphoto where to store pix & signed me up to PicasaWeb to create albums for sharing ~ I guess that's why I had these 3 kids ... for posterity!!! Now go get a HS kid if you don't have one ~ you'll be posting in no time ~ a great stress reliever as well!

Like you, an addict as well ~ but of sorts ~ have an indoor & outdoor zoos I tend to (when grands tire of little critters they once adored *Mimi will keep them for me* (Gecko, toads, Love birds, Button Quails & now pr of hermit crabs, a Chinchilla, 2 different Finches & a more neurotic than myself - 3.5# Pom rescued from a puppy mill ~ oh & numerous others I no longer wish to remember!!! My Dau is a rescuer of sorts - runs in the fam!

Out doors ~ 4 stray cats, paid w/ food to shoo away the plant & root munchers & bound to respect the assorted birds that visit the feeders! Squirrels get occasional granola bars for all the entertainments! Not to forget my beloved ~ a once Prince of a Ginkgo tree that outed as a Duchess after 20 years ~ my *Purgatory Time* in the Fall.

Sorry I couldn't help myself! Thanks for reading if you did!

Thanks for the tip luvmyclem ~ I'll run to HyVee tomorrow!!!

Kentster - in my zone I just throw my hosta babies any where w/o *Diva coddling* & they still come up as long as the base of the eyes touch soil ~ I don't have rare ones tho!

Crystal ~ I use this method a great deal for my Hydrangeas when not certain where to plant yet ~ works very well. A 2gal pot for a young plant should be good since you're sinking in a hole. I've also done layering graduated-sized pots w/ wood-chip mulch in between but in zone 3 DK if this will work!. Be sure to vent the plastic wrap for drainage!

Ditas, thanks. And thanks for the heads up on venting the plastic wrap for drainage. I hadn't thought of that. Will give it all a go see what happens. My garden is like one giant science experiment. ;)

Crystal

Crysal, if you are going to put the pot in the ground for the winter you do not need to wrap it with plastic. If the plants can survive your zone in the ground then they can survive in the pot in the ground. Some people wrap pots in plastic as insulation for the roots when they are going to be sitting outside above ground over the winter.

I have left some pots sitting above ground next to the house with bags of leaves over and around them which survived the winter, though not with clematis plants. I have many clematis in 1 gal pots in the ground while I decided where to plant them or to let get bigger root systems. These do fine over the winter.

That's interesting. I was told I'd have to either drop the pot down in the ground so it and some of the plant would be completely covered or wrap it in plastic. Sounds like that might not be the case. Thanks for the heads up mnwsgal. :)

Crystal

I think I am saying the same thing you are saying. If the potted plant is in the ground and mulched you do not use plastic. If the pot is outside, above ground, the plastic may help insulate the pot. For me, using bags of leaves does the same as wrapping in plastic. I suppose a person could do both but I haven't.

This is my album on winter protecting my marginal bloomer Hydrangeas the difference is I was protecting old canes bearing potential bloom buds. If I was protecting container Clems some of the system I used here should work as well ~ do you think?

mnwsgal ~ in one of the pix I used grocery bags-filled w/ collected leaves that surrounds the plant ~ similar to your system right?

Here is a link that might be useful: Protecting in Winter

BTW to enlarge overwintering pix ~ click on pic.

Marlene ~ thanks again for the the tip ~ I got Elsa Spath from Hy Vee & will keep her in a large (3gal) container till Spring 2012. The tag says will grow to 12 ft ~ could this be true?

ditas, thanks for the photos. What is the black thing around the bottom in the last photo? And what is inside the "hat" and it's purpose. Is there more than one plant in there?

I wonder if the "bags of leaves" thing would work in a zone 3. Guess there's only one way to find out. ;)

Crystal

Crystal ~ I thought to post this *OverWintering* album to show as well as ask in this Clems Forum, if my efforts w/ Hydrangeas (in my zone) would be sufficient for Clems in containers left outdoors.

These pics demonstrates part of the step by step I do to protect old canes. Since Clems are pruned down it would not be as meticulous as protecting Hydras. My front faces NW & get blizzard/damaging winds wrapping around the back so I decided to wrap landscaping (black) fabric around the cages to help cut damages. Snow is a great insulator but we don't always get enough.

The Nikko w/ a rose-cone-hat is a tall shrub & I needed to cover the bundled top. The black portion you see at the bottom in just the same landscape fab wrapped around the cage.

As mnwsgal posted, she uses the dry leaves-filled bags & is sufficient in her z 4. It works very well for me as well. I've also used thick cardboard boxes filled w/ leaves turned upside-down held down w/ bricks on top (rose cone style). In your z 3 added bubble-wrap around the container might help. Let's wait for others' comments. I'm adding a few more Clems & Roses in Spring but have to keep them in containers over this Winter & am trying to learn as well, how to protect them.

Thanks for viewing the album!

Glad you found Elsa. I have purchased many of my clems at Hy Vee. However, I can't make a grocery run without walking thru the garden center so the summer grocery bill gets expensive
Elsa has not grown to 12' for me. COTW lists it at 6-12', mine is at the short end of that. There is an article on COTW regarding Elsa you would find informative.
I have sunk pots in the ground close to the foundation late in fall, covered well with chopped leaves in a wire circle, pulled the pots in the spring and planted them out. Has worked well so far.
Good luck with your clem, Marlene

Marlene ~ I know what you mean about the Hy Vee G ticket ~ guilty verdict here!!!

If I want to get 2 or 3 Clems to grow intertwined how close together do they have to be planted or are they planted together in 1 huge well? Please don't LOL ~ for growing Clems forever, it seems, I know nothing!!!