Very nice. I still have a lot of scraggly II's so my "show" isn't nearly as nice as yours.

Mine loved the weather until I went on a business trip and DH didn't water as carefully as I do. I came home to a lot of scorched flowers and yellow lower foliage on my II's. My viticella III's don't seem to care, they look great.

My Piilu has no double flowers but it is it's first year blooming. I planted it last fall. It sure does have a lot of flowers.

Hi B OR S, It gets a lot hotter down in Portland than it does up here, our temperatures have been in the 70's. We had a good rain over the 4 of July week-end also so my clematis are still looking fresh. Last week-end was the first time I had to drag the hose out which was great! My type 2 didn't bloom much this year. I cut back most of my type 2 this spring because they all had bare legs(10 years old). So I had almost no spring blooms from them. A couple of them are starting to bloom now. Next year I should get a good show from the spring blooms from the ground up from them. Last year I had double blooms from my Piluu. I didn't cut it back because it only gets 4' high and is growing in a pot. I am not sure why it only bloomed singly. It is still very pretty though. Marmori is really starting to bloom and is loaded with buds. Here's another photo. Karen

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I have Marmori on my want list. I've got room for some shorter more compact vines.

WOW..they are STUNNING !!..Well done FF.."Voluceau" is one of my most favs....Jeanne

Those are gorgeous! I still need to get Viola Violacea.

I was wondering if you wouldn't mind showing me a picture of your Alionushka in it's full habit?

Hi lalalandwi, I have a lousy camera so the photos aren't too great. Aljonushka is an integrifolia type. It doesn't climb and dies back to the ground every year. It gets about 5'high and sprawls over a rebar teepee and over a nearby juniper bush and other perennials. It blooms for a long time and the flowers are quite large. Here is a photo from the back growing up the teepee. You can see the brown stems coming out of the ground .
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The clematis gets up off the ground and then sprawls vertically through the shrubs and perennials and the teepee helps hold it up. I have stems ties to it.

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Do you cut it back after it flowers or does it bloom again without deadheading?

I have never cut it back. It does bloom for a long time. I have been growing it with Pagoda the last 4 years. I accidentally dug up half of Pagoda when I was planting another plant last fall. This year it is very small and only has a few blooms. In the past Pagoda blooms with Aljonushka and then continues to bloom after Aljonushka is done. The vines intertwine so it would be hard to cut one back without the other. Hopefully next year Pagoda will be back with more vigor. I guess I could try cutting it back and seeing if it will bloom more since Pagoda isn't going to amount to anything this year. I will let you know if it reblooms well. Karen

Thank you flowerfan, that helps me out tremendously. I bought 1 of these @ a month ago & am having a hard time figuring out how it is going to grow. The link below shows the only pics of it's habit that I could find & it looks like those stems don't bend at all (Under Vines in the Garden & click on the integrifolia group article they have 7 pics of her in the landscape). It looks like you staked her @ 3 ft off the ground & let the stems fall over like a beautiful waterfall of pink blooms. Absolutely stunning & I would like to achieve the same effect. Due to those pics on that link, I planted her to grow up thru my Vanderwolf Pine & am wondering if I should move her now. I love your design & have a hard time visualizing Pagoda in there too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Alionushka in the landscape

The stems are thicker and more woody than other clematis, but they are still flexible. I think it would be fine in your pine for many years. The stems would grow up through the lower branches and hold it upright. Eventually your tree may get too big and smother it out, but you could always move it when the tree gets too big. I think the pink flowers would look pretty with the blue-green needles. Good luck with your clematis. Karen