As far as I am concerned, there are no true red clematis. Of the ones on your list, I have Abundance, Mme. Eduardo Andre, Allanah, and am getting Carmencita and I wouldn't consider any of them red. Abundance has more pink in it than red, Allanah has hints of fuscia in it, and I don't know how I would describe Mme. Eduoard Andre.

Allanah
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Following is a shot that shows from left to right Abundance, Kermesina (can look red at times), and Julia Correvon (can also look red at time but also pinkish).

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Depending on your source, texensis can be red.
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Mme. Edouard Andre
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Of the ones you listed, Abundance is the winner as far as vigor goes. Perhaps someone else can help you with the rest. Just realize that the clematis' flowers will change in color as they age and depending on how much sun they get!

wow, beautiful photos nckvilledudes! i still haven't had time to get the photo thing set up, i'll get there.

lindama,
i have an ernest markham that is blooming now, and it is definitely not red. it is much more of a magenta color. very pretty, but not red. however, i do have two others that are not on your list that in my opinion are much closer to red - niobe, and rosemoor. the niobe is a ruby/crimson red, and the rosemoor is even darker, and when people see it they call it red. as for the level of difficulty for both, the niobe has caused no problems, but does brown out at the bottom a bit, and doesn't seem to bloom as long as it should. the rosemoor had wilt last year, but bounced back well this year and is blooming now.

hope that helps!

Hmm, this helps me out tremendously, wish they wouldn't list them as reds. You didn't mention Rouge Cardinal and this is the one that I heard was true red but I'm sure that it really isn't. It's just like the blues, they are never really quite blue now are they.

nckvilledudes - your photographs are beautiful, you have such lovely Clematis, you must have quite a lot of them, I'm sure.

Thank you for your responses, I really appreciate it.

I have Niobe, Ruutel, Rouge Cardinal, Hania, Ville de Lyon, Barbara Harrington, and Avante-garde. All called red. None really red. They are all varying shades of magenta or plum.

Rouge Cardinal has been the best performer so far.

This color family of Clematis combine really well with others. Especially the pinks/mauves. I have Hania with Charissima. Niobe with John Warren. Richard Pennell (reddish purple) with Hagley Hybrid. Ruutel is with Natascha which has red stamens.

I am planning on adding more in this color group because they combine so well. I saw Warsaw Nike, Kardinal W (can't spell it) on sale the other day at a big box store but when I went back to get them they were gone.

I have Niobe,she is in light shade,and is a definate "RED" and very bold at that, look up her in photos.....

My Niobe isn't red at all and it is planted where it gets afternoon shade....

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Carol

My Niobe is not red either. In fact, the blooms start out almost black red and lighten up with sun exposure.

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Gravetye Beauty is more of a burgundy.
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Avant Garde is another not red one to me anyways.
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Rosemoor in my garden is more burgandy also.
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Oh my what lovely photographs of everyone's clematis' It's so odd how the same clematis can look so very different depending on where it's growing. Now I'm even more undecided on which not red clematis to choose from. I may just go with either Rouge Cardinal or Abundance due to there both being prolific bloomers. It's too bad that Niobe isn't on the list of Clematis for me to purchase.

Now that I have a semi-red picked out, I have the daunting task of choosing a prolific white bloomer. I think I'll start another thread for this one.

Thanks again everyone!

Linda

My Niobe looks like Carol's, not nearly as red as Miguel's.

I really do need to find those pics and get them uploaded.