Defintely not a Ville de Lyons. Mine are pink. It looks like Jackmanii, but mine have stopped blooming, so i couldn't do a comparison. I've heard people using the colour of the stamens to help identify clematis. Makes sense, i guess!

I think you're both right - 'Jackmannii'.
Here's one of ours for comparison:

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Don't be concerned about the number of petals - it seems to vary a lot on clematis. At the start of bloom, I often see a lot of 4-petal flowers, then 5, 6 and 8 petal ones later!
Our 'Ville de Lyon' looks like it's done blooming for this year, but here's a pic (actually from last year) for comparison. Much more of a reddish color, and the leaves are a little bit different (though not strikingly):

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I was thinking it also may be Etoile Violette (sp?), but I think the petals are narrower than yours.

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What do you think?

Laurie

Thanks gals, I'm not sure about your suggestion Laurie, I guess I'll have to wait till next year for a better comparison.

For some weird reason I have two other Jack's that came up very slow at the beginning of the season and not one flower on either one this year. They're not dead, just petered out ;)
Maybe they got that Clematis virus?

On a side note....don't ever buy Clematis's from Walmart, unless they are blooming at the time of sale. I'm really PO'd about this because I wanted a red one to go along with a white climbing rose.

Sharon

Sharon, my Ville de Lyon is acting the same way. Last year it was the beginning of July before it actually popped out of the ground. This year I thought it was totally dead, but never got around to replacing it and lo and behold, yesterday I noticed that it's come up(must have been within the last week or two) and it's about 6" tall. I'd be shocked if it came back next year. I guess I'll just have to replace it....but I wonder, if it is some type of disease, if I should plant another clematis in that spot?

I wonder how you'd tell if it had the disease? My Ville de Lyons came up all right last year but never bloomed. This year, it grew but isn't happy, and is just blooming now, but the flowers have curled edges. Hope it doesn't spread, but it's far enough away from the others that they should be okay - i hope!

Here's what my Perennials in Alberta books says....

Problems & Pests

Mildew, earwigs (do we get earwigs in Alberta?) slugs, aphids, caterpillars, oil beetles (have no idea what these are?) spider mites and clematis wilt.

Clematis wilt can be very promblematic. If the symptoms are recognized immediately, the plant will make a full recovery. It is important to remove and destroy the effected stems. Trim 1-2" below the enfected area to remove all of the infection. New growth should begin to emerge readily. If it persists, spray with a fungicide.

Last year, I do recall one of the Jacks turning black at the bottom leaves and I did remove and discarded the enfected leaves, although this website says not to confuse the dying off of lower leaves in the heat of the summer with wilt.

Read on....

Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis Wilt

This is so weird, look at the "suppose to be" Clematis 'Ville de Lyon this year compared to last years photo, its coming out more red this year????

Still doesn't look like ABgardeners 'Ville de LyonÂ. I wonder if it will next year. LOL

Sharon

I like it better Sharon, whatever it is, that raspberry red is awesome!

I'd say it is Jackmanii. Mine loves the spot that it is planted in. It just keeps blooming and blooming. If I had a trellis large enough I'm sure it would have been close to 20 ft tall. Instead it climbed back down over itself. Here is a picture of it and it looks just like yours Sharon. I hope yours does as well as mine.

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Shelley

Whatever it is, it's pretty, and look at all that new growth..........it'll be a monster!