Possibly Niobe. I had it but it did not come up this year or it's very very late. It bloomed last year for me.

Did your Niobe have large blooms ? These are small but the pics of Niobecolor look right.

Lily, if I remember correctly, the blooms were about the size yours are.

My first thought on the color was Niobe -- but I think the shape and size are wrong. But there are a bunch of dark viticellas, and it's just about impossible to get accurate color in clem photos!

How about Etoile Violette?

Looking through my old Donahue's catalogs and online site I also think it is Niobe .

C. Niobe

Niobe

For the other one: with so many dark clematis I need to see the open blossom to try to identify.

Here are some more photos for you . It is not large like the Niobe I'm seeing online. Some sites say 5-6 inches and this is not nearly that big .

Here is that other clematis. I think it's another bonanza but the spacing is different and the petals are only 4 and my other bonanza had 4and 5.

This is the unknown :

My labeled bonanza:

What do you think ? Same or different? Thanks !!

On the first one: does that reddish bar really show up in person? There's a couple of varieties that do that.

On the second: no, I wouldn't call that the same. But are the blooms from both plants from the same time of year? That does make some difference.

Yes the red bar shows up however it's not very strong.

The unknown clem is opening naturally in my garden this week after I planted it last late summer. The second one labeled came from a greenhouse this spring. So I think the difference in growing conditions could be affecting it. Either way I am thrilled with my no names!! What a pleasant surprise. I just like a name so I can recommend them to others. Nothing worse than wanting something someone can't name! :)

ps- did u email me for the coupon? If so I didn't get it . If you don't need it no biggie! :)

Hi again! Yes, I did email, on the 14th. Maybe it went to your spam folder? I'd love to have the coupon, if it's still valid. I'll email again. Look for an "amazindirt" email address. :-)

And I can't think of the red-barred viticella types at the moment, but I know I've seen a couple in the last few weeks. Will look around!

Okay, a couple of common varieties that can do that red bar thing:

-- Etoile Violette ( see this pic: https://www.mygarden.org/plants/4941-clematis-etoile-violette )

-- Warsaw Nike ( see this pic: http://www.growsonyou.com/richardpeeej/blog/11408-clematis )

Lilyfinch, I think Amazindirt is probably right. Hummingbird Farm says that the color for Warsaw Nike is purple in shade and burgundy in sun. The only difference is that it's a large-flower clematis:

http://hummingbirdfarm.net/warsaw_nike.htm

Etoile de Violette is also similar but smaller than Warsaw Nike. I was reluctant to post this pic because it shows how little I knew to provide support (I'm still new in growing clematis) and it's all messy, poor clems trying to figure out where to go. It's still good to compare the size of EdV to Jackmanii, the larger clematis on this photo, and it seems to be the size of your mystery clem. I circled Etoile de Violette, only a couple can be seen here. It's rather slow in taking off and hope this year will be better. On the closeup, a striped bar can also be seen going through the center. Can't say if it's redish, however...

Oops, when I posted my photo I didn't see mnwsgal's post about Etoile de Violette. Indeed, it could be EdeV as well and it has smaller flowers than Warsaw Nike...

Nice to see your photo , vesfl. We have all been new to growing clematis and had our own mistakes, and I continue to make and learn from mine, so think nothing of yours.

NOT Niobe or Warsaw Nike it's a vitacella group like Etoile de Violette but there are several that are similar. Niobe has a totally different shape......bottom photo is Niobe

Top photo is Etoile de Violette and Betty Corning