This is a great idea! I love all your photos. I hope some people can advise me what kinds can grow in FL 9a where we get a few winter freezes and lots of hot humid weather in the summer. I tried ordering some clematis last spring but they cancelled my order after several months i dont recall why lol.

ETA ..Im on my phone which makes lots if typos sorry if I drive the grammar police crazy lol

I wonder if clematis might not like the SE better than the arid SW? I know crispa and viorna types are natives there, aren't they? The foliage did go in the fried direction here in the arid heat last summer. I'm still trying here, but I'll have to see.

marlorena...your garden is stunning. What's amazing is that you have so many plants packed in, but they each look pruned and trained and well-tended. If I may ask, how big is your garden? I'm curious to know what size piece of land you have that many plants growing on.

I love all the different ways you've used your clematis as well. I never thought about having them grow through hydrangeas! I have many of those.

This is my only clematis in the ground currently...Nelly Moser.

I have about 10 more (of different varieties, mostly type 2's)to plant and I'm looking around my garden for places to put them. I want to get creative and do more than just trellises.

sultry/Sheila, thanks for your comments... I hope you both get some nice clematis.

Rosylady, thanks so much, and of course I love your 'Nelly Moser' and here you have taken a leaf out of my book as when I last grew this, I had it in a large half oak barrel, and grew it up a drainpipe, much the same as I see you have done there...

I really have a small garden, probably one of the smallest on these forums, but as is typical of English style, we cram a lot in as you have noted. I think the regular moisture allows this as we rarely have real drought.

I have a small single storey property with garden all around it, i.e. 4 sides, two long narrow borders and one rectangular one, the 4th is pots only. It's actually quite manageable for me, providing as you said I prune, train and control, I have to do that otherwise it would be overrun. I also suffer with a shocking bad back, can you believe, and I have to choose my moments these days. I can't always do what I want to do, when I want to do it.

Heavy snow expected in the morning, as much as a foot is forecast, and some areas may be cut off for a time... but it'll be gone in a few days...

I have quite a few clematis, but not a lot bloomed this yr. Had to dig up a few of them a couple yrs ago when we did the septic re-do, and I kinda think they must be sorta like peonies. They don't like to be dug up! Takes 'em awhile to recover.

Here's a few of mine from this season:

I think this one is called BELLE OF WOKING

don't know the name of this one...

I think this one is VITICELLA PURPUREA PLENA ELEGANS. Very small blooms.

Hopefully some of the others will bloom next yr.

Lovely clematis, thanks... yes I think that's 'PPE' Beth, I had it a few years ago, it's a good one when it grows large.

old rosarian, oh such beauties, I do like 'Willy', I used to have 'Foxy' which is similar, but lost it a few years ago. I lost several Alpinas for some reason, something seemed to eat them at the roots, otherwise they are amongst my favourites. I'm tempted to get that one of yours. Thanks for showing these.

Oh marlorena! Thank you for starting this lovely thread. I love clematis almost as much as my roses and keep adding them but they aren't as full as yours yet . I love your prince Charles . I have that as well . It will hopefully play nice with " kiss me kate " and the blue toned butterfly bush it is near. Your Durandi is lovely too , I must add that . They all look lush and beautiful!

Rosylady when you say you want to be more creative that trellises ... do you like a kitschy style at all ? I have a bird feeder on top of a ladder with honeysuckle and another feeder ready for when I find another ladder . I really enjoy the look .

Oldrosarian I love " Willy"! I see brushwood had it so it's in my shopping cart. I haven't tried the alpinas or the ground cover / shrubby clematis yet so I plan to this spring.

Heres what I have :

rhapsody

Niobe : I think

jolly good

I think bell of woking but I may be wrong

Andromeda

Close up of andromeda

thast all for now . I have to organize my photos because I have a lot to sift through!

Lily, thanks so much, and what gorgeous clems. I have Rhapsody but it's new to me. I especially like your no i.d. I wonder what that is?.. plus 'Andromeda' I've been looking at that one for some time, pondering, but all lovely. Thanks for showing us these, I thought you must have quite a few.

Yours are beautiful clems, everyone! Marlorena, thank you for this wonderful O/T thread. Clematis and roses are my favorite combination. I don't have too many photos of my clemmies and I've posted a couple of these a while back on another forum, but I have some new photos here too.

Comtesse de Bouchaud was my first clematis and still my favorite. I'm terribly inept in training her on a 6-ft obelisk, which is also shorter than it should be for CdB so I usually connect it to the balcony with a couple of ropes as it seems she wants to reach to the skies. Sure enough, she finds her way onto the balcony and happily meanders around.

And here she is finding her way all way to the opposite side:

Good ol' Jackmanii, always reliably blooming:

Zara in her pot, welcoming us at the top of our entrance stairs. The photo doesn't do it justice, the actual color is sky blue.

Wow, so many beautiful clematis on this thread! It really inspires me to grow more of them.

lilyfinch...yes, I love the look of climbers growing on ladders! I wonder if I have an old wood ladder around here somewhere....we must as we live in an old house and have lots of old "stuff"!

One thing I'd like to do is grow some clematis in big urns so that they drape down. It would have to be a smaller growing variety.

Then I'd like to grow them through large shrubs, trees, and roses. I want to maximize the space I have more by combining things!

vesfl, I love your clematis... the standout for me is 'Jackmanii'... that's going on my list for next Spring after seeing this.

Also love the Comtesse... thanks so much for showing us these...

Marlorena, Jackmanii never disappoints.

I already ordered C. x durandii for next spring and thought to let it grow into one of my pink roses, but your photo makes me rethink it and combine with a yellow rose instead. Its stamen and rose petals nicely boost each other's yellow color while wonderfully contrasting with the bluish durandii petals. The problem is that I'll have only Ghislaine de Feligonde among yellowish roses next year and C. durandii is not a climber. I may have to order a yellow rose too (another reason to order more roses, how easy is that? :-)).

I remember you posting some of your DAs in a vase, could this be "The Lark Ascending" on your photo? What a great combination.

vesfl, yes 'The Lark Ascending', I find durandii shoots straight up over 6 feet, and all it needs is to aim it towards the support rose, which is on an obelisk, and tie it in a bit. A very easy clematis and in bloom from June to late Sept..

I also have 'Gde F' but I grow 'Mme Julia Correvon' with that one...

Yes you definitely need another rose ! I've got a thornless climber called 'Lilac Bouquet' arriving in a day or two, so looking forward to that one...

These clematis are awesome! I feel a new obsession coming on lol.

Which online clematis nurseries are good to order from in the U.S?

I don't really have a clue about clematis. I really love learning about and trying new plants to see if I can grow them here :)

~Sjn

Joy Creek in Oregon has a great selection & they have good people working there. One of the owners(Maurice) is very knowledgable re clematis.

Brushwood is great and in the SE.

'Baltik' on the left & 'Champagne Pink' on the right used to soften a corner on my back yard fence.

Like Sheila, I've been very happy with Brushwood. They now sell only one-gallon clematis but there are no shipping charges and the roots are ginormous. I prefer it over smaller bands anyway. I heard good things about Joy Creek too, as also recommended above.

wirosarian, I've never heard of 'Baltik' but it looks a stunner... thank you...

Vesfl - cdb is one of my favorite colors ! I planted two this fall , but didn't get photos . I also planted a ville d Lyon as well and it's settling in . Yours look great !!

wirosarian gosh that gate looks so welcoming with the clematis! Beautiful!

Sjn- I second brushwood ! Also bluestone has great sales . Don't pay full price on Clem's because they will almost always go half price before spring . Great value ! And another fantastic one is silver star vinery. The size of her plants was fabulous!

Marlorena - I'm glad you liked mine! I really wish I could find an ID on the one . It was on clearance because it had no tag and any photo search I have done hasn't turned up a match.

Rosy lady your urn idea is a great one! Never would have thought of that . I had saved this photo to remind myself to try this, maybe you'll like it too .

Another no id clearance

Oh marlorena I meant to say andromeda is great but really small . It took 3 years to reach the top of my 4 ft trellis .so you may be able to tuck it in somewhere! It blooms twice for me and did try to put out a thrird round this fall but we had a week of frosts way before normal .

happy jack