As I get ready for another summertime presentation on Clematis, I am struck by how much I rely on the smaller species, specifically the vitacellas, to carry me through the gardening year. Yes, those massive blooms from the large flowered hybrids sure are showy, but they come and they go and this year especially , given our cold wet spring and the amount of wilt they have suffered here, they have mostly been on the “go” side of that equation.

Not the vitacellas though. They are , as always keeping up their end of the bragain, in which I devote space, time, water and fertilizer to any given plant, and  said given plant gives me pretty flowers in return.

Clematis vitacella originated in the area of the world that is modern Italy, and if you think in that vein, it is so much fun to say… try it …..see? Pronunciation and fake italian accent aside, they are one of the easiest and floriforous clematis around. I have vitacella cultivars here that bloom up to 16 weeks non-stop! AND as far as pruning, they all get cut back hard to about 12 inches in late winter or early spring, and many of them will self prune ( meaning you will go out pruners in hand only to find the stems all broken off at just the right level….amazing!) Immediately they spring into action putting up inches and inches of growth before your very eyes, and start blomming and keep blooming until you are tired just looking at them.

The flowers are on the smaller side and are for the most part bell shaped, but the sheer volume of them makes up for that.

They also do not get wilt, and sport clean beautiful foliage all season long. they are everything I ask for in a plant.

In The Burrow I grow Alba Luxurians, Betty Corning, Purpurea plena elegans, Polish Spirit, Kermesina, Huldine, Etoille Violette, and Venosa Vilocea, but have plans to add many more.

Some of the other cultivars are Mdme. Julia Correvon, Flora Plena, Minuet, Emilia Plater, Black Prince, Abundance, I am Lady Q, Little Nell,Royal Velours, and Blue Angel.

I do not add videos of my own making here as a general rule , I have tried and am just not really great at making them, but I will share this link with you Vitacella Video. It is , of course, from Gardeners World in England and highlights a number of the cultivars I have listed. The woman in the video has a lovely british accent( which my son CJ says I should adopt so I will instantly sound  like a highly repected clematis speaker), and my love of hearing british people speak enables me to forgive her for saying clem-A-tis which is wrong no matter what your accent.

If people tell me they have no luck with clematis, I always tell them to plant a vitacella. If people ask me what clematis to try in the shade I also reccomend a vitacella. If people want an easy carefree plant ,a  vitacella. A long bloomer for your border? A vitacella. Get it????

Good….now plant it!

P>S if you attended my presentation at Elm Bank tonight I brought two patio clematis, flueri and cezanne and called them by each others names when I sent them around ……. mea culpa…..flueri is dark reddish purple and the light lilac-y colored on was cezzanne