I love and collect clematis of all sorts as their generally light airy habit makes them ideal to grow up and over other plants without swamping the host and giving two shows in the place where I would normally have only one. A heavy winter prune will keep nearly all of them in order.
This one is not often met with in Australian and I think mores the pity. It rambles without grabbing hold of its host so is easy to prune back in winter and can be allowed to trail along the ground as will as up a host shrub. It can be pruned basically to the base each year and will then shoot off at a great rate of knots come spring. Its leaves are large and heavily veined and I have to say for a Clematis rather telling and by mid summer it will be covered in heads of small flowers with rolled back tepals (yes Clematis have tepals!) the colour is hard to describe and it is usually said to be an icy blue-white although I’ve seen pictures of it as quite blue so perhaps there are several plants under this name or some people feel the need to photoshop to help a plant!
I enjoy it throughout the summer and autumn and I’m sure you will too. It is happy in sun or semi-shade as long as the roots are out of the sun and it can be tied to a pillar are run up a fence as easily as through a shrub or over a bank or wall. I have plants in 8″ pots for $32.50
