With so many clematis to choose from, it’s possible to enjoy their flowers in every season of the year.
Their colourful blooms and free-flowering nature make them great garden plants. Clematis are also good plants for covering up garden sheds.
For year round colour, clematis excel. Whether it’s the cream cups of Clematis cirrhosa in the depths of winter, or the yellow blooms and fluffy seedheads of Clematis tangutica in autumn.
We’ve listed seven beautiful clematis for every season, below.
Spring flowering clematis
Clematis armandii
Clematis armandii flowers from March to April and grows well in sun or part shade. A vigorous, evergreen climber perfect for covering a fence or shed. Sweet-scented blooms in large bunches as new, bronze foliage emerges. Pruning group 1.
Height x Spread: 5m x 3m
Clematis alpina
Flowers from April to May in full sun or partial shade. Deciduous. Mid-blue flowers with clusters of inner creamy segments. Varieties include ‘Frances Rivis’ and ‘Helsingborg’. Pruning group 1.
H x S: 2.5m x 1.5m
Clematis montana
H x S: 8m x 4m
Summer-flowering clematis
Clematis ‘Diana’s Delight’
Large-flowered and free-flowering. Blue flowers with a cream-yellow centre. Flowers from May to September. Pruning group 2.
H x S: 2-3m x 2-3m
Clematis viticella
H x S: 3m x 2m
Clematis texensis
H x S: 3.5m x 1.5m
Clematis tangutica
Flowers from July to October, followed by fluffy seedheads that take the display into winter. The best varieties are ‘Bill MacKenzie’, the orange-yellow flowered ‘My Angel’ and the white-bloomed ‘Anita’. Pruning group 3.
H x S: 4-8m x 2.5-4m
Winter-flowering clematis
Clematis cirrhosa
Evergreen, flowers Nov-Feb. Popular with winter bumblebees. Varieties include ‘Freckles’, which has maroon-freckled flowers, ‘Ourika Valley’ which has creamy bell-shaped blooms and Clematis cirrhosa var. Balearica, which has filigree foliage, with freckled, creamy yellow blooms.
H x S: 4m x 1.5m
Evergreen clematis
Evergreen clematis come in all shapes and sizes, and flower at different times. The most popular evergreen clematis are the spring-flowering Clematis montana, but other evergreen clematis include the winter-flowering Clematis cirrhosa and varieties including Clematis ‘Fragrant Oberon’, and Clematis urophylla ‘Winter Beauty’.
