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.
Discover seven beautiful clematis for every season, below.
Spring: 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.
Spring: 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.
Height x spread 2.5m x 1.5m.
Spring to summer: Clematis montana
Flowers from May to June. Deciduous. Prefers full sun but copes in shade for part of the day. Masses of flowers over bronze-green foliage. Due to their vigorous growth, all montanas are suitable for growing over sheds, fences and trees. Pruning group 1.
Height x spread 8m x 4m.
Summer and autumn: large-flowered varieties
This includes early-summer varieties (pruning group 2) that bloom in June and often again in late August, as well as late-summer varieties (group 3) that start flowering in late July and August. Suitable for pots, fences or through small shrubs.
Height x spread 2-3m x 2-3m.
Summer and autumn: Clematis viticella
Flowers July to September. Masses of blooms produced on vigorous shoots made in the current season. Can be grown in large pots, across fences, walls and spring-flowering shrubs. Try ‘Madame Julia Correvon’ (pictured), ‘Abundance’ or ‘Venosa Violacea’. Pruning group 3.
Height x spread 3m x 2m.
Summer and autumn: Clematis texensis
Bell-like flowers on long stalks produced from mid-July to October. Perfect for growing in containers, as well as on tripods and through shrubs in sun or part shade. Look out for ‘Princess Diana’, ‘Duchess of Albany’ and ‘Gravetye Beauty’. Pruning group 3.
Height x spread 3.5m x 1.5m.
Summer and autumn: 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 flowers of ‘My Angel’ and the white-bloomed ‘Anita’. Pruning group 3.
Height x spread 4-8m x 2.5-4m.
Winter-flowering clematis to grow
- Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’ – evergreen, group one clematis that blooms from Nov-Feb. The flowers are covered in maroon freckles
- Clematis cirrhosa ‘Ourika Valley’ – pretty, bell shaped blooms that are a creamy colour. Blooms Nov-Feb. Grow in a sunny, sheltered spot
- Clematis clarkeana ‘Winter Beauty’ – beautiful, nodding, bell shaped flowers. Flowers Dec-Mar and enjoys a sunny position
- Clematis cirrhosa var. Balearica – this evergreen clematis has unusual, filigree foliage, with freckled, creamy yellow blooms
- Clematis ‘Fragrant Oberon’ – a fragrant clematis that starts flowering in late winter and early spring. Evergreen foliage and pretty, lime-green flowers
