Clematis that bloom in winter are great for beautiful blooms during colder months. Director of Thorncroft Clematis Peter Skeggs Gooch explains his favorite clematis winter beauty.
Gardeners love to decorate their gardens with beautiful plants throughout the year. They choose plants with interesting structures or colourful leaves. Winter is a time when the options are less, but there are still great choices if you’re careful. For example, clematis winter with their fluffy seedheads and flowers throughout the winter. These are my top three favorites:
Clematis Winter Beauty “Bill Mackenzie”
Clematis ‘Bill Mackenzie,’ with its bell-shaped yellow and purple flowers, is an outstanding performer in autumn. It is also known as “Big Bill” (Thorncroft’s nickname). It blooms in August, and then continues to flower non-stop until November. The display can grow up to 15 feet tall in one year. These beautiful hoary heads are stunning on frosty mornings when the sun shines off them. Bill Mackenzie requires a lot of space, and can look great when left to climb through a hedge or into trees. It can also be used to hide an old garden shed or oil tank.
Clematis Winter Beauty ‘Jingle Bells’
The clematis winter beauty ‘Jingle Bells,’ which is a glossy evergreen variety that produces beautiful winter foliage, is the one to plant. This beautiful flower is a member of the cirrhosa family, which is native to the Mediterranean and can be grown in almost all British Isles. When grown in the sun, its creamy white bells emit a mild citrus scent.
The height of ‘Jingle Bells” can reach 15 feet. It doesn’t require any heavy pruning because it blooms on woody growth. It is enough to give it a gentle clean once a year. It will need plenty of space to grow. Between January and March, ‘Jingle Bells” flowers appear. Silvery seed-heads emerge.
Winter Beauty, another seasonal favorite, blooms from December through February. The dainty, bell-shaped flowers are pure white and cluster at the leaf junction. It’s best to grow it over an arbour or arch so the flowers can be clearly seen.
When grown up on a trellis, ‘Winter Beauty has beautiful, deep-green foliage that provides privacy and an elegant way to enjoy it. To keep its roots from becoming too wet, ‘Winter Beauty needs to be grown in a well-drained soil.
Choose well-improved soil that is free-draining and rich in organic material to ensure roots are healthy without becoming waterlogged.
Plant deep and include a shovelful of compost or well-rotted manure around the root.
In summer, water with a full can once a week. To prevent flooding in the winter months, reduce this amount to half by September. Pendant bells are produced by all of them in subtle shades, including cream, green and white.
Sometimes, but not always, the inside of flowers can be spotted. The flowers, which may appear as early as November in certain varieties, are very attractive to bumblebees.
It recovers by autumn. It recovers in autumn.
All of them are bred from Clematis Cirrhosa, a Mediterranean native. Because of the warmer winter sun, a south-facing wall is best because it promotes earlier flowering.
Once established, these clematis can form tall plants that are leggy and vigorous. They will not cover large areas like montana or montana clematis. They can be used around windows and porches, as well as with companions to cover the stems at their bottom. They can be worn as gown flopping on a low, warm wall.
When should you plant?
September is the best month to plant. A containerized clematis that has been well grown can be planted all year.
- How to plant
- In the first year of growth, plant at least 2 feet from the wall.
- They bloom when they are
- Flowers can be found starting in November, depending on the variety.
- When should you prune?
The tender clematis can also be kept in place by being trimmed after flowering. Because the pendant flowers require attention, I don’t recommend hard pruning. The flowers look best on old wood.
