Niobe Clematis

Description:

When it comes to red flowers in this species, it's hard to beat this variety which features the deepest ruby-red flowers you can imagine with contrasting yellow centers; outstanding color for screening

Ornamental Features:

Niobe Clematis features showy dark red star-shaped flowers with yellow anthers at the ends of the stems from early to mid summer. It has green foliage throughout the season. The compound leaves do not develop any appreciable fall colour. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.

Landscape Attributes:

Niobe Clematis is a multi-stemmed deciduous vine with a twining and trailing habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance vine. It is a Type 2 clematis, which means it will bloom primarily on old wood of the previous season, with a second flush later in summer; where necessary, prune it back every second or third year to just above a set of buds about 6-8 inches from the ground to allow it to rejuvenate. It is a good choice for attracting hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Niobe Clematis is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• General Garden Use
• Hedges/Screening
• Container Planting

Plant Characteristics:

Niobe Clematis will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. As a climbing vine, it tends to be leggy near the base and should be underplanted with low-growing facer plants. It should be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This vine should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in both summer and winter to conserve soil moisture and protect it in exposed locations or colder zones.

This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.