Small-flowered blue clematis

Dainty and Delightful: Small-Flowered Clematis

Posted on by Ann Mackay

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Clematis are amongst my favourite flowers – probably pretty close to the top of the list. The large-flowered varieties are sumptuous, with rich colours and beautiful flower forms. I’m always tempted to grow more of these wonderful plants. But the smaller-flowered cultivars are just as appealing. They may also be easier to fit into a wide variety of garden styles.

The large-flowered clematis can sometimes feel too showy for a more naturalistic planting style, or in a wilder part of a garden. Here the smaller-flowered clematis may be easier to use, sitting more comfortably with simpler, less highly-bred flowers. I can easily imagine the lovely little clematis in my top photograph growing through shrubs in my own garden. (I’d need to find out what it is first. This is a plant I saw in a garden I visited this year, as is the pink clematis below.)

Pink clematis flower
A stunning pink – possibly Clematis texensis ‘Princess Diana’

The pink clematis would need a bit of thought about positioning because it is such an eye-catching colour. It is very elegant, though, and wouldn’t look out of place in an informal planting. The deep blue/purple clematis below would probably look good almost anywhere. This one is ‘Sapphire Indigo’, bought many years ago at a plant fair. I haven’t seen it for sale anywhere since (although it is available online), which surprises me. It’s a lovely plant which sprawls rather than climbs, so I prop it up by leaning it against the branches of nearby shrubs. I should try to propagate it because I’d love to have more of it around the garden.

Clematis 'Sapphire Indigo'
Clematis ‘Sapphire Indigo’ in my own garden

The last clematis in this little gathering is ‘Lansdowne Gem’, which flowers in wintertime. It got thoroughly frosted last winter, which worried me a bit because I wasn’t sure if it would be hardy enough to cope with a long cold period. It does appear to have survived though, because I can see some new shoots appearing now. (Mine goes dormant in the heat of summer, so only starts to show signs of life around this time.) This is a pretty clematis, with dark red, occasionally speckled, flowers that are like little bells hanging down from the shrubs it climbs. Its flowers are something cheering to look forward to in the depths of winter.

(You can see more pictures in my post about ‘Lansdowne Gem’ here.)

Frosted flowers of Clematis 'Lansdowne Gem'
Frosted flowers of Clematis ‘Lansdowne Gem’
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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

21 thoughts on “Dainty and Delightful: Small-Flowered Clematis”

    1. I can’t say for the two that were in other folk’s gardens, but the clematis in mine vary. Some are just rather fluffy rather than feathery. (‘Guernsey Cream’ is probably the most feathery of mine. And that’s not spectacular.) I often remove the seed heads before they’ve developed in the hope of having more flowers.

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      1. In Austin, by far the most common species is Clematis drummondii, whose flowers are small but whose seed heads develop fibers that are at first shiny and then become feathery. For that reason, most people’s attention goes to the post-floral stages. If our local species had large, colorful flowers like the ones you’ve shown, we’d be paying a lot more attention to the floral stage.

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      2. The shiny stage of the fibres is very attractive – after that ours can look a bit tatty (disheveled). Imagine how it would be if native clematis had big flowers – could look quite riotous if there were too many different one together, hehe!

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  3. I sure can see our Clematis pitcheri behind your Sapphire Indigo, and although I wouldn’t have thought of it, I suspect you’re right about C. texensis behind (underlying? what’s the right word?) your Princess Diana. I like the addition of the little insect on that one, being worn like a brooch!

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  5. They are all like jewels and the Princess Diana picture has the added gem of a shiny little beetle. My neighbour has a clematis somewhere up his greenhouse which should be mingling with his bright green fake plastic garland he’s put up alongside 😫

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    1. My favourite kind of jewels! I hope your neighbour decides to have another clematis alongside the first instead of the plastic garland…or maybe it will just mysteriously disappear, hehe!

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      1. He is a bit random that way. He probably fastened it up there to cover a bare bit so hopefully he will do one of three things: buy and plant another climber and remove the horrid plastic thing, wait till his clematis grows then remove the horrid plastic thing. Said horrid plastic thing will inevitably turn blue, look even more horrid and he’ll pull it down. I live in hope 😂

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