Please Help ID These 'Reds'

I would like to ask your help in my ongoing effort to sort out and identify my 'red' clems. I have the names of the varieties I purchased, but in a number of cases those darned plastic labels got away from me before the 1st blooms appeared. I decided to put all of the 'red' clematis in this one thread (instead of listing them on at a time). I figure it may be helpful if you can see them all together to make comparisons. I realize there are many red/purple clems out there, and IDing them is difficult if not downright impossible. Still I thought I would give it a shot.

The colors presented are very close to how they appear, btw. Also, please note that all of these plants were acquired 5 to 10 years ago. Thus none are new varieties just introduced in the past few years. Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

Clematis #1 seen in bright light, partially open, is a med 'red'. It opens a bright, intense, 'fuschia' tinged color and fades to a [less bright] med red with blue undertones.

Clematis #1 again. Here is shown a mature bloom.

Edited to add that this one is an est 7-8"D when mature.

This message was edited Apr 17, 2011 12:46 PM

Since JeanneTX has returned to the Clematis Forum, and she is such an expert with clematis identification, I am sure she will be glad to give you names for your clematises.

Hi pirl,

Oh, I sure hope she will stop by later after I've finished loading all of the photos. Thanks much.

I still have 4 of 5 more clematis for which I need to load pics. I have to go do a few things, so I'll have to load the rest of the pics later this afternoon. I loaded the 1st 2 pics at max resolution in hopes of giving you the most information available. They are taking a while to load and are even a bit slow to view even on high speed, so I may need to drop the rest of the pics down a bit before loading.

I am sure most of us will be watching and waiting for the identifications along with you.

Clematis #2. I guess this is really more of a purple. This one is, I think, a bit smaller than #1, maybe 6-7"D at maturity. The blooms are a deep, dark, almost black, super velvety, royal purple with red undertones. (not a blue purple) The one pictured here is newly opened. This is one of my favorites of this group largely because of the velvety texture (mostly on 'young' blooms).

Clematis #2. Here is a look at some mature flowers seen against a privacy fence.

(Please try to overlook the weeds. For the past few years I've been largely unable to do much in the garden due to chronic pain following an accident. Sadly, the garden is mostly taking care of itself these days. I hope to get back out there soon.)

Clematis #3. The blooms on this one are closer in size to those of #1. The blooms are a dark, near-black, velvety red when they 1st open and mature to a deep, royal red close to the color used for choir robes and bench cushions in some churches.

I have more difficulty showing this color accurately. This one seems to actually change colors as the day goes on. It appears to be more of a dk, royal red morning through mid afternoon, changing to a blue red later in the afternoon and early evening. Most of my pictures are taken after 6 when I get home and thus are the blue red. When I view the flowers on weekend mornings, I do a double take as it looks like a totally different plant (to my eyes, no camera involved). Photos taken on weekends show this color change.

Shown below is the morning or weekend view of this clematis, mature blooms.

Clematis #3. Early evening view. Note newly opened blooms on the far right, more mature flowers on the left. This really is the same plant, and while I realize cameras are famous for color 'tricks', the color change in this plant is stunningly obvious even to the naked eye, so much so that I found myself questioning if I had 2 different clematis planted in the same spot. (No, as there were dozens of blooms of the one color the night before and [only] dozens of the new color the following morning.)

Clematis #4. Also large, 7-8" blooms. Newly opening bloom.

Clematis #4. Mature bloom seen in early evening shortly before sunset.

Clematis #4 seen in bright, full, morning sun.

A quick word on atmospheric effects on color. This is a very real effect which is known to artists. Colors appear different when viewed at different times of day, at different distances, and under different environmental conditions (and also when viewed inside under different types/colors of light). Just as colors look different in incandescent (yellow) vs ordinary fluorescent (blue), they also look different in bright sunlight early in the day (yellow) vs late afternoon (blue).

Often the difference is subtle, and unless you are an artist you may not even notice it, but the sun casts a yellow glow on things early in the day. Later in the day as the sun moves lower on the horizon its effects are diminished. Then the blue color, the same atmospheric effect that gives the sky its color, that of light bouncing off of dust and pollution, takes precedence giving things more of a blue cast.

Even if you don't notice this effect, it is very real and is essential to artists in their efforts to produce a realistic 3D effect on a flat canvas.

Edited to add. I think perhaps the camera exacerbates the problem by pushing the blues in the evening especially when rendering photos as jpegs. Jpegs compress color information thus effecting color. Still, there really is a noticeable color difference when viewing items under varying atmospheric conditions (including different times of day).

This message was edited Apr 17, 2011 2:03 PM

I do have a 5th clematis; however, I have just learned that I don't have any decent picks of that one on this computer. I'm sure I have many in storage, but I won't be able to get them out right now. Let's consider this the end of the show, at least for now.

So. Any ideas?