I have Sunset planted at the base of a small deciduous Magnolia. It's a very small plant, only a few vines and a few feet tall. This spring it bloomed for the 2nd time. The blooms have always been dark red. Then in November the bloom shown below appeared. It is light to med blue lavender with fuschia stripes. There is no indication that I ever planted any other clematis in the area. Could this be Sunset? Does the bloom vary this much from season to season?
Here is the same plant as photographed in early May 07.
And just to add to the color confusion, here it is in mid April.
So, basically, is this possible?
Your 3rd picture looks the closest to the one pictured at Clematis on the Web. Clematis blooms will vary with age, temperature, soil, time of day and various weather conditions. How old is the Clematis that you are showing us? Many Clematis do not acquire their true color for several years. http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=433
Hi, Shirley,
Thanks for the response and info. It looks like I received this one in late Oct of 2003 at which time it was a small, bareroot piece about 6" long (roots included). It sulked for a year or so during which I thought it was dead. I recorded the 1st bloom in May 2006. Even now the plant is only about 2ft high.
So, it's 4 yrs old and has been blooming for 2 summers.
The photos above were all taken in spring and fall of 2007. They are shown above in reverse order. The 3rd picture, the one that looks most like the vendor pic was taken in early spring (April). The middle picture was taken next (May). The 1st picture at the top of the page, the one that looks least like vendor pics was taken last, just a few weeks ago in November. I stress the order in which they were taken because this doesn't seem to show a trend toward acquiring the expected color with time. Just the opposite. The color seems to have grown less 'normal' with time. However, a more recent bloom that opened over the past weekend is the dark red color (again).
I should add that the blooms are small to medium, maybe 4 to 4.5in D.
I've seen photos in PF and elsewhere that resemble the 2 dark pics above but wondered if anyone had observed the 'striped' coloring depicted at the top.
I grew a Sunset but it died one year when I was too sick to take care of it -- it was in a container. I'm convinced clematis varieties can put out different colors of flowers like yours. Here's a picture of mine in May.
the first one looks alot like my Dr. Ruppel, which has the stripes as well. But skimming through my Clematis book, it also looks like Fireworks, or Anna Louise.
However, Sunset in my book is dark red! with no stripes. it's really lovely yours. and I know they change. full of surprises, these vines.
This is what my Sunset blooms look like. I have never seen any variation in the color across the petals...but I have other clematis that do. Could you have two vines growing there? Did your vine come from seed or was it propagated?
Here's the photo...Clematis change color whether they are growing in full sun or partial shade. Full sun seems to bleach out the bloom colors.
This message was edited Dec 7, 2007 8:46 AM
