Clematis, Early Large-flowered Clematis, Double Clematis 'Franziska Maria'

I too, have found Franziska Marie to be slow to establish. I have two of them, both two years old. The first is located in almost full su...Read Moren with good, fertile soil. It started blooming May of its second year. It grew to a height of about 3 1/2 feet and has produced four, fully double, medium purple blooms. Only the second and third blooms were both open at the same time for a period of 3 days. They all bloomed on the one and only shoot of the plant. They really were beautiful and each of the four blossoms remained on the vine quite a long time, inspite of some unseasonably warm temperatures. The flowers were every bit as pretty as the catalog pictures.
Plant number two is located in all day partial sun and amended clayish soil. In hindsight, I realize that this area is teaming with eucalyptus roots. The vine not only has failed to bloom, but has only grown one shoot about three or four inches long. This is inspite of extra side dressings of compost and copious deep watering. I am going to move this one into a half barrel sized container in the very near future.
I am not ready to give up on Franziska yet, but she better show some improvement soon or risk being "shovel pruned" ( especially plant number two.) By the way, I do grow four other clematis cultivars quite successfully. I've had them for years and I am very happy with their performance.

I planted Franziska Marie in fall 2008 and am only now seeing her first blooms! They are a very nice, deep purple. The blooms are not as ...Read Morelarge as I expected them to be, about 4 inches across. She is a VERY slow grower for me. Even now, she has only a handful of buds and is only about 3 ft tall. I will try one more time hard pruning her after her bloomtime to see is I can fatten up some vining. I'm not very impressed with her growth. I have Crystal Fountain planted at the same time in 2008 that is doing tons better.
Hopefully she gets better with age...