Clematis Species, Blue Virgin's Bower, Rock Clematis

This species is native to both the West in the Rocky Mountains from Colorado up to the Yukon and in Saskatchewan and Alberta and to the E...Read Moreast in southeast Canada, New England, NY, PA, north NJ, north DE, into WV & VA. around Lake Superior, southeast MN, northeast IA, and central WI. Maybe two, an eastern and a western variety should be recognized. Gary Highshoe in his textbook of Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America shows a good map of the eastern range and calls it Clematis verticillaris, the Rock Clematis. The cold hardiness zones in the East are about USDA Zones 2 to 7. Grows the most in nature on rocky slopes and woods.

I discovered this lovely little wildflower on a trip up a back road through Emigrant's Gulch in Montana. What a sweet surprise! It did ...Read Morenot seem to have the bully properties of some other wild clematis, like the variety known as Virgin's Bower in the south, or sweet autumn clematis, which has been known to tumble strong trellises and arbors. It wound its way through shrubs and up trees, without seeming to affect the supporting plant in any way. Very pretty effect!

A lovely, delicate clematis of the Rockies, this one is not the most floriferous in cultivation. It looks much like C. alpina or C. macr...Read Moreophylla but the latter species are much more floriferous in the garden. The Blue Clematis, however, will grow in much deeper shade than the other species mentioned. It would be a fine addition to a woodland garden; simply allow the plant to scramble among the shrubs as it would in nature. The seedheads are fluffy and an added attraction.