Wow beautiful! I would guess that it is too big to be Dr. Ruppel. I just love your clematis though!!!

Theres no way its Dr Ruppel - Dr Ruppel is pink and white. What ever it is its beautiful!! More than likely its a group 2 - light prune. But sorry its just a guess. Golden

I'd guess it to be 'The President' - bloom time, size, color and purple tipped anthers are right. Even so, if not that specific cultivar, it is a pruning group 2.

Thank you so much for your help! I will look up the pruning for group 2 clematis. I had planted a clematis on the other side of the mailbox and thought I lost it the first year when it wilted and died away. When it didn't come back the second year, I planted this one on the other side of the mailbox. The following year they both came back. :) Go figure. So now I have a different variety on each side that blooms at different times. I hope by learning the proper pruning I can get them to fill out and become more bushy. My SIL has a different one that completely envelopes the mailbox and is gorgeous. I like my flowers better than hers, but the size of hers give me Clematis envy!

Sue

It turns out I underestimated the size of these blooms. I went out and measured them today. I measured 4 blooms, 3 of them were 9 1/2" across, the fourth was 10" (24-25 cm). I bet it is The President. Thank you so much for your help, as well as the compliments!

Sue

Wow what a beauty. Could it be 'ramona'? If you check out these websites (clematis on the web)and (helpmefind) it sure looks like ramona. Here is what Dr. Ruppel looks like. Hope this helps. {{gwi:593840}}{{gwi:585128}}

My "President" isn't that color at all. It's a deeper purple with a lighter pinkish?/ stripe in it. As soon as I figure out how to upload the pic I'll send it in.

I find it hard to id plants.....as sometimes I swear the growers mix up the tags!!! I have a purple one just like yours and I can't remember the names. I guess I should start cataloging them! LOL. Good luck with ID'ing it.

The Pres does look like that... I would say either the Pres or Elsa Spath. Looks like the Pres to me.

first one looks like hf young. no way is it the president

Definately not HF Young as it has a yellow center.

If not 'The President', it's pretty darn close. Keep in mind that both blue and purple clematis (and other flowers for that matter) seldom photograph true to color.

Here is a link that might be useful: The President

I concur with Gardengal...looks like "The President" to me as well....Jeanne

I am pretty well convinced that it is The President, although several look a lot like it. I took a closer look at the center and it is more white than yellow and although the tips looked purple, even in person, looking very closely they are a very dark red. The flower color varies quite a bit in intesity. The larger/older ones are lighter and the smaller/newer ones are a distincly deeper purple. There are faint white "stripes" on the large petals towards the middle. I am not sure if the color fades over time or from exposure to the sun, or if the difference in shades is only related to the size of a particular bloom. There is no pink on any of the flowers.

My biggest remaining question is how you all seemed to know it was a variety requiring light pruning without knowing for sure which one it was.

My other remaining question is if there is any way to encourage fullness. I want one of those clematis that bloom from the ground to top of the mailbox and envelopes the entire mailbox, like others I have seen.

Thank you to everyone who looked, took time to reply and spent thier time trying to identify this for me. I appreciate what a generous gift your time is, especially when you give it to a stranger. You are all the best!

Sue

Whatever it is I want one! I love the blues and have a hard time finding them in my area of CT. I am in Newtown. I just bought an Elsa Spath and a Wisley at Stew Leonard's yesterday. They are both straggly but I am hoping to find out if I should prune them and repot to bury deeper. Or maybe since they are in 1 gl container I can get put them in the ground. Your clem is a beautiful size and color.

Suebot in CT

Thank you, Suebot. Sorry, I haven't checked back in a while. This one is several years old, and the first time it has been this nice. I am bad, it is also probably the first time I remembered to fertalize it. :) I live in nothern CT and most probably bought this either at Walmart or Reveys in East Windsor. Mine is in the ground, planted quite deep, becuase I read that was the best way around here. Probably even 8-12" deep. It took several years to be a little less scraggly.

Sue

Wow, I can't believe my post is still here 3 years later! This is great, because I have more questions. In the following two years this plant has become much fuller but the flowers are much smaller. How do I prune it for larger flowers, or is that the problem? Could it be fertalizing or weather? Pruing seemed the most likely to me, and harder pruning seems like the most likely answer, but I am not sure how to do it. Decrease the number of shoots from the ground, just cut back the height to 3 or 4 feet for each shoot, remove older or smaller vines? I wanted a larger plant with large flowers. I also seem to get a little more green growth and less flowers than the best photos I see here. That might be because it is on the lawn and gets excess nitrogen from lawn fertilizers. Would adding a super phosphate fertilizer help balance that?

Sue