Hello, I don't think you have too much to worry about as long as your Perle D'Azur has a good root system. I would suggest that you keep it watered very well throughout the hotter months of summer. I'm in a similar zone to you and have many southernly facing clematis. We have intense afternoon sun and my type 2's do very well there. I do water them daily during the hot and dry season.

Even though your clem is a type 2 I would make sure to prune it back in March next year to help promote more vines coming from the root for next season. Type 2's flower on old wood but still should be treated with type 3 pruning methods while they are still young. I would also suggest that you cut off any spent blooms so your clem doesn't go into seed production. Cut them off above the set of nodes at the leaf juncture. You will end up with a fuller more prolific clematis after 3 years.

Your PdA will be fine, especially if you keep it watered and mulched. If you have some clay in your soil, so much the better. PdA is actually a type 3 clematis, a C. lanuginosa and viticella hybrid. It's a nice one, enjoy.

Whew! Thought I had a mis-label for a moment. It has three or four flower buds on it, so I knew it couldn't be a type 2. I definitely have clay in my soil. I gave it it's first ( and oly, for this year,) feed a few days ago, some soaked alfalfa cubes and Plant-Tone in moderate doses. I know I probably should have waited for post-flowering, but I NEEDED to use up the smelly alfalfa, and I wasn't aware until the last moment that it had budded out!

Thanks for the encouragment, I am very excited to see these blooms....

Greenhaven, not to worry! Perle D'Azur is a very vigorous and floriforous clematis. Mine also gets only alfalfa and organic fertilizers and does extremely well. (There is a PdA on each side of that arbour, by the way - it's supposed to be blooming with Dr Van Fleet, which winter-killed practically to the ground this spring. There's always next year....) It is also in full sun, plus my soil has plenty of clay, although heavily amended. Here's a photo (sorry about the blurriness)from two weeks ago, with many more buds left to open.

Judith

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Judith..what a glorious specimen of PdA!!..Jeanne

Thanks Jeanne! Remember, though, that there are 2 of them, one on each side.... Too bad my photographic skills are not quite as glorious....I have to get a new camera that will put up with all the moving and shaking I seem to do when I try to take a shot!
Judith

Judith, how far do yours reach? How gorgeous they are!

Thanks, Greenhaven. The arch is about 6-1/2 to 7 ft high in the middle, and each one grows to the middle and well beyond. They are so mismashed together I can't tell where one ends and the other begins, but believe me, these clematis love to grow. HMF says they grow to 10 or 12 feet, and for all I know, maybe they have! Michael in Chicago stated that they have viticella in their breeding, and that makes sense. Viticellas grow so well here, and are very vigorous. And so far, no problems with mildew or wilt (keeping my fingers crossed).
Clematis are just as much of an addiction (well, almost) as roses, and there are so many out there to try. I now have a pot ghetto of clems beside their little rose neighbours....
Judith

Good to know, good to know. I now have a pretty good idea about their support needs!