I have only seen one Clematis that is really red. Those that are labeled red to me, are not true red. Niobe, Westerplatte, Rouge Cardinal, Ville de Lyon all have purple/pink tones.

Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the red one. It was a sprig in a vase on a table set up at Joy Creek Nursery recently when they had a " Clematis Festival " It was really red, tomato red and had little bell shaped flowers. There were not any for sale.

I think members of the PNW Clematis Society had grown the plants. You might ask them.

Here is a link that might be useful: PNW Clematis society info page

HI
you can check out Gravetye Beauty a nice ruby-red

There is a pic of a red Clem in this thread, scroll way down. I think this might be the one I saw.

I saw 'Gravetye Beauty' last week in full bloom and it was dark pink here, not true red.

However, I was a florist for over twenty years and did a ton of wedding flowers and am very anal about color. All those art classes I had in school helped too.

Here is a link that might be useful: perennial thread

I find planting a Contrasting color of Clematis with my Rose much better than trying to find the same color..they just stand out better that way...I have Clematis "Ernest Markham" growing with my Red Climbing Rosa "Don Juan" and just love the two together..but then again ..it's all personal preference...what about Clematis "Kardinal Wyszynski"?

Yes Im with you Jeanne - I prefer two vibrant colors. I chose Romanitika to go with a yellow rose - the only problem is the darn Romanitaka turned out to be Mrs C. Darn it all! I really wanted that deep purple with the yellow. Ive seen it together and it looks fabulous! Oh well - I guess now I will just have to go out and get Romanitaka and hope its TAGGED properly!! Golden

I also prefer a contrasting color most of the time when combining plants.

Hi
I also love using lots of different color combo's its fun to sit and visualize how things are going to look.I would say Gravetye is red but thats what I see.I know its good to throw a little lime on your clem during the winter you will have much more vibrant colors.Mme Edouard Andr`e is a good red and has a mid size flower its also a fantastic growing plant.

Well, I just ordered a Gravetye Beauty so I'm hoping for the best. I have a combo of Pagoda clematis with a climbing small flowered pink rose & it's incredible. I just can't look at it enough it's so pretty. I think having the same color fills in the blanks that climbing roses can sometimes leave.

I TOTALLY agree Peg..I have tons of Climbing roses and just ordered 9 more for the 3 new Dome Pillars,My new Pergola and my new Victorian Bench ...they all will be "adorned" with Clematis...those are two combinations that are made in heaven IMHO...Jeanne

I have read that if a red clematis, such as Rebecca, gets any shade, it will tend toward purple. It has to have literally full sun to achieve the bright red color. So maybe it is your location for the plant that is the problem?

I have a Rebecca and it's red, growing in the shade. The trick is keeping it alive, it's very puny this year. This my second one and probably the last.

Rebecca is not tomato red here, it is magenta. Mine is in full sun.