You could try Ville de Lyons - it's reddish (more dark pink, really). It has been reasonably hardy for me - it did take a year off and didn't show its face at all, but the next year before i could shovel prune it, up it came. Nelly Moser is pink and white, and also does well here (or it would if i could make up my mind where i wanted it). Durandi and Multi Blue are also good, but blue. I'm sure there are pictures of Multi Blue in the gallery - sooooo pretty!

Lynn, Terry (twrosz) sent me a bunch of suggestions for clematis to grow here in Z3. Maybe send him an email. He knows his clematis. :)

Ginny

The only one that has been long term successful for me (besides two at the old house I don't know the fate of) has been alpina. I got a baby from my mom's and it's done really well. It has even had a couple of babies of its own! One of which is looking for a new home but nobody wanted it last year when I posted.

Hi all. I found a spindly little sad looking Ville de Lyon and bought it, as it's the only one I could find anywhere.

It has one stem hanging barely by a thread it seems, and then branches out to two. It's about 2 feet high.

Do I plant it "6 feet under" and then cut it back right away to 12 inches or so, or will that be too much shock for it all at once?

NAF - Ville de Lyon is a good choice - I have it and it blooms lots through the summer and has huge pretty blooms. Hopefully even though it is spindly it'll hang on long enough to get established.

I would bury the plant three inches or so, so that at least one set of entire leaves is under soil.

I'm not sure whether cutting it back would be too hard on it at this point. Personally, I'd probably leave it alone it's first year and let it focus on putting down roots..but I'm not sure that is necessarily "right".

As far as choosing clematis; I always buy clematis that are "group 3"..these are the ones you can prune back in late winter and it blooms on new wood(usually 2 flushes of bloom). I think that most of the varieties from that group will be hardy as long as they are buried. I ALWAYS cover my clematis with straw in winter, and I've never lost one.

Niobe is another burgundy/red that is great, it really holds it's color well.(it is also a group 3 variety)

I've had the best luck with pruning group C clems. Polish Spirit and Jackman are reliably hardy here unless there's a freak freeze-up like a couple of years ago (most clems and a lot of roses died that year). I have Rhapsody and Mme Julie Correvon (a reddish, pinkish purple) and they are good in 2b as well.

Those pictures at the nursery look very tempting, but do your research first or you will just be wasting your money. It's amazing that we have places that sell so many varieties that are outside of our zone...then people wonder about their growing abilities, when in fact, it was the hardiness of the plant.

In my experience, the larger the pot, the better the chance of survival. I bought "liners" one year (small pots) and not one of them came back.

I agree with Donna in Sask. Group C seems to be hardiest for this part of the world, although I do have a "President" which does quite well here.

I also have Ville de Lyon which does well, and Huldine.

Thank you all. It's so much nicer when real people can tell you what's hardy here. Now I'm armed with a list before I shop.

If my new Ville de Lyon and last year's Jackmani survive, then I'll add another one to try =:)

Oh, and "group 3" and "Group C" are the same type!

DH bought me an integrifolia 'Durandi' for Mother's Day. It's group C, so we shall see how it does.

My only other comment, besides my good experience with alpina, is that my mom has grown many clematises over the years and the hybrids don't seem to be a terribly long-lived plant regardless of culture and conditions. She has had many that looked great and came back faithfully for 5-8 years and then just didn't show up. 'The President' from group B was one, I can't remember the others off hand.

My Durandi is doing quite well, but Alpina died out. Go figure! I have Multi-blue as well, which grows on old wood (forget the group, C, maybe?), and it's doing great! No sign of General Sikorsky, though. :( And i need to check on Ville de Lyons. Ah, i could see it out the bedroom window and it's growing nicely.

Group C is the one that blooms on new wood...to me, this seems to be the best one for our zone. It can die back to the ground, come up from the roots, and still have plenty of bloom.

Then mine must all be Group C except for Multi-blue. I was going to move it, but maybe the reason that it does well is that it's close to the house and shaded by my golden elder.

Does your Multi-Blue die back at all, or do you get the first bloom on old wood like you are supposed to? Group B will bloom on new wood too, but only the rebloom. If you don't get dieback, I'll have to check out more closely some of the group B varieties the greenhouse has.

This is only its second year so i don't know about the bloom yet. It died back a bit - the top couple of feet - and i cut that off. I'll keep an eye on it to see where the first blooms are, and i might even remember to come back here and post about it!

Thanks, Marcia, I'll be interested to know. I guess for now I'll just stick with group C.

All of the following have done very well in my garden (zone 3a/2b)
polish spirit
rooguchi (rated zone 4/5, but is growing like a weed here go figure)
integrifolia
constance
freemonti
columbiana tenuiloba
alpina pink flamingo (took several years before it got going cuz the plants I got were very puny)
alpina duchess of albany
ville de lyon
duranti
jackmanii
alionushka

I have lots, vining and sprawling and they bloom at different times (spring, early summer, mid summer, late summer). Good advice to be had at these sites:
http://www.icangarden.com/forum.cfm?task=viewthread&chatthreadid=6309
http://www.silverstarvinery.com/care.asp

Thanks for bringing the thread up - i was thinking of looking for it today since i noticed that MultiBlue is going to bloom and on new wood. The old wood grew branches and that's where it's starting to bud. So that's your answer. It's so pretty, though - i'll definitely hang on to it!

Thanks for the update, Marcia! I saw that one in the greenhouse the other day...I think when I get back from holidays I'll go pick it up.