Clematis 'Joe'

Clematis 'Joe' belongs to the New Zealand Forsteri Group and stems from a cross between Clematis marmoraria and Clematis paniculata. It is named after New Zealand botanist Joe Cartman, who sent the seed of the original plant to the raisers; in the UK, the cultivar was already on sale in the early 1980s. Its bowl-shaped white flowers have 5-6 tepals with creamy to pale yellow stamens, and since 'Joe' is a male-only cultivar, they appear in especially large numbers.

From March to April, the fine, evergreen, fern-like foliage turns into a dense sea of white flowers. At around 150 cm, 'Joe' grows more as a trailing rambler than a climber, making it well suited to pots, hanging baskets, banks or wall tops. It thrives best in a sunny to partly shaded, wind-sheltered spot with well-drained soil.

'Joe' suits zone 9 (down to about -6.6 to -1.2 °C) and needs a sheltered position in exposed sites, or container culture that can be moved close to the house or into a cold greenhouse in winter. Cut it back to about 75 cm in May, as recommended for this stock; by nature the cultivar belongs to pruning group 1, where no compulsory pruning is actually needed – light tidying straight after flowering is usually enough.