Clematis 'Girenas'

Clematis 'Girenas' – correctly 'Girénas' – comes from the breeder L. Bakevicius and is named after one of the pilots who flew non-stop from New York to Lithuania in 1933 and crashed in Germany. Its large flowers measure 10–15 cm and glow in pink with darker stripes: a red-purple bar runs down the middle of the pale pink sepals, and the margins of the eight pointed petals are charmingly wavy.

At around 300 cm tall, 'Girenas' climbs trellises, obelisks and supports while remaining a rather compact, easily trained climber with mid-green foliage. It flowers from July to September, carrying you through high summer into early autumn. Choose a sunny to semi-shaded spot with well-drained, evenly moist soil, and keep the roots cool and shaded with underplanting or pebbles.

'Girenas' is hardy (zone 6, to about -23 °C). After the first flowering, cut the plant back to about 100 cm in June; in early spring it is enough to remove dead and weak shoots. Plant the clematis deep enough that the crown sits 5–8 cm below the soil surface, so that additional shoots form from the base.