Clematis 'Josephine'

Clematis 'Josephine' was discovered around 1980 by Josephine Hill in the United Kingdom, after whom it is named, and was introduced by Guernsey breeder Raymond Evison at the Chelsea Flower Show in 1998. It arose as a sport, a spontaneous mutation of an unknown parent cultivar. Its flowers are among the most striking in the genus: around eight broad, creamy green to violet-pink outer sepals surround numerous shorter, rosette-like layered inner sepals with a stronger pink-violet central bar, giving the 10-12 cm blooms a fully double appearance.

'Josephine' flowers twice: the first, especially double flush appears from May to June on last year's wood, followed by a second, usually simpler flush from August to September on new growth. Reaching a height of 200-250 cm, it is well suited to trellises, trellage, obelisks and large containers on patios and balconies. A sunny to partly shaded position with a cool, shaded root run - for example under low underplanting or a mulch layer - brings out the flower colour best; in full shade the blooms may turn greenish.

The variety is reliably hardy (zone 6, down to about -23 °C) and copes well with harsh winters outdoors. It is cut back to about 100 cm in September during its first two years after planting to encourage bushy growth; established, well-branched plants then only need pruning every three to five years. Because the variety reliably produces double flowers even after hard pruning, it forgives minor pruning mistakes.