Clematis 'Nubia'

Clematis 'Nubia' comes from the Boulevard Series of English breeder Raymond Evison and was introduced in 2014. Its 13–15 cm flowers are velvety dark red, made up of six elliptic, slightly wavy tepals. Particularly charming: the filaments start out dark red and lighten to pinkish white later, giving the bloom a finely shaded look.

'Nubia' shows its flowers from July to September. At around 100 cm it stays compact and suits small trellises, obelisks, containers and balconies. It thrives in sun as well as partial shade and accepts any aspect – what matters is moist, well-drained soil.

'Nubia' is reliably winter-hardy (zone 6, down to about -23 °C). Cut it back to about 25 cm in March; it then re-shoots vigorously from the base. Plant it so that the crown sits 5–8 cm below the soil surface – this encourages new shoots to form below ground as well. It takes about two to five years to reach full maturity.