Clematis 'Lambton Park'

Clematis tangutica 'Lambton Park' is not the result of deliberate breeding but a chance discovery: in 1985, Tom Bennett found the plant growing at the now-defunct Lambton Park Garden Centre in County Durham, England – unlabelled, yet already impressively established. He propagated it and named it after the place where he found it. The 4-5 cm bright yellow flowers hang from the plant like nodding lanterns, with four lanceolate, slightly recurved sepals and yellowish-beige stamens on brownish filaments. In a sunny position, the flowers develop a pleasant coconut scent.

'Lambton Park' flowers from July to August and reaches a height of around 400 cm – ideal for fences, pergolas, trellises or larger supports, but equally suited as ground cover or in a large container. After flowering, silky, silvery-grey seed heads form and remain on the plant well into winter, adding further ornamental value. The variety thrives best in full sun to semi-shade and copes well with poor, dry soils – heavy, waterlogged clay soils, however, do not suit it.

'Lambton Park' is winter-hardy to zone 5 (-28.8 to -23.4 °C), making it one of the most frost-tolerant varieties in the Tangutica Group. For vigorous growth and abundant flowering, cut the plant back to about 25 cm in March. For its elegantly nodding flowers and decorative seed heads, 'Lambton Park' was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.