Clematis 'Emilia Plater'

Clematis viticella 'Emilia Plater' was raised in 1967 by the Polish monk Brother Stefan Franczak in Warsaw and introduced in 1986. Brother Stefan, who grew over 900 plant varieties in his monastery garden, named it after Emilia Plater, a Polish national heroine who fought as an officer in the November Uprising of 1830/31 against Russian rule. Its roughly 10 cm flowers appear in a soft pale blue to blue-violet with a distinctly darker central bar and fine veining on the four broad, gently waved tepals, with a tuft of creamy stamens at their centre.

'Emilia Plater' flowers abundantly from July to September and reaches a height of around 300 cm. As a member of the Clematis viticella group, it is considered particularly vigorous and robust — in 2002 it received the Certificate of Merit from the British Clematis Society. It is well suited to trellises, obelisks and other supports, but also happily climbs into small trees and shrubs and works well as ground cover. It thrives best in a sunny to semi-shaded spot with well-drained soil.

'Emilia Plater' is reliably hardy (zone 5, down to about -28 °C) and belongs to pruning group 3. Cut it back hard to about 25 cm in March — it will reward you with especially lush growth and abundant flowering.