By Bryony
United Kingdom 
Would these two clematis look good together?
I have a clematis 'Perle d'Azur' (blue) which grows through a white rose, and thought a darker purple might good with them. I got tempted by a clematis 'The President' and have bought it, now I don't know if it will look at all good with the 'Perle d'Azur' as I have never seen one in bloom in real life. I think the blooms of 'The President' might be too big to go next to 'Perle d'Azur', any advice would be welcome as I could plant 'The President' elsewhere.
Thanks.
22 Mar, 2011
Answers
I think they'd look fine together, but do bear in mind they're different clematis from the pruning point of view - Perle d'Azur should be cut down to about 8 inches by mid February yearly, whereas The President needs no pruning at all - flowers early with large flowers, and then again a few weeks later with smaller ones. Although the first flush of flowers from the President will be large, Perle d'Azur will not be in flower when they appear - so when the next smaller flowered flush arrives, they won't look too big against Perle.
22 Mar, 2011
Clematis 'Jackmanii' is a good purple-flowered clematis, will flower at the same time as 'Perle d'Azur', and needs pruning at the same time
22 Mar, 2011
Thanks everyone. I think I will look for something else from the same to grow next to the 'Perle d'Azur' after all, 'Jackmanii' seems like a good choice.
22 Mar, 2011
Planting colours and combinations are an individual thing, if YOU like the look of them together i'd do it !
Some people like toning colours, some like contrasting - i like a mix of both !
22 Mar, 2011