Clematis 'Belle of Woking'

On the subject of Clematis, with my 'Blotanical' cohorts in mind...

 Clematis 'Belle of Woking'

This belle proved to be very difficult to grow. Unaware of her reputation as being among the most fussy of clematis vines and not at all vigorous, I planted a specimen at the base of a stucco wall, where competition from other plants and too-dry soil resulted in minimal growth. Even after a move, she languished. 

Thinking that 'Belle' was doomed, I uprooted her one last time, placing the scraggly remains in a large glazed container of black bamboo at the rear of the garden. Here, the rare beauty did, in fact, flourish. 

Trained to climb up alongside the bamboo canes, Belle's stems weave upwards into the sunshine, where they meet up with a rustic grapevine trellis, spanning a 20-foot section along the top of the fence. The trellis supports a lavish thicket of Clematis montana 'Rubens,' along with the delicate stems of C. 'Belle of Woking.'

In the photo, one large bloom takes center stage in a shallow Japanese flower-arranging vessel. Strong winds easily damage the flowers and weak stems, so it seems best to bring the fully double blooms indoors as cut flowers to be enjoyed up-close. The plant's leaves are held out to the side in a way that beautifully frames the bloom.

The 'Belle of Woking' cultivar was developed in England in the late 1880s by George Jackman and Son. It's a deciduous, hardy clematis resulting from a cross between the species C. 'Fortunei' and C. 'Lanuginosa Candida.' Growing about 7 feet tall, plants produce blooms that resemble multipetaled antique roses.  Give 'Belle' loamy, well-drained, yet moisture-retentive soil, good air circulation, and full sun with its roots shaded, and she should thrive.

Flowering season in my area begins around late-May, and lasts several weeks. Happily, flowering often recurs in the fall on new stems.