Winter Beauty Evergreen Clematis

Clematis urophylla / clarkeana 'Winter Beauty'

A welcome distraction in the winter months, the distinctive white flowers, shaped like bells, appear around January and, on a good year, perhaps a month either side. The shiny evergreen foliage looks great in winter as long as it isn't hit by frost. It is relatively compact, reaching about 3-4 metres tall and wide.

Browse our range of Clematis, or all our climbing plants.

Features:

• Flower colour: White
• Flower shape: Bell
• Fragrance: Strong
• Repeating: No
• Evergreen
• Flowering season: December-February
• Final height and spread: 4m x 4m
• Pruning group: 1
• Hardiness H3: too tender for the North

Growing 'Winter Beauty' Clematis

This variety has an RHS hardiness rating of H3, which strictly means prolonged winter temperatures below -5C should be too much for it, but it's a touch hardier than that and should only experience some damage if night-time temperatures consistently dip that low, especially if it is growing on a sheltered wall against the house. Covering it with fleece at the peak of midwinter cold (which is also when it flowers!) to keep the frost off at night will make a big difference. Its manageable size is ideal for unheated greenhouses, or it could be grown in a pot and moved to a suitable microclimate, usually right beside the house, during winter.

Clematis perform best with in deep, rich soil where the soil is shaded and the vines grow into full sun, but partial shade is fine: the warmer your location, the more shade they will cope with, and we have a friend whose 'Winter Beauty' is doing well on a North-facing wall near Dartmoor. Unlike most clematis, 'Winter Beauty' prefers its soil on the dry-ish side because constant moisture may cause disease, and it doesn't mind mildly acidic soil either (alkaline is still best, though). It is happy in sheltered coastal conditions.

In Your Garden Design

Bring interest to the garden at the lowest point of the year by pairing with other winter eye-catchers, such as cornus, willows, snowdrops and hellebores.

Did You Know?

The species is Japanese, and one especially fine specimen was chosen to clone for commercial production in 2002, named by Wim Snoeijer at Jan van Zoest Nursery in Holland, which specialises in Clematis.

Images supplied by Clematis on the Web.

How to Grow Clematis Winter Beauty:

Please note that this variety has an RHS rating of H3, down to -5C (we think it can take a touch more than that), which is not hardy enough to grow outdoors reliably in much of the Northern and Eastern UK outside sheltered urban microclimates. Covering it with fleece to keep frost off it will help a lot, but its season of interest is midwinter, so this would be a bit pointless unless you don't mind taking the fleece off and putting it back up as necessary.   

• Give it a deep, moist spot to bury its roots into.
• The soil needs to be well-drained and on the dry side: it won't tolerate waterlogging, and overwatering may cause phytophthora.
• The climber needs a moderately sturdy supporting structure.
• Pruning group 1 - no regular pruning required. If you want to reduce their size, prune immediately after flowering.
• Late spring is the usual time to mulch with well-rotted manure or garden compost, but early winter is also good for this variety, especially while it establishes, as it provides some insulation.

Look out for: Aphids and caterpillars are fond of the young shoots.

Follow planting instructions to minimize the risk of clematis wilt.

Clematis slime flux, a bacterial infection of damaged tissue, can kill large specimens in a short period of time. It can be pruned out if spotted early.