Freckles Clematis, Winter Flowering

Clematis cirrhosa var purpurescens Freckles: Evergreen & Winter Flowering. Pot Grown Plants

Freckles brings a splash of Mediterranean warmth to your garden in winter and early spring, with its unusual speckled flowers. These early blooms will brighten your garden and attract bees at a sparse time of year. The leaves are evergreen, with a bronze tint in winter. They're quite delicate, almost fern-like.

At its best over an arch or pergola to really show off the speckled interior of the flower, and its lemony scent. Also looks great along a wall or trellis behind a border. It'll grow up to about 4m high with a spread of 2m.

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Features

• Bell-shaped cream flowers with red-brown speckles on the interior side
• Flowers November to February
• Scented: Citrus-like
• Dainty evergreen leaves with a bronze tinge in winter
• Height x spread: Up to 4m x 2m
• Rated H4: treat as half-hardy. Prefers plenty of sun
• Type: Cirrhosa
• Habit: Climber
• Pruning group 1
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Freckles Clematis

Freckles will be happiest in alkaline or neutral soil. Being of Balearic Mediterranean origin, it'll prefer a warm, sunny corner of your garden. As long as it has sun and good shelter from the wind and frost, it should be fine to grow in most parts of Scotland.

It won't rampage quite as vigorously as some other Clematis, so you won't need to cut it back except to maintain and tidy mature plants.

History & Trivia

Clematis cirrhosa originates in Southern Europe and North Africa, hence its tender nature. It was collected in Mallorca by the then curator of Chelsea Physic Garden, Allen Paterson. The seeds were passed on to the famed clematis grower Raymond Evison, who released it in the late 1980's and named it 'Freckles' after his daughter Rebecca. The name 'Clematis' is of Greek origin, from the word 'Klema' meaning vine-like.

Images supplied by Clematis on the Web.