By Abby Elliott,
Owner, Sugar Creek Gardens
Prepare yourself for a vibrant shade garden saturated with vivid color. “Boring!” A common complaint we hear from our customers describing their shade gardens. You too? If so, put those days behind you. You can bring vivid color and exceptional flower form to your darker areas with shade loving Clematis. For you we have put together this collection of elegant, heavy blooming delights. These jewels flourish in shady spots. Most perform best with morning sun and afternoon shade, or dappled sunlight. Try these beauties against walls, in pots, or climbing up trees.
- Avant-Garde with unusual blooms unlike any other. It will delight you for months with striking 2” flowers with a central pompom of rosy pink that are backed by petals of velvety ruby red. “I have this in bright shade—no direct light—and it blooms its head off,” reports a Sugar Creek gardener.
- Nelly Moser. Supersized flowers can be 8” across. Spectacular pale pink flowers with deep reddish pink center stripes cover the vine in early summer, then flush out again in later summer.
- Sapphire Indigo. A continuous display of jewel-toned sapphire blue flowers appear from June into September. Can be grown on a trellis, or used as a weed smothering groundcover.
- Samaritan Jo Clematis was named to honor the great volunteers who aid those in distress. Exquisite flowers of silvery pink are edged in deep violet.
- Comtesse de Bouchaud. A long-time favorite for its continuous blooming soft pink blossoms and shade tolerance.
Visit Sugar Creek to see more shade loving Clematis, or visit www.sugarcreekgardens.com. Find the secret code word at our website and receive a FREE GARDEN GIFT.
Sugar Creek Gardens, 1011 N. Woodlawn, Kirkwood MO 63122. 314-965-3070.