British Columbia: Help with Clematis choice

We are planting an emerald cedar hedge. The cedars are approx 8 ft tall, and I would like to grow a clematis on them for some colour. Any suggestions for a pref group 1 clematis i.e. little if any pruning, colour preference would be white, pink or red. Does anyone know if there is a really small flowering red one? A trouble free plant would be preferred. East facing location, fairly windy. Thanks in anticipation!!

 

Sooooo.....does anyone have any ideas to help with this little problem? I am a relatively new Northern Hemisphere gardener, so don't know much about Clematis. If anyone has a suggestion for any other creeper as a companion plant for Emerald Cedar, it would be much appreciated. We lived in North Van for a couple years, and neighbours had this small, red flowered creeper meandering through their hedge....it was quite spectacular. I never got to ask what it was, but assume it was a form of Clematis.

 

You should have a look at the website Home of Clematis (Clearview Nursery). This link will take you to a list of clematis which tells you the colour and the pruning group.

One thing to think about, however, is pruning your cedar hedge. You said you wanted a clematis you didn't have to prune. However, when you need to prune your hedge, how will you deal with the clematis that is growing on it? You might be better off with a Group C clematis...these get pruned back every year then grow up and flower in the summer. You could grow several different ones if you wanted to.

I say this because I tried doing the same thing - grew a Clematis armandii up into the cedar hedge that is on the border between my house and the neighbour's. It looked great until the hedge trimmer guys came. Even though they tried hard to peel it away for pruning the hedge, lots got broken and it finally died.

The small red flowered vine you saw might have been something else, maybe Campsis? Check out the list of vines on the Home of Clematis site.

Good luck...

 

Thanks for the feedback!! Good point re the hedge needing trimming. We will leave them as individual trees as long as possible as it is just screening a greenhouse, my new project. The climber I saw was not Campsis, as the flowers were small and a lovely red, and nothing I saw on the Clematis website fitted the bill, hence my post on the forum. I will go to that house when next I am in North Van. Perhaps a group C Clematis will be better!!!