Plant of the week - Clematis Alpina 'Frances Rivis'

As clematis go, this one is pretty amazing. The problem I had was a north-west facing slatted fence right by the house that looked pretty ugly. What could I grow up it to break up the hard lines of the fence that would survive in the shade, have good foliage foliage and provide some colour.

Then I stumbled upon this clematis while looking for a variety that would thrive in the shade. In the space of three years it has scaled the the fence stretching for the sunlight on the other side and covered about 10ft of space horizontally.

It's done less well in the last two years despite being hardy, I think caused by a period of harsh weather/frost that came late in the spring after the new buds had already started to grow. Despite this setback its still a mass of colour and bees love it - its right by the house so the delicately shaded mauve flowers can be seen while I'm typing this from my dining room table.

If you have a shady wall that needs colour I would really recommend giving this a try!

Again I bought mine from Crocus - here's the link to buy it on their site.

http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/clematis-alpina-frances-rivis/classid.856/