Clematis 'Mary Rose'

Viticella clematis usually have pinnate leaves and nodding, single or double, open-bell-shaped flowers. The flowers of Clematis 'Mary Rose' are fully double and grey-purple. It's thought that the cultivar is very old, and was known as C. peregrina purpurea 'Flore Pleno' in 1623, and the 'double purple virgin's bower' in 1629. It was reintroduced and renamed in 1981 by Barry Fretwell after one of Henry VIII's warships, which sunk in 1545.

Grow 'Mary Rose' in a container where you can train it up an obelisk, or allow it to scramble though a shrub or small tree in the herbaceous border.

Being a summer-flowering clematis, 'Clematis 'Mary Rose' is in Pruning Group 3. Simply cut stems back to the lowest pair of buds in February or March.