What is it? When it comes to pink or blue, there are hundreds of clematis to choose from. But yellow? Not so many. Clematis tangutica is the cream of the crop, offering sunshine yellow lanterns in late summer and autumn, followed by wonderfully tactile fluffy seedheads.
Any good varieties? ‘My Angel’ has rusty red backs to its petals, ‘Lambton Park’ has longer, droopier petals, ‘Golden Tiara’ has prominent dark red stamens and ‘Helios’ is the baby of the bunch at 2m tall, making it ideal for smaller spaces. ‘Bill Mackenzie’ is a hybrid of C. orientalis and C. tangutica, and has larger lanterns.
Plant it with? It needs some room to do its own thing, but you could plant an early flowering clematis alongside to keep the show going longer. Christopher Lloyd suggested growing it through the Mount Etna broom (Genista aetnensis).
And where? C. tangutica loves a sunny spot, and will grow happily through bushes or trees. ‘Bill Mackenzie’ is tolerant of shade.
Any drawbacks? It can get enormous. Cut it back hard in late winter, leaving a pair of buds per shoot a few centimetres above the base.
What else can it do? C. tangutica is one of the most drought-tolerant clematis. The seedheads are fantastic dried.
