Clematis, Viticella Betty Corning

Betty Corning is one of the most prolific and carefree clematis for the Midwest garden, covering itself in nodding, bell-shaped lilac-purple flowers throughout the summer with a lightness and grace that larger-flowered hybrids simply can’t match. A viticella type, it is among the most disease-resistant and vigorous clematis in cultivation, growing five to nine feet and clothing a trellis, arbor, fence, or supporting shrub in blooms from midsummer into fall. The nodding flowers age beautifully to a soft silvery purple and have an elegant, almost translucent quality when backlit by afternoon sun. It asks for full sun, average moisture, and good drainage, and unlike fussier clematis it is reliably easy to maintain. Prune it back to about twelve inches in late winter before growth emerges; it will respond with vigorous new growth and the best bloom of its life. The warm burgundy and copper-bronze fall foliage provides a final season of interest before frost.