Clematis x patens Beautiful Bride - Early Large-flowered Clematis

The 'Beautiful Bride' Clematis impresses with the size of its campanulate flowers resembling immense sparkling white stars, delicately adorned with almost black stamens. And that's not all: it blooms from the base and all the way up, forming a superb column covered in flowers. This moderately growing variety blooms from May to August. Its first flowering is very abundant, then it blooms more sporadically during the summer, with its flowers often having only 6 tepals. This small climbing bush, essential in a white garden, also makes very pretty flower pots to decorate a wedding venue, for example, or even a large all-white bouquet, with baby's breath, bellflowers.

Clematis belong to the wood family. The 'Beautiful Bride' variety has an impressive track record: in 2011, it won the Gold Medal at Plantarium in the Netherlands, Honorable Mention in Poland, Silver Medal in Moscow, and in 2013, Gold Medal in Coventry. This is a perfectly perennial and hardy plant, semi-woody and climbing, which will reach a height of about 2.50 m (8ft) (sometimes 3 m (10ft)), with a minimum spread of 90 cm (35in). It has the genes of Clematis patens, a Japanese species with large flowers in various colours, which is the origin of many cultivars. This variety has rather round flowers with eight tepals at the beginning of the season. They measure up to 30 cm (12in) in diameter and appear on last year's wood in May-June, then produce some flowers on the new shoots during the summer. The flowers are upright and have a small cluster of very dark violet stamens in their center, which contrasts wonderfully with the white tepals with a cream-coloured median. The flowering is followed by decorative feathery silver-gray fruits that persist until winter. The deciduous leaves are tripinnate, with fairly dark green leaflets. This clematis clings on its own to a support or to the host plant through petioles transformed into tendrils. 

Plant your clematis alongside your climbing roses or lianas to extend the flowering of your walls and pergolas until the end of summer. Place pretty perennials like geraniums, carnations, nemorosa salvias, phlox at their base, which will provide the shade they appreciate. This is a genre rich in diversity, with flowers of all colours, shapes, and sizes. Take advantage of their easy cultivation to give your garden a romantic and bohemian touch. 'Beautiful Bride' loves to climb on bushes, transforms any column into a floral coat, and does very well in a large pot. It will work wonders in a beautiful jar on the terrace, in a white garden among border plants, on dark foliage shrubs, or even on a small fence. Create magnificent bouquets or an exceptional centerpiece with its garlands of immense flowers.