Clematis of the Month for December 2020

described by Fiona Woolfenden

Clematis ‘Zoin’ INSPIRATION is a clematis that I do not have direct experience of growing myself, but I have seen it growing in a friend’s garden for many years and it has always flowered well. It is planted under a Camellia bush and flowers in the summer when the Camellia is not in flower, extending the flowering season of the Camellia.

The Camellia supports the stems of the clematis flowers which climb up through it and flower on the top of the bush as seen in the photo below and left. The stems can grow over a meter and a half (4 to 5 feet) so a substantial support is needed. This Camellia bush is planted next to a raised patio area so the flowers can be seen by looking down from above.

C. ‘Zoin’ INSPIRATION was bred by Wim Snoeijer in 1993 and is a cross between C. ‘Rosea’ (Integrifolia Group), bred by Magnus Johnson of Sweden, and C. ‘Warszawska Nike’ bred by Brother Stefan Franczak of Poland. With such a good pedigree its not surprising that the plant is a good garden plant. It was named by Wim in 1997 and then marketed by Jan van Zoest in 2000.

Flowering lasts a long time, from June through to September. So, in July buds, newly opened flowers, mature flowers and seed heads can all be found at the same time on the plant. The photos below were mostly taken in July.

The flowers are 5-8 cm across and are more or less erect or outward facing with 4 sepals. Initially the flower is the shape of a trumpet but opens wide with 4 sepals with nice veining down the centre and wavy edges to the flower. The colour of the flower is described as ‘strong pink’. It unfurls a darker pink from the bud and then fades a little as the flower opens.

The stamens are yellow which always sets a flower off nicely.

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Clematis AMAZING INSPIRATION

You may wonder why I am featuring C. ‘Zoin’ INSPIRATION in December. The reason is that a year ago, as I write this, by chance, I found some stems of C. ‘Zoin’ INSPIRATION being sold as cut flowers in a street market in Lymington, on the south coast of England. Although the clematis flowers were not named it was easy to establish that the flowers were C. ‘Zoin’ INSPIRATION which are marketed as C. AMAZING INSPIRATION when sold as a cut flower.

There were 10 clematis stems in the bunch and it looked as if the lead flower had been cut off to encourage the lower flowers to grow and flower. We bought 2 bunches and I gave one bunch to the friend we were staying with. The other bunch we took home.

I was amazed that the flowers lasted as long as they did. They were out of water from when I bought them at 12 noon until when we got back from town after lunch at about 3:30pm. I then cut the ends off the stems and kept them in water. We transported our bunch home in two wine bottles to keep the stems in water and to reduce spillage! The flowers then lasted about 2 weeks. Very good value for £2.50 a bunch! Normally the flowers would cost a lot more.

The clematis flowers are grown in Tanzania, Africa, treated to preserve their life and are then flown to The Netherlands where they are sold, via a company called Marginpar, at the Royal FloraHolland flower auction in Aalsmeer. Generally, the price in floristry shops in the UK is at least £1 per stem and can be as much as £2 per stem.

Clematis AMAZING INSPIRATION is very suitable for a cut flower bouquet or cut flower arrangement. I asked Wim Snoeijer, the breeder in Holland, if he had a photo of it used as cut flower arrangement but, unfortunately, he did not. A few days later Wim emailed me to tell me that he had found some Clematis AMAZING INSPIRATION at a local garden centre. He bought 2 bunches and kindly sent me a photo of the flowers. Wim also found one stem in a flower arrangement and added ‘At present it is very popular in Holland to have “a picking bouquet”, that means of each flower one stem.’ The photo he sent me of the bouquet is below. Wim, thank you!

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P.S. If you are interested in “Clematis as Cut Flowers” you may be interested in the article that I wrote earlier this year about C. ‘Zobluepi’ BLUE PIROUETTE, another clematis grown and sold as a cut flower.

Fiona Woolfenden