Clematis ‘Rooguchi’

* Common name: Clematis ‘Rooguchi’

* Botanical name: Clematis integrifolia x durandii ‘Rooguchi’

* What it is: A woody-stemmed, compact, twining vine that produces large, 2-inch, bell-shaped, dark blue-purple flowers from early summer to early fall. One of the longest blooming clematis vines.

* Size: Twines its way up a support only 5 or 6 feet. Space 3 feet apart if you’re planting more than one along a wide support.

* Where to use: Ideal grown up trellises along a patio for privacy. Also nice growing up both sides of an arbor or up netting attached to a light post or mailbox. Compact enough to grow up an obelisk in a pot, too. Full sun to light shade.

* Care: Scatter a balanced, organic granular fertilizer around the base of vines in March. ‘Rooguchi’ dies back to the ground over winter and produces all new growth each spring. Remove dead foliage after frost in fall or at end of winter. Keep soil consistently damp the first season, then soak weekly in hot, dry weather. Maintain 2-3 inches of mulch over the soil at all times.

* Great partner: Gold-needled evergreens such as juniper ‘Gold Lace’ or dwarf Hinoki cypress ‘Verdoni’ or ‘Nana Lutea’ are good shrub partners. Coreopsis ‘Zagreb’ is a color-coordinated gold-blooming perennial that flowers at the same time.