Last updated on May 25th, 2022
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If you are looking for the perfect clematis for a north-facing wall, you need deciduous climbers that can tolerate a variety of soil and only get four to five hours of sunlight each day and respond well to being trained up a wall, pergola, fence, or any other feature in your garden. But what are the best options for you?
Below are the top eight clematises for a north-facing wall. Each has been carefully selected to grow well in a north-facing position.
1. Clematis montana ‘Marjorie’
If you want your clematis to produce stunning groups of smaller flowers, this clematis is great. It produces semi-double flowers between May and June that have a creamy centre with a pink tinge along the edges of the petals.
The centre is a salmon colour and sometimes the foliage takes on a bronze tint. It’s perfect for growing up a pergola or a garden arch because of how quickly it grows and how easily it can be trained.
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2. Clematis montana ‘Grandiflora’
The Clematis montana ‘Grandiflora’, like most clematis, is a deciduous climber and this means that every autumn it will lose all of its leaves but every spring new foliage will appear.
Fully hardy, it is very fast-growing with flowers appearing between May and June so one of the first clematis varieties to flower. The flowers it produces are pure white and have a yellow centre, these are complemented by the dark green leaves on the rest of the plant.
The four main petals give it a very striking appearance. No pruning is necessary and all you really need to do for general maintenance is apply a slow-release fertiliser and mulch every spring.
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3. Clematis macropetala ‘Markham’s Pink’
This is another deciduous climber and it comes from the macropetala family of clematis that provides flowers between April and May. Fully hardy, it produces candyfloss pink coloured flowers that are sumptuous with their double flower shape.
The flowers themselves are somewhat smaller but the full plant will grow up to three metres in height. This eventual height makes it perfect for training around a tree or a trellis. Very little is required in the way of maintenance other than cutting back overgrown shoots, giving a dose of fertiliser in the spring and applying mulch around the base every spring.
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4. Clematis alpina ‘Frankie’
As an alpina clematis, this variety is deciduous, again one that loses its leaves in autumn but rest assured the bright green foliage will appear again the following spring.
It does best when planted in full sun but will also thrive in partial shade in well-drained, neutral soil. This tolerance makes it a good choice for north-facing walls.
This is a pretty fast-growing clematis that provides violet-purple coloured flowers between April and May. These flowers can range between a light purple and a middle-of-the-road purple and they take on a wide, bell-shaped so instead of having the flowers with a tight bell that folds downward, the petals open out, much the same as the montana family of clematis. It produces very decorative fluffy seed heads later on.
5. Clematis montana ‘Freda’
If you love pink flowers, this clematis is the one for you. The petals overlap one another so all four create a perfect little square shape. Between May and June, it produces flowers that are a bright and cheery cherry pink colour. What’s more, the leaves on this particular variety are not green like most clematis but are purple and green.
This is an award-winning variety that’s perfect for covering a fence or a wall and it’s great for small gardens because it is an average grower in terms of speed.
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6. Clematis ‘Jackmanii’
This variety is another deciduous climber that prefers fertile, neutral soil with full sun or partial shade, making it a great contender for a north-facing wall that gets the sun for only a few hours a day.
It is a fast-growing variety so it’s perfect for taller areas and will reach up to three metres tall and 1 metre wide. With this variety (in the early spring) you should cut back the stems from the previous year until they reach about 20cm above the ground.
Add some mulch around the base but avoid touching the crown, give the plants some slow-release fertiliser and watch as everything comes back to life the following spring. This variety produces large, deep purple coloured flowers that have an adorably green centre. The flower petals are large and velvety, some flowers producing four, five, or six petals. This is a good option to mix with another clematis from this list because it produces flowers between July and September so it gives you flowers a little later in the season.
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7. Clematis ‘Nelly Moser’
This clematis is known for producing flowers twice if you remove the first flush of finished flowers. The first round of flowering takes place between May and June and the second flush in September.
A fully hardy plant, it is an average grower so it won’t take over a large space very quickly. The delicate flowers though are striking in their appearance, with light pink flowers that boast a bright pink stripe right up the middle. The centre of the flower is a decorative reddish-brown, cream, and pink collection.
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8. Clematis macropetala ‘Wesselton’
The final variety is a large flowering variety, but the flowers produced are delicate. Its double flowers are bell-shaped and take on a very light blue colour. After the flowers have bloomed they provide silvery seed heads all summer long, so you get something attractive for most of the year.
The flowers appear between April and May very early, followed by the seed heads later in the season. It grows up to two metres tall and wide so it is a bit bushier than other varieties.
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Last update on 2024-04-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
