Ernest Markham Clematis Plants

Ernest Markham Clematis Plants

Good-sized purple flowers with a red bar and yellow anthers. The height and the flowering season vary depending on how you prune it (see below), so it's suitable for a range of locations. 

Browse our range of clematis plants.

Features

• Colour: Purple with red bars 
• Height: 5-6m (or 2-3m if pruned as group 3)
• Scent: None
• Flowering: June-October
• Type: Late large-flowered
• Habit: Climber
• Pruning group 2 or 3
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Ernest Markham Clematis

Like all clematis, it prefers cool roots while its head is in full sun or part shade. It thrives in alkaline to neutral, moisture-retentive, well-drained soil. Water well after planting and keep soil moist during dry weather for the first few growing seasons.

Like many colourful varieties, its flowers tend to fade in the sun, so partial shade is recommended. 

You can prune him two ways. If you treat him as a Group 2, you might be rewarded with early, double flowers, at the expense of the main show in late summer, which is why treating him as a Group 3 seems to be standard, and this will also reduce the size quite a bit.

Support by tying into wires or trellis. 

Keep soil moist during dry weather in the first few growing seasons. Provide wires or trellis as support for the clematis. Prune in late winter or early spring back to a pair of healthy buds, and again after flowering in early summer.

Did You Know?

Introduced by Jackman's nursery in 1938. Roland Jackman named it after Ernest Markham (1881-1937), the Head Gardener at Gravetye Manor in Sussex (we aren't quite sure if it was originally bred by Markham or Jackman). He wrote several books, but we can only find copies of "Clematis, The Large And Small Flowered: Their Cultivation In The Open Air" online, as of 2021.