Virtues: 'Stand By Me Lavender' is a compact clematis that offers a heavy show of pale purple flowers in late spring and early summer. Its an easy-care perennial belonging to Clematis Group 3, which requires the simplest pruning. Reaching just three to four feet tall in a season, it fits well in beds and borders, where it needs just a simple support like a cage or small tuteur.
Common name: 'Stand By Me Lavender' bush clematis
Botanical name: Clematis ‘Stand By Me Lavender’
Exposure: Full sun to light shade.
Flowers: Heaviest bloom occurs from late spring to early summer, with a light rebloom possible later in summer. The flowers are nodding and bell shaped, with four light purple petals surrounding a creamy yellow center. They attract bees and butterflies.
Foliage: Medium green.
Habit: This is an herbaceous plant that reaches about three to four feet tall and slightly less wide in one growing season, before the stems die back in the fall.
Origin: Introduced by Proven Winners and Walters Gardens in 2022 as a follow up to the blue-flowered cultivar 'Stand By Me'.
How to grow it: Site this clematis in full sun or light shade. Like other clematis, it grows best with its base shaded and the roots mulched well. Plant it slightly lower than it was growing in its nursery pot, even burying the bottommost leaves. This is a “Group 3” clematis, important to know for pruning purposes. Group 3 clematis bloom on the new growth of the year, which begins in spring from below the ground. Old stems should be cut back to about four inches above the soil in late winter. Although 'Stand By Me Lavender' is a bush clematis, and technically not a climber, it does look best with the support of a cage or tuteur. USDA Zones 3–7.
(Learn more about using clematis and other vines in the garden in Dan Long's free webinar "Grow Up! Using Vines & Climbers in Your Garden," part of the online 2022 Grow Better! Garden Summit.)
Image courtesy of Walters Gardens
