I have been National Collection Holder of Clematis Viticella since 2005 and I am always on the lookout for rarer, sometimes almost obsolete, members of this wonderful family. Never did I imagine that I would be offered a new 'double' form, the only other two doubles in my Collection are C. viticella 'Flore Pleno' (syn. C. 'Mary Rose') and C. 'Purpurea Plena Elegans'.
Talking to Brian Collingwood many years ago, he mentioned that Harry Caddick, who with his family ran the famous Caddick's Clematis Nursery at Warrington, quite near to us, here in UK, had acquired a new double viticella which had been found growing in a customer's garden. I knew Harry quite well as we had visited his nursery, and he and family had been to our garden, several times in the past.
Harry kindly passed on a plant to me and I now grow and propagate this variety.
Almost 15 years after this new variety was found, I registered it with RHS.
I also passed on a piece to Manfred Westphal who has the wonderful clematis nursery in Germany.
Mary and husband Martyn called in to see us several times, a lovely couple. Mary is a real clematis enthusiast and I am so pleased that this new variety bears her name.
'Mary Habberley' Viticella Group
Parentage: Chance seedling; parentage unknown
S: M. Habberley (c.1997), N: H. Caddick (c.2000), REG: R. Hodson (2012)
Fls double, sterile, bowl-shaped, 7-9 cm across, upward- or outward-facing (or occasionally nodding). Sepals 15-20, the outer broadly elliptic, the inner narrower, but scarcely differentiable into distinct rows; inside pinkish red, outside mealy white over pink-red ground; overlapping or touching, margins irregularly wavy and notched, tips blunt. Deciduous climber, with stems 3-4 m. FL: July-Oct. on current year’s growth.
Published refs: The Clematis 2012: 153-4
External images: The Clematis 2012: 150 & 153-4
Named after the lady who discovered this seedling in her garden.
[Editor's Note:- The above is, I believe, the description that Richard submitted to the International Clematis Registrar in November 2012. You can find it in the 5th Supplement of the International Clematis Register and Checklist 2020 on page 29. It was published with an additional External image reference of Clematis International 2013, page 16.
Richard's Hawthornes Nursery website adds that it is a typical viticella, flowers July to September, 8 ft to 10 ft., hard prune in February.]
Richard Hodson