Montana Seedling - C. 'Dianna Jazwinski' 2015008

Clematis of the Month for May 2026

Described by Val Le May Neville-Parry

[Editor's note: Val Le May Neville-Parry lives in the UK and is the holder of a National Plant Collection of Clematis Montana. She has written for this website and for our journal about several of her specimens.]

C. 'Dianna Jazwinski'

Having been unable to root material from either C. 'Prosperity' or C. 'The Jewell', I decided to try sowing seed. The parent plants have provided amazing offspring with a range from dwarf to compact seedlings. They are very special and much admired by visitors to the garden. Both parent plants have C. chrysocoma in their genes as is evident from the leaves of both plants and their seedlings, which are now either in tree pots or in the ground.

Dianna Jazwinski was the first professional photographer to get pictures from The Collection into magazines. I offered her the opportunity to name a seedling for herself. Dianna chose the plant with long flower stems holding bunches of elegant, initially tulip shaped flowers, opening to flat white, multi-sepalled flowers with white margins about a purple bar with darker mid-veins on the reverse.

C. 'Dianna Jazwinski' flowering on 30th May 2015, showing the long flower stem.

This plant is a seedling with C. 'Prosperity' as seed parent. C. 'Prosperity' was a sport of C. 'Continuity'.  It was spotted in the garden of Caroline Todhunter by Mike Brown. I understand that Mike tried to propagate it but without success and it was subsequently introduced into the UK market by Sheila Chapman. The Third Supplement of the International Clematis Register and Checklist gives details on page 35.

My C. 'Prosperity' (2009009) flowering on 4th May 2020 – open pollinated seed-parent of C. 'Dianna Jazwinski'.	C. 'Prosperity' (2009009) showing carpet of white flowers on 16th May 2020. The stems stretch almost 12m from east to west - with three stems stretching across three 6 ft. fences - the stems emerge from the ground above the post on the right. Another three stems are attached to the rope along a further 3m to the right.
Close-up of C. 'Prosperity' (2009009) on 16th May 2020 shows numerous 4 - 6 sepals.	C. 'Dianna Jazwinski' on 14th July 2017 showing initial creamy opening to white, 6 - 8 sepalled flowers. The plant stems are quite thin but flexible so they don’t break in a strong wind and can easily be threaded through any plant or structure supporting the clematis.

The C. 'Dianna Jazwinski' seedling took a couple of years to establish good flowering once in the ground, but has developed a good structure and brilliant flowering since, despite being in an exposed position (along with C. 'Miss Christine' and C. 'Marilyn') in the bed below the south-west edge of the lawn. The stems remain pliable and thin despite being in the ground for over a decade. It copes with the south-west winds whipping up from the valley below and the freezing east winds from across the garden without any protection from the deciduous trees and shrubs throughout the winter months.

C. 'Dianna Jazwinski' has by far the longest flower stems in The Collection, (see photo above), and flowers last for up to a week as cut flowers in the house, attracting much interest and admiration from visitors.  The number and length of the stem is impressive, with multiple flower stems emerging from every leaf node.

I have found many of the Montana Group flowers to last well in the house, especially those with longer stems. The flowers need to be picked in good bud to be sure of opening fully. Most of the seedlings with chrysocoma in their genes have leaf stems rather too short to include so I usually select leaves of other Montanas.

Another striking feature of the cultivar are the numerous 5-8 sepalled flowers, even more significant than her seed parent, C. 'Prosperity'.

Numerous 5, 6 & 7 sepalled flowers on the well established plant after ten years in the ground

C. 'Dianna Jazwinski' was registered in March 2016 and continues to flourish despite the increasingly challenging weather of recent years. Being a seedling with chrysocoma in her genes, she is one of the later cultivars to flower, which extends the flowering season of the Montana Group. This year, when even many C. var. wilsonii flowers had already opened by April 23rd, C. 'Dianna Jazwinski' buds are numerous though remain small.

Showing chamge in shape and colour as the flowers move from bud to fully-open flower.

This close up (above), taken on 24th May 2023, shows the change in shape and colour as the flowers move from bud to fully open flower - initially gentle cream inside with strong pink veining on the reverse, opening to a pure white , with creamy lemon central boss and deep pink on the outside veining. The flowers stand well proud of the small short stemmed leaves and are easy to see.

These will probably start opening in early to mid-May, like the other seedlings of C. 'Prosperity' and C. 'The Jewell'. They are usually amongst the last in The Collection to open and thus extend the flowering season of the group from early to late spring into the early summer months.

George from G&C Nurseries came in the first week of June 2025 to take cuttings from significantly different, well established new plants in The Collection. Sadly C. 'Dianna Jazwinski', being one of the latest to flower, had not developed any suitable cutting material. I hope he will be able to return slightly later this year as I think this is an exceptional plant.

Val Le May Neville-Parry