Only negative thing I can say about it is that it blooms high on the vine-no blooms under six feet high on mine, but it's a beautiful bloom.

Deanna, don't let any negative comments play upon your mind regarding Perle de Azur, this is a VERY GOOD clematis! The plant grows tall with the large flowers nodding down, the color is lovely! Terry

http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemdetail.cfm?dbkey=365

Deanna,

Mine is 5 years old, and took a few years to get any size. It is one of my favorites, and I agree with Bob about the lower plant being bare. That is no problem for me, I either plant clematis growing through large shrubs or plant a daylily in front of them. The flowers are a beautiful shade of blue and it is a profuse bloomer here in Spokane. You will not be sorry.

I will echo what the others have said. I have nothing negative to say and am curious what some of those criticisms were. Mine is in its third year and I had a wonderful bloom this year, despite my planting it in a less than favorable setting, under the eaves of my house with its feet in a bed of ivy! Here's what it looked like in June :
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Patsy, that's gorgeous! Is that growing up your downspout, or is there something else there to support it along with the downspout? How far up the vine do the flowers start on yours?

The criticisms were that it's not vigorous, it hardly grows, it doesn't flower, it barely flowers, and it's way out-performed by many other types of clematis.

Obviously, I wasn't very encouraged to read those things. But seeing your picture makes me excited again that I got it! I just planted it a couple weeks ago, and didn't really expect it to put on any new growth since it's so late in the year, but it has lots of new growth already. I think that's a good sign!

Deanna

Hi Deanna
That's growing up the downspout on top of the ivy that's covering it (you can see the ivy on the brick at the top of the picture) I recall that the only criticism that I heard about Perle was that it was slow to establish. That may be true to a degree but I have others that are a lot slower and have given me far fewer flowers. I just love the blooms on this. I waited too long to cut it back after this flush in June/early July (trying to force another round of blooms) I do have some regrowth on one stem and it has produce 6 new buds which just started opening this week. Your new growth is a good sign, I think.
I think you made a good choice and I hope you enjoy it!

Deanna, I'm glad we were able to help change your mind ... any negatives on this one are really a minor aspect, it's beauty is above and beyond!

Terry

I really like this clematis. Mine is only a year old and bloomed beautifully even though its planted in a less than ideal spot. Here's a pic:

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I've got one of the sad stories, my plant came from Steffen's many years ago. It's always been very puny and wilted 3 years in a row. Finally got some bloom, but it hangs down so the flowers aren't prominent. Didn't show up at all this spring, and I thought it was dead. This fall it started to grow, made 3 new shoots, and then they turned brown. I'm wondering if I could buy another one and plant it next to this one , or would that be a mistake? Two other clematis are growing well in this same area. I do love the looks of PdeAzure.

Good strong grower with me. Like the color and nicely vigorous. Type 3 so I cut early spring to the ground and it is at the back of the flower bed so I like it blooming high.