Plant Of The Moment - Superb Clematis Samaritan Jo

21 October 2020 | Pete

Superb flower power for any garden, large or small.

For this 'Plant of The Moment' email I have chosen what I believe will become a modern classic, a clematis with the potential to be one of the most widely grown garden clematis and join some of the best names in clematis lovers lists.
Named by its breeder Mr Raymond Evison, in recognition of the great volunteer work that the Samaritans offer to people in distress. All volunteers for The Samaritans are known as Samaritan Jo.
Samaritan Jo™ is an exceptionally versatile garden plant. You can grow it in a patio container or in the garden, you can use it planted in multiples to create a large mass of colour and you can use it mixed with other plants as a companion to provide a contrast in colour and some 'wow' factor.
Read on to find out more.

Order Yours Right Here

Clematis Samaritan Jo™ & Paulie™ - Malvern 2019

Flower shows are a great place to show off the versatile nature of Samaritan Jo™ and pictured above at Malvern Spring Festival we used it mixed with Paulie™ to create a stunning display in a trough. The finished product measured 90cm across, 120cm tall and 40cm deep.
With a simple bamboo support to and this lovely container, we showed how simply you can create an all summer feature on a budget and many visitors simply could not walk away from it!
Samaritan Jo™ will bloom each year from the middle of May almost continuously through to the end of September or even early October. Trim dead heads and give a little tomato feed every two weeks to help keep the flowering going.
Notice how the flowers show up well against a dark background in the photo above.

A close up showing the wonderful colour of the margins and stamens.

The blooms are pretty silvery-pink, star-shaped with very pointed tips, and have margins outlined with light purple. Its beautiful crown of stamens have purple filaments and bright yellow anthers.
Each flower is about 3-5 inches across and the plant will grow to about 4-5 feet in height in most garden situations while it will also grow on most aspects, including part shade as well.
As a deciduous climber you will need to cut Samaritan Jo™ down to about 12-18 inches each spring, removing all the dead growth by cutting just above a nice green bud or shoot.
If growing in a container, it is hardy enough to be left outside all winter, so long as the container drains well to avoid it becoming waterlogged.

Chatsworth Flower Show 2018 - Planting in multiples creates a great impact.
Top to bottom - Warszawska Nike, Samaritan Jo™ & Paulie™

Here is another container grown Samaritan Jo™ this time in a taller container and with a larger support.
We were going for a show stopper display and have chosen 3 varieties of clematis to give a superb contrast in colours. When planting for a big impact you do need to plant multiples to get a really impressive show and two is sometimes enough but three makes all the difference!
Choose them with the same pruning type to make life easier for yourself each spring and use a good potting compost like John Innes No.3 mixed 3 parts to 1 part multi-purpose compost.

This is our current batch of plants. Which one will be yours?

Buy The Sensational Samaritan Jo™ Here!