The lovely periwinkle-blue flowers have a contrasting crown of creamy-yellow anthers.
Bred by Mr Raymond Evison of the world famous Guernsey Clematis Nursery this clematis has steadily grown in popularity with our customers and I personally have become rather fond of her over recent years too.
The plant was named for Lady Rowland, the wife of the former Bailiff of Guernsey, who helped Raymond Evison with numerous books on clematis. The plant was launched at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2009 so celebrated it 10th Birthday this year and I Diana's Delight is going to be on our own Chelsea exhibit again this year.
Diana's Delight is very free flowering with a repeat flowering habit meaning a long period of summer interest in your garden and this twinned with the versatility of growing her in the ground or in a container means a plant that can suit many garden spaces.
In a large container Diana's Delight will excel as a feature plant, filling an obelisk with bloom from early May and as each flower head dies off, cut the head to prevent it making seed which will also encourage it to re-grow and create new buds for later flower right into the month of September.
You don't even have to find an empty space to grow Diana's Delight because you could also use her as a companion plant in the garden, growing through a free-standing or wall trained shrub or rose she looks great growing with most plants but especially good with grey or variegated foliage.
One area I like to suggest for planting Diana's Delight is on the leg of a pergola. Imagine here your typical climbing rose or wisteria has grown right up and is scrambling over the top of the pergola, however the leg of the pergola is now rather bare, with only the thick woody stems of your rose or wisteria. Diana's Delight is perfect to grow here scrambling up these woody stems to fill this area with bloom, hide those bare leggy stems and brighten the whole scene with her broad open flowers.
Cultivation Advice.
Large flowered clematis prefer a good quality soil with high nutrient levels and a soil which is moist but free-draining. Improve planting holes with at least 2 forkfuls of well rotted manure or garden compost and if you don't have these use a 'Soil Improver' compost. The Improvement material added should be placed under the root of the plant not around it. This encourages the roots to grow downwards and remain deep and cool during summer. If your clematis flowers in May-June(late spring), cut the dead flower heads when they have finished to encourage a second set of flowers to be produced in the late summer and autumn. Be prepared to wait for a couple of years before they will be at their best - Our saying is - 1st year = Roots, 2nd year = Shoots, 3rd year = Flowers!
Delivery from £7.99 and most customers never pay over £9.99!
We offer a year-round Mail Order and Delivery service (subject to weather and availability). We do not dispatch small or young plants, but send our mature plants in 3 litre pots anywhere in the United Kingdom and Europe.
We dispatch Monday to Thursday each week so usually your order will be dispatched within 1-2 days of ordering, however during busy periods this can be expected to increase. Any significant delays will be notified by email and posted on the website.
Orders made after midday Thursday are usually dispatched on the following Monday.
We use DHL for all our deliveries. To get the most out of the delivery service download the DHL App. Find out more here - DHL APP.
Our last dispatch before Christmas 2022 will be 15th December - all orders placed after this will be sent in the New Year and that is to be from the 9th January onwards.
Instructions to Nursery - At the checkout stage you are able to add an instruction to the nursery such as, 'Please avoid March 20th - 25th' or 'Away in June'.
Instructions to courier - Please give us details of a safe place where the parcel can be left (Please note - this is at the customer's risk). If no instructions to leave the parcel are given and there is no one to sign for it, then our carrier will try to deliver the following day.
Please provide your mobile number or email address and our carrier will tell you the hour your delivery will be made within and if it is not convenient you will be able to re-arrange the delivery directly with them.
UK Delivery Charges
| Area | Post Codes | Number of Plants | | |
| Standard postal area | Any not listed below | 1-4 £7.99 | 5 + £9.99 | N/A |
| Isle of Wight Scilly Isles (2 Day Service) | PO30-41 TR21-25 | 1-8 £12.99 | 9-12 £16.99 | 13+ £20.99 |
| Scottish Highlands & Islands Isle of Man Channel Islands (2 Day Service) | AB 31-38 & 40-56 HS; IV KA 27-28 KW PA 20-38; 41-49 & 60-78 PH 4-44 & 49-50 ZE; IM; GY; JE | 1-4 £12.99 | 5-8 £18.99 | 9+ £24.99 |
Export to Northern Ireland and outside the UK
We no longer offer to export to Northern Ireland or outside the United Kingdom and are sorry for any disappointment this has caused.
Click & Collect
Although we do not open on a regular basis, we are delighted to offer a Click & Collect option for you to collect your orders from our Rails End Nursery location in Worcestershire.
While we get to grips with this new offering we will have to restrict the collection day to a Friday only between 10:00 & 3PM with the hope of expanding that at a later date if we feel it is possible.
Make your online order, checkout and pay online just as if it was a delivery order but of course select Click & Collect instead of a shipping method.
Because we are predominantly a mail order business, our systems are automated and much of the terminology revolves around the kinds of terms used in mail order, so please forgive us for this.
You will receive the following automated emails after making your order.
1. Order acknowledgement. - Full details of your order.
2. Order Status Update - Pending - meaning your order is received into our order processing system
3. Order Status Update - Processing - meaning we are picking and cleaning your plants
4. Order Status Update - Dispatched - in the case of Collection orders, your plants are almost ready for you to pick up.
5. Order Status Update - Completed - your plants are ready for you to pick up on the next Friday.
You can collect from our new location at:
Rails End Nursery
Back Lane
Ashton-Under-Hill
Evesham
Worcestershire
WR11 7RG
At Thorncroft the quality of our clematis plants is very important to us and we will not compromise on keeping up the high standards our customers have come to expect.
We supply plants mostly in a 3 litre container, growing on a 3 foot (1 meter) bamboo cane support, occasionally a 2 litre pot is sufficient to ensure a quality plant is produced. Your clematis can not always be delivered in full flower, however we will aim to send you the most advanced plant for you so that you get the best display possible in the first year of our plants being in your garden.
Chelsea Chop - Also from time to time we will need to prune plants back to keep them tidy on their cane. While every effort is made to only supply plants in full leaf we may on occasions send plants that have been recently pruned or had leaves removed and will include notes to explain why this has been done. It's known as the 'Chelsea Chop' and is commonly seen in late May and June.
Please keep in mind that some of the more specialist clematis have different habits, so these standards can vary depending on the type you are buying but it gives you a good guide on what to expect.
From the very outset, the Thorncroft philosophy is to provide a clematis which will thrive for the customer in their garden but also to provide the expert knowledge that we have gained over the years to help advise you which clematis are the best.
We have been sending plants by mail order to customers all over the world and have build up a good knowledge of which plants perform best in various parts of the globe. We also value your experience and if would like to tell us about which clematis you grow in your country, please do, it will allow us to continue learning
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