Careful planting is the key to success!
When is the best time to plant a clematis?
With the quality of the clematis we supply you are able to plant year round so long as the ground is not waterlogged or frozen solid and so long as the plant has had a period of 'hardening off'.
We always recommend improving the soil, whether it is sandy, moderate or clay so you will have ample opportunity while preparing the planting hole, to establish if the ground is in a fit state to receive its new plant.
Hardening off (November to the end of April)
Clematis purchased during winter through to May, must be hardened off before planting. Stand the plant outside in a sheltered position during the day but take into unheated cover overnight. An unheated greenhouse, conservatory or even a garage will be sufficient to prevent frost damage to the soft growth. The process should be continued for about two weeks before planting.
Dormant and Defoliated Plants
No signs of life, no need to worry, it’s perfectly normal for this time of year. Follow our Care Guides for further confidence in a successful plant.
Welcome to Thorncroft Clematis & Climbers
The UK's most comprehensive selection of climbers, with nearly 500 plants to choose from!
Winners of 12 Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medals
35+ years of experience and knowledge.
We are a leading UK Clematis Mail Order Specialist selling high quality clematis plants to customers to almost all of the United Kingdom.
We are proud to be a small independent specialist nursery, with a team of just 3 people. Heather manages our nursery with Gertie & Mary-Anne who do the plant care, order picking, packing & dispatch.
This is business of passion and we are dedicated to putting smiles on peoples faces, selling high quality plants and ensuring we give great advice to our customers to ensure you have success with them in your garden.
Being a small independent nursery we appreciate every customer and every sale no matter how large or modest in size.
Enjoy browsing the website and Happy Gardening!
Team Thorncroft
Please be aware we are a mail order company and NOT open regularly, so please don't just turn up.
We do offer a Click & Collect service though! - Find out more...
The dainty silvery-mauve nodding buds open to gloriously rich purple blooms. They have a reddish bar when first open which gradually fades as the blooms mature to bluish-purple.
The beautiful upward-facing blooms open creamy-white, turning to pure white as they mature and have golden stamens. A beautiful old cultivar from the early 1900's.
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit
A lovely old clematis that is dark velvety wine-red when first open, as the blooms mature the colour becomes deep purply-cerise. A family favourite.
The eye-catching flowers have broad deep purple margins that merge towards a white bar which has rosy-purple veins running through it. A lovely crown of stamens further enhance the striking effect of these blooms.
'Recommended' by a Popular Garden Magazine Dec 2020.
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit
Hydrangea petiolaris is a beautiful, self-clinging and climbing Hydrangea that produces a mass of large, white flower heads in the summer. This would make an excellent choice for growing against a sunny wall and will suit both older properties with traditional garden planting and more modern houses and does fit especially well where a contrast in dark cladding and pale planting is required.
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit
Digital Gift Vouchers are a fantastic gift for any gardener, whether family or friend. You can print them at home or they can also be emailed directly to the recipient, brilliant if it is urgent!
The nodding bell-shaped flowers are pale lime green when first open maturing to yellowy-cream. This is one of, if not the hardiest of evergreen clematis and the leaves are serrated which adds further to its attraction.
An evergreen climber that requires a sunny, sheltered position and free draining soil. Also known as cirrhosa 'Ourika Valley'.
A Thorncroft Branded gardening apron. Comfortable and lightweight, ideal to help keep your clothes clean while enjoying time in the garden.
The elegant white star-shaped blooms have the palest bluey-mauve very ruffled margins. Absolutely gorgeous!
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden
Freckles is also known as cirrhosa var. purpurascens 'Freckles'. This wonderfully vigorous winter flowering climber has pale cream nodding bell-shaped flowers are very heavily freckled inside with rusty maroon.
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit
Lonicera similis var. delavyii produces a huge abundance of white tubular flowers which turn yellow once pollinated and are sweetly scented. The flowers are followed by black berries that are very popular with birds and it is also semi-evergreen in a sheltered location.
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit
Clematis Early Sensation has 'female' flowers that are greeny-cream on opening, maturing to pure white. Grow near 'Avalanche' or 'Joe' to get amazing seed-heads!
Received a Top Award in a Popular Garden Magazine Dec 2020.
The light mauvy-pink, vanilla scented flowers, have contrasting greeny-yellow stamens and are borne in great abundance. Grow in a sunny position to enhance the perfume.
Clematis Frankie has deep mauve-blue single nodding bell-shaped flowers with a creamy-white inner skirt. A dainty but also very hardy plant, this will be a clematis I will always have in my garden.
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit
The rounded creamy-white blooms have a primrose-yellow bar when first open. Particularly good for a shady aspect and will benefit from dead-heading.
Clematis terniflora has clusters of small white star-shaped flowers with a gorgeous hawthorn-like perfume, from which it gets its common name 'Sweet Autumn Clematis'.
The dainty nodding bell-shaped flowers are pure white and have a waxy texture. The attractive foliage is evergreen and the plant benefits from free-draining soil.
clematis Wisley Cream has dainty cream nodding bell-shaped flowers which are produced in profusion through the winter months. It was named after the place it was raised, the RHS garden Wisley.
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit
Trachelospermum jasminoides is a wonderful garden plant and often known simply as the Star Jasmine. This elegant climber has clusters of highly scented white flowers and shiny dark evergreen leaves is an understated but wonderful addition to any garden. Superb at screening unsightly objects it will also be at home, scrambling up into a supporting tree or shrub.
Awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit
The distinctive star-like blooms are a vibrant, almost shocking-pink when first open. They mature to light-pink along the central bars, with slightly deeper purply-pink along their gently undulating margins.