Culture
Grow in fertile, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Vining hybrids are best sited in locations where the flowering parts of the vine are in sun to part shade but the roots are shaded. Some light afternoon shade is usually beneficial in hot and humid summer climates such as the St. Louis area. Clematis vines need a trellis or other support on which to grow. Roots should be kept cool, shaded and uniformly moist. Root areas may be shaded with perennials, annuals or small shrubs. A thick root mulch is appreciated. Do not allow soils to dry out.
'Rooguchi' is pruned as Group 3. See pruning instructions below.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Clematis is a genus of over 250 species, most of which are woody to semi-woody deciduous vines climbing by twining leaf stalks or in some cases trailing over support, but in a few cases grow as freestanding or sprawling herbaceous perennials and small deciduous or evergreen shrubs. Most have flat, cupped or bell-shaped flowers. Some plants feature ornamental fluffy seed heads in autumn. Plants bear opposite, simple to compound leaves which are usually deciduous but sometimes evergreen. Compound leaves range from lobed to trifoliate to biternate to pinnate to bipinnate. Clematis are native to both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres including Europe, the Himalayas, China, Australasia, North America and Central America.
Cultivated plants are often divided into three groups based on pruning needs.
Group 1 – Flowers only on old wood (previous year). Prune after spring flowering.
Group 2 – Flowers on both old and new wood. Typically, little pruning should be done for woody-stemmed members of this Group. If cut to the ground or pruned in fall or spring, flowering will be reduced or delayed but not prevented.
Group 3 – Flowers only on new wood. Can be cut to the ground in fall or spring.
Genus name comes from the Greek word klematis which is an old name applied to climbing plants.
‘Rooguchi’, commonly known as solitary clematis, is a non-vining, multi-stemmed, herbaceous perennial that grows with support to 6-8’ tall and to 3-4’ wide. It is a cross between C. integrifolia a shrubby clematis and C. x durandii a vining clematis (some authors say C. reticulata), with a growing habit that falls somewhere in between. It was bred in Japan by Kazushige Ozawa to be a solitary blossom for the Japanese tea ceremony. It is typically described as a non-vining clematis because it lacks the twining petioles found on vining types and will scramble and sprawl in the landscape unless given support. Growing options in the garden include: (a) rambling unsupported through the garden without exceeding 2’ in height or (b) tied to supports (trellis, arbor, tripod, fence) for upright growth to as much as 8’ tall, or (c) weaving and crawling through shrubs with the shrub branches providing support for the plant, or (d) growing in large containers.
Solitary, nodding, indigo-violet to plum-purple, bell-shaped flowers (to 2 1/2” long) have 4 recurving sepals with recurving tips and light lavender margins. Each flower droops singly from the tip of a showy, black, bishop’s crook stem (pedicel to 8” long). Each flower rises above the foliage over a long late spring to autumn bloom period. Flowers are followed by attractive, plumose, silvery green seed heads. Sessile, ovate to lanceolate, entire, medium green leaves (to 5.5” long) form dense foliage clumps.
It may also be sold as 'Rouguchi' or 'Roguchi'.
Problems
Susceptible to wilt/stem rot (can be fatal), powdery mildew, leaf spots, rust and viruses. Potential insect pests include aphids, vine weevils, slugs/snails, scale and earwigs. Watch for spider mites.
'Rooguchi' shows good resistance to clematis wilt.
Uses
Clematis can be trained to climb a wall, trellis, fence, arbor, porch, lamppost or other stationary structure. They provides good architectural height and framework for small gardens. They can also be planted to sprawl over and through shrubs, scramble over old stumps or simply as a ground cover in conjunction with other flowering perennials. Containers.