By Arbuthnot
Buckinghamshire,
United Kingdom 
In January I bought one each Clem Oberon and a Clem Viennetta from different companies. Both were healthy and I planted them a couple of months later. Now both are flowering but the blooms are tiny six petalled whitish green, not at all as they should be. I wrote to one nursery saying the plant had clearly been mislabelled. They denied it and asked for a photo which I sent. The answer, they said, was that it is definitely the right variety (they could tell by the leaf), the flowers are 'rogue' ones and I should feed it once a week until the end of June when the proper blooms will appear. I've never heard of this before but they claimed that when plants are fed at the nursery sometimes those at the back don't get as much feed as they should. Hm. Do I believe this or not? This particular nursery specialised in Clematis so surely they should make sure each and every plant got the right nutrients? I'm pretty sure, too, that I sprinkled a few chicken pellets into each pot while they were waiting to be planted.
Has anyone else heard of this?
4 Jun, 2016
Answers
I'm not saying the nursery isn't honest, it's just that I had never heard of rogue flowers before.
I bought fragrant Oberon Hutbron from the RHS and the picture made the blooms look white and medium sized which was what I wanted to brighten up a north facing fence. Those on mine are EXACTLY the same as those on the Viennetta (from a different nursery), tiny, pale greenish, almost insignificant things. This is the one I was questioning as to the correct labelling.
As for chicken pellets, I've always fed my clems with them in Jan/Feb and they do very well, blooming profusely.
I am now feeding both the Oberon and Viennetta with tomato food in the hope that things will improve.
4 Jun, 2016
sounds like complete cobblers to me Arbuthnot. Clematis Vienneta shouldn't be producing flowers at all now, and as for being able to tell from the leaves that its the right plant, what's so special about the leaves on Vienneta, is there something different about them?
Stop feeding the Oberon - its not going to flower again this year, and it sounds, from your description,that it is actually Oberon, small flowers,fragrant, bit boring in my estimation, but that's just my opinion, each to his own, lol!
As for the so called Vienneta, if it looks exactly like Oberon, including the LEAVES, that's probably what they sent to you. The explanation about 'not getting enough feed' is risible - I'd contact them again and ask them to explain, in terchnical botanical terms, precisely what they mean by 'rogue' flowers and give 'em a hard time, ask to speak to the manager or boss. I've spent many a happy hour in garden centres listening to staff members talk complete rubbish about plants, giving out misinformation and making it up as they go along, and that's what this sounds like.
And stop feeding it tomato food, there's no point, and it may cause harm. Alternatively, you can wait to see if it does produce the flowers you expect at the end of this month, but I'm willing to bet it doesn't....
4 Jun, 2016
I've just planted two new clematis to cover a fence and help aid privacy- have a look!
4 Jun, 2016
You're echoing my own thoughts, Bamboo. However, the leaves of the Oberon and Viennetta are different, the latter being trilobed, if that's the right word.
And, now I've seen Oberon in flower it is a bit boring, but then so is the Viennetta at the moment since the flowers are identical to those of Oberon. I wonder why even though the leaves of both clems are different.
It's annoying.
4 Jun, 2016
Well the Vienneta may not be Oberon, it might be another earlier flowering variety altogether. I've had a look on line and I can't say I can see anything radically different in Vienneta leaves compared to many other varieties of clematis, so I'm wondering how they say they can tell from the leaves its Vienneta. I'm also intrigued by this business of 'rogue' flowers?! You might just have to wait till its supposed flowering time and see what happens, then contact them again, but they'll probably try to give you a load of old flannel about non flowering - its the weather, its not had enough feed, you haven't looked after it properly, in other words, anyone's fault but theirs. I don't know why they're being so difficult - clematis are notorious for not being the variety you thought they were, it depends how good the staff inserting the labels into the pots are, because there's not much difference in leaves between many varieties anyway, it's only when they flower you know whether its the right one or not.
4 Jun, 2016
I've taken a picture of each of the clems for you to see, Bamboo, but having Googled clematis flowers like Oberon nothing comes up but Oberon.
Not sure if I can add pictures to this so I might have to start a new thread.
No I can't so I'll start another.
4 Jun, 2016
Yep, and I've answered under it...
4 Jun, 2016
I have a Clematis cartmannii 'Fragrant Oberon' (I assume that's what you've bought...?). The flowers are greenish-white and small, which is just how they should be. What were you expecting them to look like?
C. cartmanni are spring-flowerers - your Fragrant Oberon (if that's what it is) won't flower again, so I assume the comment made by the supplier about flowering in June refers to the C. Vienetta, which is a summer-flowerer. It sounds like a perfectly valid comment to me, so I'm not exactly sure why you think they're not being honest with you, or why you think they've been negligent. It needs regular feeding (with a liquid feed such as tomato feed, not chicken pellets) from early spring to the end of May. As the plant has been in your possession since January, this is obviously not something the supplier could do.
4 Jun, 2016