I have four Clematis on the terrace. Three are in bloom now.
Bee's Jubilee last week, and yesterday, below. It still has a few flowers high up in the New Dawn's thorny canes. This Clematis shares a pot with a hardy begonia, a Gloriosa lily and a primrose. The pot is in complete shade but the climbers make their way up into the sun via the bare lower canes of the climbing rose.
On the opposite side of the terrace the Etoile Violette is in its second flush after being cut right back down six weeks ago. It shares a pot with two Gloriosa lilies, two Turkscap lilies and some Thai basil. And that grass you can see. Oops.
The flowers are much smaller than they are during the first, spring round - though I missed those, this year - and are opening in a funny way, with clasped and pale petal tips. It must mean something.
High up, Ramona watches over the cat, who watches over the basil, which watches over the wild strawberries, which keep an eye on the fig.
Nice plants. Little trouble.
Unexpected flowers in difficult places.
Beautiful! Thanks for the pictures. My Diana's Delight and Dr. Ruppel gave up their last blooms a couple of weeks ago. Your vines seem to be going strong. How do you do it?
ReplyDeleteNot sure how I do it. The Bee's Jubilee looked terrible in the spring. Puny, so I cut it back and fed it and this was its first bloom.
DeleteThe Ramona lurked all season, and bloomed this once. The Etoile Violette is irrepressible, and I hacked it right down to the soil line after it had finished its first bloom, and it came back to flower again.
I think one can be fairly brutal with them. They do all have shaded lower regions, as is so often advocated. Maybe that helps.
Well, perhaps I don't feel too bad then. I got two rounds of bloom out of my Diana's Delight with minimal pruning, so I guess I have nothing to complain about. And I always chop my vines down to about 18" on March 1. When I do that, I feel it's the "opening" of the gardening season. Sort of like cutting a ribbon at the entrance of a new building or something. And the end of the season is signaled by the blooms on the Clematis Paniculata in November. That's when I know it's time to top off the pots with a little mulch, wrap the fig, and start looking through seed catalogues for next year!
DeleteWish I had remembered to keep track of what Group my clematis' are, so I would know when to cut them back. And, even more I wish i had just cut them back and hoped. Guess that's a winter research project.
ReplyDeleteYours are lovely.
So lovely. I accidentally killed my clematis this year and miss it dearly. Beautiful!
ReplyDelete