January 27, 2019 at 5:21 pm (clematisinseattle, Spotlight on Clematis)
Tags: Clematis napaulensis
This is the winter-blooming clematis I posted about on December 2 when I realized it had a bunch of buds for the first time. Check out my earlier post to find out more about C. napaulensis. I have been waiting to see it put on a show for seven years! Twice it’s pushed out a flower or two, but now a plethora of small delicate blooms are definitely strutting their stuff in a gloomy and cold Seattle January.
December 9, 2018 at 1:55 pm (clematisinseattle, Spotlight on Clematis)
Tags: Clematis Betty Corning, clematis caroline, Clematis Climador, clematis crystal fountain, Clematis Etoile Violette, clematis fairy blue, clematis florida sieboldii, Clematis Fond Memories, Clematis Fujimusume, Clematis Koenigskind, Clematis Lord Hershel, Clematis Morning Mist, Clematis Perle d'Azur, Clematis Polish Spirit, Clematis Princess Red, Clematis Proteus, Clematis recta Purpurea, Clematis Tartu, Clematis texensis seedling, clematis the first lady, Clematis Vyvyan Pennell
June in my garden offered a plethora of colorful, diverse, and interesting clematis, including the last of the large-flowered bloomers, early blossoms from July bloomers, and three beautiful clematis bell flowers, two of which are home-grown seedlings of the dainty scarlet bells of Clematis texensis.
December 2, 2018 at 5:32 pm (clematisinseattle, Spotlight on Clematis)
Tags: Clematis cirrhosa 'Freckles', Clematis napaulensis, Winter Blooming Clematis
My Clematis napaulensis, a species clematis that is one of the few winter bloomers in the genus, is loaded with flower buds! WAHOOO! This plant is wintergreen rather than evergreen, pushing out fresh new apple green leaves in October, then blooming in January and February. By summer it looks exactly like dead sticks, so masking it with a summer-blooming vine is wise.
C. napaulensis has graced the arbor on the north side of my house for about seven years now. During that time this recalcitrant plant has bloomed only twice with just two or three flowers, once in January 2015 and again in 2017. I’ve often wondered whether it’s in too much shade, but unfortunately not much information is available about what conditions this plant really wants. Ah, but, lo and behold, now in late 2018–tons of buds! I am so excited! I can hardly wait til they open in January!
C. cirrhosa ‘Freckles’, a reliable winter bloomer in my garden, started showing off about a month ago. Actually, it blooms sporadically throughout the year, but really begins to swagger this time of year. Looking carefully at the flowers, one can easily tell that C. ‘Freckles’ and C. napaulensis are kissing cousins!
November 27, 2018 at 5:54 pm (clematisinseattle)
Tags: Clematis Asao, Clematis Bees Jubilee, Clematis Duchess of Edinburgh, Clematis Fond Memories, Clematis Joe Zary, Clematis JOSEPHINE 'Evijohill', Clematis Ken Donson, Clematis Mrs. Cholmondeley, clematis nelly moser, clematis rebecca, Clematis Silver Moon, Clematis Sugar Sweet Blue, Clematis Tartu, clematis the first lady, Clematis Will Baron
With the exception of two recent additions, I have unfortunately been delinquent in posting about clematis for several months–blooming months at that! My camera, however, was still clicking away. Below are a few of the beautiful clematis I came upon, in my own garden as well as others, during April and May of last year.
C. ‘Joe Zary’ blooming in full sun in April. If it were in more shade, the color would be stronger.
The delightful and delectable C. ‘Asao’. Such lovely shades of pink and sometimes semi-double. This one is always one of the first three large-flowered clematis to bloom in my garden.
Early blossoms of C. Josephine ‘Evijohill’. Always a heart stopper!
Clematis ‘Sugar Sweet Blue’ wafting its fragrance on my deck, backed by a stunning Chilean Fire Tree (Embothrium).
C. ‘The First Lady’, one of only a few clematis actually hybridized in the US. I don’t know which First Lady was meant to be honored with the name, but I think of my personal favorite First Lady whenever I look at it.
C. ‘Silver Moon’ looking ethereal in the shade.
C. ‘Ken Donson’ strutting his stuff.
The redder than red C. ‘Rebecca’!
A visit to C. ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’ on a garden tour.
Oh, be still, my heart! C. ‘Fond Memories’ while on a garden tour, gloriously blooming before my own even started. Definitely one of my favorites!
Still touring gardens–C. ‘Nelly Moser’ or one of her imitators.
Another C. ‘Nelly Moser’ look alike spotted while garden touring. Could be C. ‘Bees Jubilee’.
Back home to find C. ‘Tartu’ blooming away. Love the two-tone ruffly look.
Last, but definitely not least, the time-honored classic, C. ‘Mrs. Cholmondeley’ (pronounced Chumly)
November 16, 2018 at 10:20 pm (clematisinseattle)
West Seattle Nursery’s Prize-Winning Display Garden at the 2018 Flower & Garden Festival
Lucky me! I’ll be a speaker again in 2019 at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle! I will be presenting an all-new topic: Embrace Vertical Gardening! Embellish Your Garden with Vines. Come and hear me describe the ins and outs of many vines (including clematis, of course)–get the basics about wisteria, passion flower, clematis, akebia, honeysuckle, climbing hydrangea, and others. Learn to control your vines and not let them control you!
When:
Saturday, February 23, 2018, 6:45pm
Where:
The Hood Room at
The Washington State Convention Center
Downtown Seattle
Learn to control your vines–don’t let THEM control YOU!
November 14, 2018 at 5:56 pm (clematisinseattle)
Laura Mack, my wonderful long-time friend, gave me the BEST birthday present ever–an absolutely stunning painting/collage of me and my clematis! She knows me well. She even tucked in my husband LeRoy. Isn’t it great! She used some of my own clematis photos, too!
Laura and I have known each other on both coasts, having met when we worked together in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2004, she and her husband and me and mine both left the east coast for the west: I headed to Seattle and she went to Salem, Oregon. Laura’s a professional artist and a college art teacher–it shows!
Click here to see her make an impassioned plea for art in public schools.
January 21, 2018 at 3:24 pm (clematisinseattle)
Tags: Clematis 'Josie's Midnight Blue', clematis cirrhosa freckles, Clematis Duchess of Edinburgh, Clematis Sugar Sweet Blue
After a morning of downpours, the sun broke out briefly this afternoon and drew me outdoors. My fabulous winter bloomer, Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’, was putting on a glorious show (see photos below). It is such a reliable winter-time bloomer for me. Much to my surprise, several of my spring and summer blooming clematis already have fresh green growth (more photos below)!
A series of photos of my Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’
showing off in January.
Fresh new beginnings mingling with the old. Oh, such promise!
C. ‘Josie’s Midnight Blue’
C. ‘Sugar-Sweet Blue’
C. ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’
April 23, 2017 at 7:49 pm (Clematis of the Month, clematisinseattle, Spotlight on Clematis)
Tags: Clematis alpina, Clematis Blue Dancer, Clematis Cecile, Clematis Jacqueline du Pre, Clematis koreana, Clematis macropetala, clematis markhams pink, Clematis Pauline, Clematis Willy, joy creek nursery
Seattle has been drowning, drenching, and dripping for the past three months. Most days, staying reasonably dry while working in the garden has not been possible. Nevertheless, the garden is burgeoning, and the Clematis atragenes have begun to bloom. These are early spring bloomers have delightful nodding bells in many soft colors and delicate foliage. Included among the C. atragenes are C. alpinas (usually single), C. macropetalas (usually double), and C. koreanas.
I have sadly lost three of my six atragenes, C. Jacqueline du Pre (a crisp and lovely pink and white alpina), C. Cecile (a delightful blue-purple alpina), and C. Pauline (a richly colored purple macropetala). Hrmph! Maurice Horn of Joy Creek Nursery told me that he fears that the warmer weather of recent years in the Pacific Northwest has taken a toll on these cold-hardy plants. We may start having trouble growing them here. The three I lost were all against the house; the three I have left are all in the open garden, which is presumably a bit cooler, at least in winter. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.
Hmm, maybe I should buy more just for testing purposes.
In my garden, the first to bloom (as usual) is C. Blue Dancer with its extra long sepals.
Here’s the luscious and rosy C. Markham’s Pink, just beginning its show. I also have C. Willy, another pink and white one, but his buds are still tightly closed.
January 24, 2017 at 2:46 pm (clematisinseattle)
The calendar may say winter, but spring is springing today here in Seattle! Sarcococca is blooming by my front steps wafting a wonderful fragrance for anyone passing in and out of the house. I have seen witch hazel and early cherries in bloom and big buds on a Clematis armandii I passed by the other day. And the Northwest Flower & Garden Show opens in less than a month! But better than that, I have two (count ’em, TWO) clematis in bloom.
Clematis napaulensis
This unusual clematis from Nepal is wintergreen rather than evergreen. In summer the plant just looks like dead sticks. But in October (here in Seattle), it puts on fresh new apple-green leaves and then, in January and February, shows off it’s lovely small flowers blooming in pairs. The creamy white tepals curl around the very long purple stamens, making for a welcome site in winter! The blooms are said to have the added bonus of fragrance, but mine are blooming on an arbor, too high up for me to check.
This is the first year mine has bloomed after being in the ground for four years! I was afraid I had planted it in too much shade and would never have blooms unless I moved it. I was sooooo excited when I spotted them the other day.
Clematis cirrhosa var purpurescens ‘Freckles’
This delightful clematis, which puts out lightly fragrant blooms with creamy outer tepals and burgundy freckles on the inside, blooms reliably for me now throughout the winter. But for years it only bloomed in March and/or July, for Pete’s sake.
Puzzled by this unexpected behavior in a winter-blooming plant, I asked a clematarian friend about it. His response was to ask me whether I fertilize it in fall, since it will bloom in winter! Well, duh, no, I didn’t–makes sense, though. So now I make sure to put down a layer of compost rich in manure in the garden every November or December, in addition to my regular spring fertilizing routine.
ALL my plants seem to enjoy this early compost! And now Clematis cirrhosa var purpurescens ‘Freckles’ blooms for me off and on all the time, but especially in the winter!
May 23, 2016 at 5:29 pm (Clematis of the Month, clematisinseattle, Spotlight on Clematis)
Tags: clematis caroline, clematis cezanne, Clematis Climador, clematis crystal fountain, Clematis Fireworks, Clematis Fujimusume, Clematis Josephine, Clematis Lord Herschell, clematis louise rowe, Clematis Morning Mist, Clematis Ramona, clematis rebecca, clematis rhapsody, clematis the first lady, Clematis Utopia, Clematis Vyvyan Pennell
So many of the large-flowered clematis in my garden are blooming extremely early this year, as much as six – eight weeks ahead of schedule. But whenever they choose to bloom, they look wonderful!
During my frequent strolls through the garden, I enjoy observing clematis in all their various stages–and, yes, sometimes I even talk to them. This spring, Clematis ‘The First Lady’ talked back loudly, showing herself off to great advantage. I purchased this clematis two or three years ago as Clematis ‘Rhapsody’, a clematis for which I had been hankering for some time. Once I saw the first meager bloom, I knew I had purchased a misnamed plant. But not until this year, when the poor clematis had built up enough strength to drag itself up out of the heavy shade of a big Fatshedera into the sunshine, did I really see what a gorgeous flower my mistake clematis produced–large lavender blooms (one flower actually measured 9 inches in diameter!), with contrasting burgundy stamens, ruffled edges, and textual ridges in the middle of each pointed petal. Elegantissimo! I was able to identify it as Clematis ‘The First Lady’ and seriously considered deeming this tough and beautiful plant Clematis of the Month for this month.
Serendipitously, yesterday my yoga teacher described to me a clematis a friend gave her as a cut flower. She has a fine eye for detail, so I was able to identify her unseen clematis from her description as Clematis ‘The First Lady.’ I showed her a photo on my smart phone to be sure and impressed both her and myself with my quick ID. That clinched it–Clematis ‘The First Lady’ is Clematis of the Month for May in my garden this year!
Clematis ‘The First Lady’ is an American clematis introduced into commerce by Arthur Steffen in Long Island, New York, in 1989. Mr. Steffen’s company is also responsible for introducing, in 1932, another gorgeous and famous American clematis, now grown throughout the world, Clematis Betty Corning. The beauty of the name of May’s Clematis of the Month is that you can choose your own favorite First Lady to be represented by this clematis. I know who mine is!
Below is a smattering of the many other worthy candidates blooming in my garden this month.
The satiny blooms of Clematis Louise Rowe
Clematis Rebecca
Clematis Ramona (lavender) with Clematis Marta
The ever-stunning Clematis Josephine
Clematis Cezanne
Clematis Fireworks
Clematis Utopia
Clematis Fujimusume–such a gorgeous blue!
Clematis Morning Mist–one of these blossoms measured 10 inches!
Clematis Climador (also known as Clematis Königskind)
Clematis Caroline (pink) with Clematis Vyvyan Pennell
Clematis Lord Herschell
The bells of Clematis Sonnette (also known as Clematis Peveril Peach)
Clematis Crystal Fountain (also known as Clematis Fairy Blue)
Clematis in Seattle 