From about the middle of December, the garden takes second place in the order of things; but as soon as the festivities are over I rush outside, keen to see what’s in flower, and to catch up with all our treasures.
Planted not far from our back door and therefore always on view to be enjoyed, is the evergreen winter flowering Clematis cirrhosa. It is amazing to see the delicate speckled flowers thriving under such tough conditions and all the more valuable at this time of year.
I did have to refer to my gardening diary to make sure that this was not the variety ‘Freckles’ because it is very similar; indeed you’d be pushed to tell the difference. Apparently, in the Mediterranean where they grow freely, the flowers vary considerably, and this is why there are so many different forms offered.
No garden is too small to fit in another clematis, but should you have a bit more space and be looking for jewels, or sublime scent, then look no further than the persian ironwood tree (Parrotia persica) for the former, or wintersweet (Chimonthus praecox) for the latter.
Don’t allow Clematis cirrhosa to get too wet, especially in the winter. And your new year’s resolution is … make a note of each and every new plant in your gardening diary, and where you put it!
NB Louise has published a beautifully produced book of her plant profiles – A Plant for Every Week of the Year. It costs £9.99 inc P & P and is for sale in our online shop here.
More NB If you’d like a bit more gardening chitchat from the3growbags, please type your email address here and we’ll send you a new post every Saturday morning
2 replies on “Clematis cirrhosa”
Happy New Year to you all and thank you for your wonderful notes of advice and info each week. I soo look forward to Saturday morning!
I was hoping you might be able to help!!
I am starting a garden club in the local Primary School next week 12children ages 6 to 10yrs. I have tulips to plant and plastic bottles to fill with compost and pop garlic cloves into holes!! Plant broad beans in the Veg patch and Leek seeds in pots.
We do have an unheated poly tunnel!
Many thanks Christine Macdowel
Any good advice!! It must be F U N!! Help!
Hi Christine. So glad to hear that you’re starting a gardening club! When I was a teacher, I did the same with children much the same age as your lot. I found that these things worked well:
Creating a sort of themed garden – for instance, a sensory garden (think soft furry leaves, interesting bark, catkins, pots of mint etc.); or a dinosaur garden (little models among ferns and greenery), or even a fairy garden with lots of dainty flowers….
Children are not famous for their patience so fast-growing seeds are a good idea – sunflowers, marigolds, nasturtiums, sweet peas…and don’t forget the edibles – beans of all kinds, salad- things, onions. Potatoes are slower but they would grow in your poly tunnel or in sacks and kids love digging them up like treasure trove. Ask them to bring in egg-boxes, yoghurt-pots, loo roll innards etc for sowing seeds in; they can pick up so much about the importance of re-cycling.
Make bee hotels, log piles, nectar bars etc. to help wildlife. Children with a practical bent love this sort of activity. If you are allowed to dig a small pond, so much the better – nothing attracts wildlife more, even if it’s just in a waterproof barrel.
Above all, let them get messy. So much of our lives these days is sanitised and many children find it quite4 difficult to get their hands and knees dirty while they are planting things or looking at minibugs. If some of your group are less inclined to dig, put them in charge of the recording side of things – writing plant labels, making notes about what you’ve done that day, drawing sketches of progress made, etc. If they all feel involved, who knows what seeds you are sowing for the Monty Dons and Capability Browns of the future! Good luck, I hope it all goes hugely well – let us know how you get on. All the best, Elaine