Our clematis, with which we’ve been through quite a lot – is again in bloom, partly because I remembered to help train it up a lamp post (some years I forget and it flops about before I can get its awkward angles properly secured). It’s putting on a lovely show with these purple blooms, and I’m re-energized to making it happy. That will come in the form of some extra manure around its base. There’s already a carpet of groundcover to keep its feet cool, while its upper-branches and blooms get lots of light and warmth. That’s pretty much all you need to keep it coming back for more.
This specimen has been growing for about fifteen years now – I planted it shortly after we moved into our house, and it’s been here in various states of health, happiness, duress, and ennui, and for that I feel an allegiance. As one of the three-year trajectory plants (the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap) it takes some time to get established, but then it’s a stalwart performer. Even when I forget to tie it up and help it rise, it will still throw off a few pretty flowers as it scatters into the lawn. I admire that sort of determination.
