Small 'Beauty'

The Clematis 'Winter Beauty' I ordered arrived this afternoon in a box about 4 inches square by about 2 ft long. Oh, great, a decent amount of growth I thought. Wrong. Pot and plant measure about 7 inches high.



That said it does look to be very healthy with three growing stems and a good root system. Anyway it is now planted next to the old Leylandi stump alongside one of the Virginia Creeper plants. As it is a vigorous climber it should soon help to fill the bareness during next Winter.



It needs a fibrous well drained soil so the bed of decomposing pine needles which fell over the past fifty years should be just the place for it. Apparently it is a native of Africa and grows in sandy areas.

Winter Beauty?

Just down the lane there is a wall topped with fancy blocks. Always trying to escape though the holes is one particular plant which flowers at this time of year. Photos a tad grainy as I took them as the Sun was setting.





As far as I can ascertain this is a Clematis 'Winter Beauty'. A vigorous perennial evergreen variety. Why does it keep trying to grow on the outside of the wall? The outside faces South so catches the Sunlight throughout the day.

I've just ordered one as it will make a useful addition to the Virginia Creepers growing up the old tree stump. Add a bit of colour while the creeper is leafless during the Winter.

Reindeer and Clematis

These wickerwork reindeer have been riding a fence since Christmas.
Now they have sprouted some flowers:



I really like this Clematis colour:

In The Pink

Acquired a new (to me) iPhone 6s recently and now I think I've won the battle to set it up the way I want it to work it is time to give the 12M pixel camera a try out. I was pleased it seems to focus right down to a couple of inches. These were taken with the Camera+ app as I am used to it and find it less confusing than the app which comes with iOS:

Rockery Dianthus


Chives


Clematis


These are as taken, no retouching or even cropping.

Wordless Wednesday

Clematis Flower

Clematis Flower

As photographed:



Processed in a couple of Mac apps:

FunSketch


XnRetro