Last year I planted a
Clematis alpine 'Constance' in a large tub and placed it at the side of my kitchen door. The idea is to grow it up tall canes and then, somehow, have it climb across the top of my kitchen window - probably on wires. It is in an east-facing position so it gets early morning sunlight and south light for a period of time, depending on the time of year. I didn't know how well it would do, not getting so much sun over winter but it has done remarkably well. It looks healthy, and vibrant, and is full of buds and small cerise flowers. It's twining around itself, just as I want it to do because I don't want a climber which looks spindly at the bottom with everything going on at the top.
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| Clematis alpine 'Constance', spring 2014 |
The flowers look ever so pretty even before they open and they're a welcome sight after winter, which is not my favourite time of year. In fact, my favourite time of year is always early spring when we have months of milder weather to look forward to until winter arrives yet again.
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| Clematis alpine 'Constance' |
The flowers are bigger than you might imagine. I opened one flower to take a photograph and there was a big, fat, green caterpillar snuggled inside. I shall have to watch out for those.
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| Clematis alpine 'Constance' |