CLEMATIS FLOWERING IN NOVEMBER

Today the weather has been beautiful with blue skies and sunshine.  All in all though, it's been a very odd year in the garden with plants not flowering when they should, not flowering at all, or flowering over and over again.  Take for instance the clematis: the large flowered ones like Dr Ruppel and Elsa Spath were fabulous last summer, 2014.  This year, Elsa Spath hardly flowered at all, and Dr Ruppel flowered a little, then stopped.  Both are supposed to be repeat flowering.  I was expecting, hoping for, so much more.  Dr Ruppel has now, yes now it is nearly winter, decided to wake up and produce large buds and a flower. 

Clematis Dr Ruppel flowering in November 2015

Clematis Dr Ruppel flowering in November 2015



I think Elsa Spath might be dead, and one of the Dr Ruppel's too (I had two of those but one seems to have disappeared).  I say that I think the Elsa Spath might be dead, but who knows?  A small flowered clematis, a kind of Passion Flower clematis, which I thought had died a year or two ago—made a glorious appearance this year, climbing up the jasmine. Is there some religious significance here?  Remember that the Passion Flower (Passiflora) has been linked to Christ, the crucifix, and possibly, now, the resurrection!

Passion Flower clematis

See below the Passion flower, Passiflora caerulea 'Constance Elliott'.  The ten sepals (not including Judas and Peter) are the Apostles; the corolla is the crown of thorns; the five anthers are the five wounds; and the three stigmas are the nails.  See the fruit and flower of the edible passion flower, Passiflora edulis.





Passiflora caerulea 'Constance Elliott'