From “Clematis” in The English Flower Garden by William Robinson:
“Beautiful climbing shrubs and herbs from northern and temperate regions, and of the highest value for gardens. Among hardy climbers there is no other group of plants that equals the Clematis in variety and in beauty.
“The Clematis vary in habit from herbaceous plants little more than 1 foot high to woody climbers with stems 50 feet or more in length. Most of the climbing species support themselves by means of the leaf-stalks, which curl round twigs or other slender objects near. The Clematis flower possesses no true petals, but in their place a coloured calyx consisting of usually four, but sometimes as many as eight sepals.
“The Clematises may be used to cover walls, mounds, arbours, pergolas, and fences, and in the open, where no other support is available, rough Oak branches may be used for them, either singly or set together to form a pyramid, while the more vigorous species will run over trees….
“Many years’ experience among my plants makes me more than ever convinced that the Clematis is the most beautiful of our northern climbing plants, and, rightly grown, is hardy in our country. In addition to other good qualities I have observed in recent years a very precious one, a plant which takes no notice of rains and storms, copious and frequent as our south-western rains are. This is a very precious quality, as most of our other plants give way before them, even the hardiest. For the varieties and beautiful colours there are no plants equal to them….”
From “My Sanctum” in Poems by Martha Lavinia Hoffman:
Have you seen my princely sanctum where I sit?
Oh! An artist or a queen might covet it!
When I raise my eyes, such perfect pictures meet my gaze,
Not an artist or a poet but would stop to praise.
Hung about it, hung above it, on its ceiling, on its floor,
Never was a palace frescoed by a greater hand before,
For the echoing vaults above me are all trembling, floating leaves,
Swaying, quivering, where the sunshine and the shadow interweave;
And the cool, cool depths of water ripple, dimple at my feet,
And fantastic roots are braided for my lowly little seat.
Clear is the untarnished mirror where the stream is deep,
Where the grand old trees’ reflections calmly lie asleep;
I can see my face within it, when I stoop,
Framed by branches that above me sway and droop
And the pictures, there are mountains, there are forests on my walls,
And such color, and such distance, and such light upon them falls.
White clematis and pale, wild roses drape the fence,
Wild blackberry vines are trailing in luxuriance….
Hello!
This is the third of three posts featuring Clematis plants from my backyard. The first post is Clematis Abundance (1 of 3) and the second post is Clematis Abundance (2 of 3). This post includes photos of a Clematis I once knew by the name Clematis Bernadine.
Since I briefly discussed the Clematis flower’s unique central stamen structure in the last post, here’s a closeup photo of that structure from both the previous striped Clematis × jackmanii flowers and the flowers in this post. I found it interesting that the stamens in the flower on the right echo the purple and violet tones of the rest of the flower, a kind of color expression where the tones are similar and consistent rather than contrasting and completely different (as on the left).
Clematis stamens are sometimes used as aids to identification; and the chocolatey red center cone and color consistency are among the clues I used to decide that the plants below could very well be Clematis lanuginosa. The stamen colors retain their richness and intensity from the time the flower opens (as shown in the first six photos below) through the time it reaches adulthood. The number of petals (or more accurately, sepals) varies — there may be six, seven, or eight on each bloom — and the purple, violet, and pink colors present when they first open gradually fade as the flower ages. Among the photos below, the oldest flowers are those that are closer to pure white — although even an aged flower will still show brushes of color, especially through the sepal centers, more visible to human eyes (and to cameras) in diffused, overcast lighting.
Thanks for taking a look!
