Clematis.

Due to the ineptitude of Blogger my planned wildlife posts have been put on hold plus my outdoor adventures have been slightly disrupted by the lack of wheels (the engineers have discovered that a mounting point for the rear axle on the chassis is very slightly out of alignment causing both the wear on the bearings and the excessive tyre wear - the car may be out of commission for at least a week!) so here is a mini garden update.

Many years ago while working for the RHS I made friends with a customer (who also just happened to be interested in bird watching) and he constantly reminded me that I was responsible for his wife spending far too much money on buying more and more Clematis plants PLUS one of my regular readers, Grammie G, also seems to associate me with Clematis, so here are some very recent images from our small back garden.

This is the first Clematis we every bought and for the life of me I can't remember its name but it might be 'The President' or something very similar. It scrambles its way clinging to the rampant Ivy that surrounds one of the old concrete washing line posts close to the house.

Next up is Clematis montana (possibly Elizabeth). This was a rescued plant and was kept in a container for a few years until it needed to be put in the ground. It is very vigorous and earlier this year I had to severely prune it as most of the growth was actually on my neighbours side of the fence. Despite the late cutting back it is producing some blooms at the moment.

Not in the ideal position this white variety (probably Gillian Blades?), now in a partly shaded part of the border against the fence, is performing far better than I have seen for some years.

This is the only one in a container, Clematis Cezanne, which will very soon be a mass of vibrant blue flowers just outside the dining room window.

I probably won't be posting again until Sunday or Monday as we are attending a family wedding tomorrow, so wherever you are, have an enjoyable wildlife watching weekend.  FAB.