Late flowers have their special magic
I was just thinking about summer coming to an end (without us having had a real one) when I notice that two of my favourite late summer flowers have appeared over the last week. Perhaps summer hasn’t finished after all! The first one is a clematis and deserves a special mention. Not only is it very attractive – it’s still alive – Hurrah! Despite my talent for killing most clematis this one comes back stronger every year.
Clematis 'Sherriffii'
Clematis ‘Sherriffii’ is part of the Tangutica group of clematis and is in Pruning group 3. This means it needs hard pruning so I cut it back down to around 1/2m (2 ft) in late February or early March. Once it magically springs into life again (from what looks like a dead piece of wood) it grows to about 6m (20 ft) along a trellis. It flowers from mid August and continues flowering into October and its common name is the Orange Peel clematis for obvious reasons. The nodding flowers are a lovely orange yellow and are followed by decorative fluffy seed heads which last for ages.
Clematis 'Sherriffii' seed heads
At the other end of the size scale from the clematis comes Cyclamen hederifolium, a delicate little flower which is also as tough as old boots. If you’ve got a dry area under a tree this is the flower for you, in fact it will grow almost anywhere except in soil that is too damp because the corms will rot. I have some growing in the bone dry soil under a Eucalyptus tree and they thrive there.
Cyclamen hederifolium
The flowers appear before the leaves and are in shades of pink or white. They seed like crazy and I have them all over the garden. It’s worth marking them otherwise you will always be digging them up by mistake once they die back. I’ve got corms up to 15cm (6 ins) across so it’s very easy to cut through one of them when planting something else. I love cyclamen in the garden, they are so elegant.
Cyclamen hederifolium
8 comments
My native clematis is just getting ready to bloom. I can hardly wait.
The little white cyclamen are amongst my favourite flowers.
(When cats don’t sit on them.)
Lucy
PICTURES JUST PICTURES
I love your orange peel clematis! It’s beautiful and unusual looking. Plants that bloom late in the season are always a winner in my book.
I posted the Olive Oil Pickle recipe on my blog….hope you enjoy it. My husband loves it.
I love Cyclamen – they have the appearance of standing in a wind tunnel, with the air pressure forcing their petals to stream backwards.
Deb – Thanks for calling. Hope your clematis is flowering now. I’ve left a comment on your blog.
Lucy – Luckily the flowers are very springy and pop back up again. Unless the cat is very fat!
lilymarlene – Thanks, I’ve started it off today
HappyMouffetard – Yes, like a dog with its head stuck out of the car window, ears streaming behind!
Love your clematis. I am also a clematis killer (apart from armandii, on which I have an all too vigorous effect) so thanks for inspiring me to give it one more try
Victoria – Yes I too managed to keep armandii alive although after 20 years it has finally faded away so I will need to get a replacement. It has a lovely fragrance so I miss it.
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