Clematis

I love flowers. Bright, pastel ones, demur, showy, short, tall, prickly, flouncy, I'll take them all. The Chelsea Flower Show, the Philadelphia Flower Show, and Floriade (the World Horticultural Expo that takes place every 10 years in the Netherlands) are all on my bucketlist.

My Great Uncle Jim taught me how to grow flowers when I was a little girl. He had a long back garden in his house in Belfast and we'd spend hours weeding and tying, looking and cutting the flowers and veg. He passed on his passion for the garden and his green thumb!

I shared some photos from our current garden in last week's Saturday Digest - it's great growing plants here that would find Northern Irish summers chilly and wet and dull. But it's equally thrilling to grow flowers here that I used to have in our garden in Northern Ireland.

This clematis was already well established when we bought the Hillsborough house in 2005. It took little intervention from me to provide this stunning display year on year - just the odd bit of pruning so it didn't get too wild!

 

This clematis appeared in our rented Virginia home this spring. There was no sign of it when we moved in last July, so when I spotted it peeking through the soil in April I was delighted. It has put on a great show and although we're moving out of this house at the end of July, I'll leave the trellising in place to give it a chance to grow strong.

 

I learn a lot about myself through the garden. It takes time for roots to grow deep and even then, with weathered time, I need to be pruned so I don't get too out of shape. Regardless of what I've already seen there are hidden gems planted within me that will flourish and delight at the right time, in the right context, with people around who know how to support and care for me.

So wherever you call home, seek out the light, food, pruning and trellis that you need to flourish where you are planted!