Clematis Tunnel

My own paltry clematis bloomed so very shortly this year. I do have another, but that's waning now as well. There'll be nothing left for Garden Walk. Usually the last petal is falling off the last clematis flower the morning Garden Walk begins.

I've read that you should purchase two clematis together whenever you buy them and plant them together -- and early blooming one and a late blooming one. That way they'll dress up an area for a longer period of time. I'd also read that to plant one at the base of a tree or two if you have few. The early-summer-blooming vines could add much color to trees that bloom early in the season. I have done none of these things.

That's why I was blown over by this clematis display at Chelsea. How the hell did they delay bloom on hundreds of clematis so they were all at their showy best fro the week of the show. Add to that the fact that the delicate plants had to be disassembled wherever they were, shipped, and reassembled here. and they're so delicate to begin with - how do you transport walls of clematis?

The tunnel itself ran diagonally across the area of the display. The areas that weren't part of the tunnel had dozens of pots of more clematis. There were "windows" in the tunnel so you could look out onto more clematis. For the most part the thousands of flowers were all in the pastel range -- blues, pinks, lavenders, whites and purples, punctuated now and then by a strong burgundy.

I was intrigued by the pots of clematis -- looking more like a flower arrangement than a climbing vine in a pot. That's something I'd try if the clematis line item in my budget ever gets raised.

Let loose the bees!