My Favourite Blue

-
It has been a long, frigid winter and many plants have perished in the greenhouse on the coldest nights. However I was thrilled to see that almost all my clematis cuttings and seedlings have survived, despite being left on one of the coldest areas of the greenhouse.
Among these are several cuttings I made last year of a plant that I grew from seed that was collected from Clematis 'Helsinborg'.  When it finally flowered it turned out to be coloured a very lovely clear blue, quite unlike its parent which is described as having slightly twisted tepals and, together with its steminoides, coloured a deep purple or mauve. C. 'Helsingborg is a cross of C. ochotensis and C. alpina and it looks was if "my favourite blue" has inherited its form from its alpina parent. Blue tepals with white staminoides are also common in C. alpina.
Clematis cutttings and seedlings. Including my favourite blue.

My favourite blue.

Clematis 'Helsingborg' one of the parents of my favourite blue.

Comments

LauraH said…
That favourite blue is just lovely, so nice to look at this evening with yet more snow falling.
March 1, 2014 at 7:01 PM
Barry Parker said…
Laura, One of those cuttings has your name on it!
March 1, 2014 at 7:27 PM
Anne said…
What a beautiful blue. Would love to grow that!
March 2, 2014 at 6:18 PM
storyworks said…
Oh so very lovely.

Hmm? I wonder if that perfect blue clematis would like to grow in a container on my balcony?
March 5, 2014 at 11:00 AM
storyworks said…
Truly the perfect blue.

I wonder if that lovely clematis would survive on my balcony?
March 5, 2014 at 11:03 AM
Barry Parker said…
Anne, I have a few cuttings to spare.

Elke, It's worth a try!
March 5, 2014 at 12:44 PM
Anne said…
Hi Barry,
Thanks. Would love to try; i enjoy growing clematis in my little garden. I live in Toronto so could pick up some time.
Lime.leaf@yahoo.ca
March 5, 2014 at 2:13 PM
Alain Charest said…
It is indeed an unusual blue - very much a morning glory "heavenly blue".
March 10, 2014 at 11:04 AM
Barry Parker said…
Thanks Alain, I thought I might be a biased as to its uniqueness, so it's good to get a conformation from someone like yourself.
March 10, 2014 at 1:38 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plants at My Front Door

-
Image
Last year I had a rather autocratic message from the UK suggesting that my love of limey, gold and chartreuse plants could lead me down the path to "brassy" tastelessness. I bristled at this, but tried to ascertain whether this was a fair comment. My critic, perhaps had not taken into account that I live in a completely different environment from her, and that the quality of light and extremes of climate affect our reaction to colour in a different way. In our hot, humid summers and brilliant sunshine, I find that these yellow/greens are actually cooling and rather than being strident, are very subdued and complimentary to other colours in the garden. Well, judge for yourself. I'm showing here an arrangement of plants at my front door, which I find very pleasing, A cooling vignette in the last few days of a very hot summer. Plants at my front door. Durantia, Angelonia 'Purple Stripe' and purple Callibrachoa. Coleus 'Fishnet Stockings...
Read more

Sidewalks of San Francisco

-
Image
For a person visiting San Francisco from "The Great White North", one is struck not only the weather but also by the plant life that flourishes in this ideal mediterranean climate. I've just returned from a week in this lovely city, and again I was impressed by the quality, variety and creativity of gardening that I found there. In this post I am paying particular attention to the gardens I found in the front gardens which often  overflowed onto the sidewalks and boulevards. Many of the plants that I saw there are the same that I grow outdoors and have to move indoors from November to April. And since the San Francisco plants are grown in the ground they are huge compared to my container grown collection.
Read more