clematis alpina cyanea

lovely...much prettier than a wall !

It's doing a good job of hiding it and looking pretty at the same time .. .. ;o))

thanx elsiemay and amy ;o))

Is this one evergreen, Sanbaz. It is very pretty.

Better than a wall anyday Sandra....beautiful....

ONly one thing better than a clematis San.....2 clematis!! lovely!

no its not Gee, i cut it back a bit to tidy and come spring it grows fast and spreads quickly,
sure is ray, i hated that brick wall lol
your right karen, was thinking of another one on the wall ;o))

Hi San, you probably already know this....apologies if you do....if you cut it back immediately after flowering it will save you losing any of next spring's flowers. They are a bit unsightly over the winter aren't they , these alpinas and macropetalas. Is the wall warm, because if so, you could go for one of the 'atragene' types, the NZ clems that are evergreen.

thanx karen i do cut it back and last year i had a second flush of flowers,
will look into the evergreen type thanx, the wall could be warm as its their kitchen wall,

lol! ha ha San, I meant does it get a lot of sun....not is it centrally heated by the neighbour's kitchen stove! ;))

lol karen oops im a bit silly at times hahah, no its a cold wall shadiest spot in garden, only sun at dinner time through summer ,, ;o)

Hmm. perhaps not then San. I have some clems doing really well in the shade though...the yellow one 'love child' which flowers May to August; the alpina 'Tage Lundell' and the double 'Kiri Te Kanawa' all do really well in my shady spot.

Away from clems, a great evergreen for a shady spot is 'Berberidopsis Corralina'. It has large leathery oval leaves and red flowers in the late summer that are like small red panicles of hanging 'berries'. It's nice but a bit tricky unless you have the right conditions. It would host your clematis alpina well, as would a nice camellia trained on the wall.

I've been thinking about getting some garden mirrors too....that could be an idea for taking the eye away from that wall.....

sorry San, you didn't ask for my advice...I'm'going on' again...honestly, there's no stopping me once I get going on gardening ideas....!! ;)) By the way, you are not silly, and you made me smile, sorry for being cheeky!

karen dont worry i know you didnt mean it in a bad way, im a bit of a feather head at times lol, thanx for addvice to as im not to good on names, so its a help, i like mirrors to but so expensive from GC,are they any different to a home mirror or is it a con

Sorry to interrupt your conversation but I believe you can buy garden mirror sheeting, unbreakable etc! I can't remember where I heard about it (probably Ebay!!!) but it may be worth considering :)

thanx for that Gee, and your not interupting at all, open house on my pics lol will check it out Gee, thanyou

Yes, indeed, thanks Gee! I've been wondering about some less expensive mirrors myself. Was going to google today actually! San, I'm glad you were ok with the teasing! ;)

Excuse me for butting in, somebody recently joined and 1 of their photos shows a very good mirror in the garden. I think he (the GoY member) was in the photo.

Thanks M75 (ha, you are now a scottish motorway!). I had a look at this website....http://www.allplas.co.uk it seems that they are made of plastic San - not glass (makes sense). The ones on this site are terrific (with prices to match!). They do have just plain mirrors as well further down the page, and they are less expensive. That would do me fine actually as I wanted to put my mirror amongst some climbers.

Scottish Motorway ... if you could hear the NOISE here from the drilling out of the concrete paths you'd think you were on a Motorway ... grrr. The more I think about garden mirrors, the more I'm sure 1 of the RHS gardens has them. If only this DRILLING would stop, my brain might remember where. lol

Oh poor you! It will all be worth it M75! Go out and have a cream tea somewhere nice this afternoon and let them get on with it!

thanx karen will take a look at the mirrors ;o))

That's going to be a real stunner! ;o)

thanx Tog, its looking great this year ;o)

Looking good Sanbaz. Mine are about this stage with the flowers just coming out. I have mine in pots and have just tied them up to the trellis.

thanx linda, they are lovely and so good in pots to ;o))