Clematis and lilies

Clematis are the flower of the week! Last year, I was lucky enough to buy some clematis for a very good price and I am so pleased that they are growing and blooming. This lovely specimen is a year old and just stunning.





Apparently, one of the earliest reports of the cultivation in Europe of clematis comes from the Greek botanist Pedanios Dioscorides around 50 A.D He is thought to have originated the name-from the Greek klema meaning a tendril, shoot or vine-which was then used by the younger Pliny to describe the plant in Historia Naturalis. During the Elizabethan reign, the clematis became known as Ladies' Bower or Virgin's Bower.


The clematis is not only admired for its flowers, but also for its remarkably tough stems. In North and South America and in Asia, it's been used as rope. French peasant women make clotheslines from clematis vine. Ancient Romans fashioned clematis baskets. Clematis vitalba has another use: in Russia and Italy, young shoots are boiled in water and eaten like asparagus.




I don't think that I will be weaving my clematis vines or eaten them any time soon but I will enjoy the flowers and look for more to plant and enjoy next year.

The last picture is not a clematis but I could not resist taken a picture of one of the lilies that has started to bloom in my garden.
I love Asiatic lilies. The range of colours is stunning.