Well, it wasn't as good a summer for my clematis as I'd hoped it would be. It's the second year for most of them and I'd been hoping for at least a couple of blooms (I got none at all last summer), but fate had different plants. Er, plans! I meant plans!

I received notice on Monday, June 16th, that my building was getting painted and that my balcony would need to be cleared off by Wednesday morning. I spent all of Monday and Tuesday nights carefully unwinding the stems of my clematis from the railings on the balcony, then moving everything into my living and dining rooms.

I lost a few stems to breakage, and the buds that had been forming died off from being inside for a week and then going back out in the sun again. Only one of my type IIIs - the Venosa Violacea - bloomed for me after that. The others never started putting out buds again after the first set died off. Dang, but if this VV isn't a performer though! It's amazing to me that it showed up in a tiny 2" pot just last fall, and looks the way it does now.

Venosa Violacea:

From ground level:

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View while standing on the balcony:

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Balcony view (imagine how nice this will look next year, when all that greenery on the balcony rails is covered in blooms):

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