Beyond excitement. I've been after this clematis 'Flammula' for months now. Known by the common name fragrant virgin's bower every stockist the length and breadth of the country, had none for sale. Crocus, specialist clematis nurseries such as Thorncroft, even recommended RHS specialists, all reported nil sale. I'd resigned myself to having to wait until the autumn or winter to get one. Then this afternoon on a whim we went to a couple of nurseries, mainly as Julie was plant buying for clients and it was better to do this over the weekend rather than mid week.
Middlecombe nursery who stock lots of unusual plants didn't have it. But on the way back we stopped at Garden Park in Hewish for compost. This new nursery come garden centre is one we use a lot for compost and bedding. While Julie perused the osteospermum, I wandered off into the climber section in the absolute zero hope of finding the flammula in question. But no, there, wedged behind another variety, "FLAMMULA" and not one but two pots to choose from. And only £9. Most of the flammula on sale are £14-£19 so with Julies trade discount I paid only £7.65 which I think is an absolute bargain for a reasonably rare plant.
I have a plan for it to grow up a forsythia shrub, thus we'll have yellow spring forsythia and then in late summer white flowers scented of almonds. For the moment however as this specimen had a bit of wind damage I've potted it on and will nurture it before the final planting. Happy Days.
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