Winter flowering clematis
A plant that offers such an enthusiastic display on a dank January morning can seem somewhat incongruous against a grey sky and driving sleet, but Clematis cirrhosa ‘Jingle Bells’ sallies forth, facing any hardship that is thrown at it. Flowering over an archway that frames a side gate it also acts as a wonderful thicket to conceal the open-fronted robin’s nest box that has been occupied for the last three springs.
In the same ‘cirrhosa stable’ are ‘Wisley Cream’ that boasts flowers with a chartreuse tinge. Another popular member of the family is ‘Freckles’ which, as suggested by the name, sports flowers with plum coloured spotting. They all have sweetly scented flowers and a penchant for vigorous growth, reaching nearly 5 metres and will scramble up a wall and through nearby trees if given the opportunity.
We wouldn’t be without it, and it adds to the selection of scented winter flowering shrubs in the garden such as Lonicera purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’, Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’, and Sarcococca confusa.
