shirayakihime, first real bloom period sept 08

here is shirayakihime, in my garden for almost 2 years. this is her first real bloom period. a stray bloom or two in the spring, and i wasn't expecting this. sprung forth after some heavy rains ( a reminder that we may water enough to keep the plant alive in late summer but do we water enough to help the plant flourish?)
the blooms survived our tail end of ike which downed several trees here on my property. how can something so delicate be so tough? that's clematis yin yang in a nutshell. anyway, here it is...worth the wait!

From your picture, the blooms look similar but larger than "Henryii". Very nice and definitely worth the wait!

yes, they are lovely. i am not a big henryi lover, as they bloom so early here that i don't enjoy them as much as some other varieties. i find them not so long lasting , more vigourous than miss bates, but similar for me in overall vigor. and i find them hard to establish also. this clem has a lovely pastel cast, which this photo does not catch, as it was taken after the beating winds of the after ike storm we got. we had 5 large trees downed, and 2 acres covered in green leaves, small stems and the like. but all the clems and supports and blooms made it thru the storm.
this picture shows more of the lovely color of this clem before the blooms were waning.

Just beautiful!!! I love the soft pastel colouring to it........