Heliotrope Purple Petals...

In the first lockdown last year, I took pity on the pitiful clematis plants on sale in the local supermarket. Lacking water and natural sunlight, their leaves had become so shrivelled and their woody stems so brittle that the cashier even advised me against buying them. However, buy them I did. Despite spending most of the year in a relatively sorry state, this spring the plants started to grow in a determined fashion and have now produced their dazzling flowers to grace my balcony. The beautiful flowers have large, slightly ruffle-edged petals which are known to attract butterflies and hummingbirds in certain climates, though I think it is safe to say that there is no danger of that occuring here!

The flowers on one of the plants are a gentle amethyst whilst the others are a rich, regal purple. Perhaps the right description of this particular shade would be 'heliotrope', in reference to the flower itself of the borage family. Contrary to heliotrophic plants, the clematis does not turn its flowers and foliage to follow the movement of the sun throughout the day and in view of the incredibly wet weather at present, that is probably just as well... Nevertheless the grey skies are not able to dullen the hypnotic effect created by the delicate magenta veins traced on this particular purple, with the clockwise swirl of stamens at the centre to draw you in.