Sweet Summer Love

It's fragrant and pretty. It is 'Sweet Summer Love' clematis and I have it growing up a stretched out slinky toy hung from the shepherd's crook. 

It is cool magenta in the shade, hot cherry red in morning's first sun rays, then deep purple in bright afternoon light. Although this is a variety of sweet autumn clematis, it blooms in early summer, not fall. It is nowhere near as rampant (or invasive) as the autumn clematis.

They say the fragrance is a vanilla scent, but I think it's a heavier, dusky smell. Nice, though. The flowers are little, but make up for their small size by being prolific and dense, at least at the top. Nothing much is going on below.

The early spring bulbs and flowers have gone by and the summer bloomers haven't started up yet, so this sweet vine is a nice interlude. It's brief, though. It doesn't bloom for long. 

But for a little bit in June I enjoy sweet summer love on a slinky.