It's so nice to see clematis that are still blooming.

We've had enough cold weather that the hosta leaves have been ruined and other more tender perennials, yet Madame Julia Correvon keeps blooming.

With living in the far north, my clems are now very much done for the season, though the autumn was warm and I had a few blooms till close to mid October, which is good for here. Thanks for posting the photos.

Terry

What is the name of the first picture? I have one that have very dark blooms like your picture. I would like to know its name.

Betsy

Hey Miguel,

I still have clematis blooming too! Not ton's of blooms, but blooms on lots of different clematis. I like your Zoin!

Carol

We are having a long warm fall with a couple of cold frosty days. I still have a few blooms on my Duchess of Albany, Inspiration, William Goodwin, and have a bud almost ready to open on another clematis. Am hoping that it will open before a killing frost as I think it may be from a clematis that I thought was gone. Little to no browning out on any of my clematis this year.

Betsy, that is Romantika I believe. In that area, I have over 10 clematis planted so trying to determine what is what is difficult when some are up and blooming and others are not.

Carol, I figured you would have some blooming also with the weather we have been having. Betty Corning now has about 10 or so blooms, Zoin is still going strong, as is Romantika. A few blooms on Duchess of Albany, Hanajima, Madame Julia Correvon, and Ramona.

Congrats mnwsgal about the lack of browning out on your clematis this year. We had another long dry summer, as Carol can attest to, so the ones blooming now are ones that I pruned back in late summer to remove all the browned out foliage and they came back to bloom again for me.

It appears that unless something strange happens the blooming will continue for the next 10 days or so since the forecast calls for no sub freezing temps through that period. Then again we all know how the weathermen(women) change forecasts at the drop of a hat. Am leaving Friday for Ft. Lauderdale where on Saturday we depart for a week long cruise on Holland America's "Eurodam". Supposed to be visiting Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas. I am excited since the trip has been planned since February of this year and I thought the time would never get here. Bon Voyage!!

Well I guess you're gone on your trip now. Just wanted to let you know I got a welcome surprise of 2 of your texensis seed that were bagged up last November 16th 07, germinated this week.

Looking forward to lots of pics when you get back.

I was walking through the local nursery last week. The few remaining plants were packed together against the building in their wintertime formation. All kinds of shrubs and perennials. A couple of violet and white flowers peeking out from the middle. A Venosa Violacea blooming in late October.

Half price. I took it as a sign! Found a second one and now both are growing next to Betty Corning on my arbor. Hopefully they will grow as well as the one I picked up last fall.

{{gwi:227058}}

I love that one! It's still only the second year for mine and it gave me loads of blooms, and when I was cleaning up the garden, I discovered it had grown way farther into its shrub than I realized. It's a real winner.

Back from the Caribbean all and still Romantika (I think!) and Betty Corning are blooming. This in spite of it being in the upper twenties several nights while we were gone. You gotta love clematis that are still blooming in spite of the weather!
{{gwi:626405}}

{{gwi:626407}}

Joan, congrats on your germinations of texensis. Can't wait to see them when they are adults and blooming. Yes, I have tons of pictures but I may just post them on my Photobucket account when I have the time. The weather was fabulous, the scenery was great, and the shopping was out of this world. I spent way more on jewelry purchases than I did on the cruise itself, bu then again I always have every time I have been on all three of the cruises I have taken! LOL

Harry, great shot of VV. How can you not love that one!?!

Since Joan wanted pictures of the cruise, I uploaded pictures and created an album on my photobucket account. I am linking to it below. I must admit that the pictures of the water in the Caribbean do it no justice. It is just incredible the amount of variation in blues that you can see based on the sunlight and depth of the water. The first four pictures were of the room and marina of the Grande Yacht Club we stayed at in Ft. Lauderdale the night before the cruise. That is followed by pictures of the room on the Eurodam and then Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, and finally Half Moon Cay island, the private island owned by Holland America Cruise Line. I haven't gotten around to putting any titles or info with the pictures yet but will as time allows. A couple of the pictures may be sideways since I forgot to rotate them before uploading them. Having been on 3 cruises now and having already visited San Juan and St. Thomas, I didn't really take as many pictures as I have on previous cruises. And no there are no pictures of me in any of them as I am the photographer! LOL Enjoy and feel free to ask questions if you want.

Here is a link that might be useful: Eurodam 2008 Album

Hi Miguel, just looking at your pics,you certainly had better weather than I did.
My favourite pics are the iguanas, pity they don't stay small, else I would have me one.
What's the little lizard with the curly tail, a gekko?
Looks like you had a great time.
Ps, didn't see the jewelry :-)

Hey Helen. The weather was gorgeous the whole time. We had a passing shower in Grand Turk which was over before I got out of a shop and there were a few sprinkles while in St. Thomas but they helped cool us down. It was in the mid-90s while we were in San Juan and no cloud cover! UGH!!!

The iguanas were sunning themselves in St. Thomas on rocks on the pier near where the ship docked in Crown Bay. The curly tailed smaller lizard I am unsure of the identity of. I assume it is in the skink family but not for sure which one exactly it is. My mom's cat caught one of the native ones here in the south which got into her glassed in back porch and brought it into the house for my mom. Needless to say Mom was not happy. She chased that thing throughout the house where it got under the TV cabinet and even climbed the walls. She finally got it back onto the back porch but the cat brought it back in that evening. My brother in law had to finally catch it and put it outdoors.

No, never did take any pictures of the jewelry. I upsized my diamond stud earring from right under 3/4 of a carat to just over a carat, got a tanzanite, diamond, and austrian opal ring, and an alexandrite ring. Alexandrite is really cool because it turns colors from a mossy blue green color to purple and finally to a rose colored stone when it goes from fluorescent light to incandescent lighting. I needed another tanzanite ring like I needed a hole in my head since I have two other tanzanite rings but as I said previously when talking about clematis colors, I am a purple freak! The only way I could justify the purchase was since one of the current rings is a plain trillion cut tanzanite and the other one is an oval tanzanite with smaller diamonds around it. I guess the austrian opals and the much darker purple tanzanite took it over the top! LOL

Thanks for the pics Miguel. Glad you had a good time. Sure looks relaxing. I would love to take a cruise someday, before I'm too old to enjoy it.

Miguel, had to go google tanzanite, had never heard of it.
That should tell you something !!
The colours are really beautiful, I wouldn't mind a collection of clematis with all those shades of purples.
Opals are my favourite stone even though they are considered to be unlucky, I think that comes from the fact they are so fragile and if you are a handwaver like me you have to be careful.
Australia has some of the best opals, although the life of an opal miner wouldn't be for me.

Am suprised the cat didn't kill and eat the lizard, most would, and prolly get sick as a result.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coober Pedy

Two freezes later, I still have a few clematis blooming. Tough plants!

Your trip sounds like a lot of fun. I have several tanzanite as well, I only have one of the darker colored stones and it isn't huge. The darker the color, the more moolah required! Boy, that water is gorgeous. It is so cold here right now that I wish I were lying on that sand, a warm breeze on my face, looking at that blue, blue ocean.

Carol

Helen, surprised you had not heard of tanzanite. I purchased my first ring over 10 years ago when it was still a relatively new gemstone. Opal is a nice looking stone. The cat was probably playing with the lizard or perhaps was bringing it inside for my mom as a present? LOL

Carol, we have had cold weather here also since getting back from the cruise. I think we came back too soon! Down to 26 degrees here several times and the clematis I showed are still going strong. They must be in a protected microclimate. We are forecast to get down to 21 degrees in the next few nights so it will be interesting to see what that does to them.

After several nights in the 20s, the clematis were still looking good. This morning we woke up to find that we had had snow flurries and although the flowers look droopy, the plants themselves still look perky!

{{gwi:626408}}
{{gwi:586678}}
{{gwi:626409}}