Thank you, Susan, I always love looking the vibrant colors of your blooms.

Very nice photos! You seem to do much better at getting accurate colors than the photos I take. Your clematis all look quite happy and healthy. You have some great color combos . . . 'Forever Friends' and 'Romantika' are stunning together, and since I have both sitting in pots waiting to be planted, I think that I will use your idea. You asked, "I was surprised how they mainly bloomed on the top parts. Is this typical?" Many of your clematis are type three prune (all those viticellas.) Did you prune them down to one or two buds this winter? These clematis bloom on new wood, so if you don't want all the blossoms near the top, you need to prune them pretty severely. As long as I prune them, I find that most of them bloom fairly much bottom to top. An exception seems to be my various C. texensis crosses like 'Gravetye Beauty' or 'Princess Diana' which seem to have more of the bloom near the top even though they get winter killed to the ground most years and pruned low regardless.

Lovely. Thanks for sharing! The idea of having so much going on in the garden in Feb. is so alien to me, and your reference to your cold wet winters seems like a joke. (but I understand that it is all relative) Last year my crocus didnt even come up until mid April, and the forecast says we get some single digit weather next week. Still..........best if I live in a cold climate until I retire, the temptation to skip school and play in the garden would be to much for me.

Okay. See below. Anytime you want to visit the gallery or one of the other Texas forums such as 'Exchanges' and 'Conversations' just look to the right of "On Topic Discussions" which is above where the posts start on the opening page and click 'Gallery'. [Switch to: Exchanges : Gallery : Conversations] A lot of people don't realize there are other sections to the Garden Web Texas Forum, much less how to get there. So rest assured you're not the first one to ask this question :-) Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Gallery. The garden makeover post will be near the top at the moment ....