the oddest thing--clematis armandii not fragrant this year

16 years ago

I can't understand it, but our huge clematis armandii, which has heralded spring and been the March standard bearer in my fragrant garden (after the sarcococca, lonicera fragrantissima, and daphne, it's the clematis's turn), is blooming now but is not fragrant at all! It usually perfumes not only our yard but our neighbors' yards all around.

Does anyone know why this could be? Makes me quite disappointed...is there something wrong with the plant? Just as many blooms as before, and it's spread insanely up across a 20' arbor and up to a tree on the other side of the arbor..it doesn't *look* unhappy in any other way...

Thanks in advance.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

Embothrium
16 years ago
Fragrance in flowers often tied to air temperature, maybe that has something to do with this situation.
0
mahatmacat1
Original Author
16 years ago
Hm, thanks for your reply. Interesting possibility...I wonder if it's been cooler this March than other years in the past.
0
mahatmacat1
Original Author
16 years ago
The answer is *yes*, it's over 10 degrees cooler on average than last year. There have been days that it's been 20 degrees colder.

DH wants me to post that he did think of the temperature as a possibility, but told himself "I don't know anything about gardening, that can't be it" -- reverse self-denigration! I've heard girls/women do it about, say, math, and talk themselves out of right answers to problems, but this is a first in this direction...
0
cascadians
16 years ago
We have 2 areas with clematis armandii -- one is really blooming like mad now with new reddish eager vines shooting up to the sky -- and no fragrance. Last year the fragrance was overwhelming with far fewer blossoms. Glad to hear it's the temps. Can still smell the daphne which is still blooming but only on lower 1/2 of plants.
0
mahatmacat1
Original Author
16 years ago
Yep, our daphne is still going, just not as fantastically as it had been. Everything has been blooming/growing so prolifically this year so far, I'd really been looking forward to the clematis, though...it's the biggest of all the fragrances. Odd that the weather didn't affect any of the others.
0