Clematis crispa Brookgreen Gardens handsome against a sheltered wall

handsome against a sheltered wall

and steadfast in quiet beauty

Davis grew his out

the big white spring flowers and clean summer foliage make this rare Florida endemic a quietly distinctive choice

well-drained soil with generous summer water

Clematis crispa Brookgreen Gardens handsome against a sheltered wallClematis crispa, the swamp leather flower, is a small and delicate native vine that trades the flat, showy face of a garden clematis for something quieter and stranger. The flowers hang solitary and nodding, little urns of thick, leathery blue purple, paler within, their four recurved sepals frilled and crimped at the tips like curled ribbon. Slightly fragrant and endlessly charming, this is a clematis scaled for a small garden rather than a barn