I didn't want to clutter up the main thread with these pictures...

There's not a lot happening on the clematis swag yet when viewed from a little distance:

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Up close though, there is a fair bit going on that bodes for the future of it well I think. I posted this picture of 'Willy' earlier on the recent thread. It looks like it's going to be pretty, and very vigorous. I was hoping it would bloom with the dwarf lilac but it's much earlier. This was May 28:

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This one is in the first loop of the swag on the house side, towards the center. If my 'map' is right, it should be 'Gillian Blades':

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Next to it, towards the gate, this one is growing like crazy. It should be Comtesse de Bouchard:

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There are a couple of others that are quite vigorous but that's the biggest one at this point. The ones on the fence side are mostly smaller - that side is shaded by the fence so the vines won't get a lot of sun until they get tall enough to reach the swag. The one I accidentally broke off when weeding on the weekend is probably 'Guernsey Cream'. It was a fairly small, root-bound plant so I'm not sure if it'll recover or not. I may need to replace it but I'll wait and see what it does.

The Clematis montana that was on the arbour got cut back hard when we took out the New Dawn roses last summer. I didn't expect it to survive, let alone produce a few flowers this spring. It is growing very vigorously out there now and some of the new ones are using it to climb to the top of the arbour.

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Looking out from the gate, towards the driveway you can see one of my favorite combinations that is just getting underway in blooming. The clematis is probably Nellie Moser (lost the tag when it was planted years ago...) It climbs on the mockorange under the kitchen window. There are buds showing all the way to the top of the - very tall - bush this year but only a few are open yet.

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So the swag looks to be off to a good start but I know it'll take a few years before it really struts its stuff :-)