The Clematis is Budding

I thought I wasn't going to see any action with the clematis this year, but sure enough it started budding this week. Is it just a late bloomer? Or perhaps the flower food I gave it a couple of months ago did the trick. I can't wait to see what color the flowers are and perhaps try to identify it.

Things are looking up in the gardens. The pool bed is in full late summer bloom with coneflowers, bee balm and black-eyed susans. I have some nice red and yellow lilies blooming out front, and my hot pink gladiolas are just coming into bloom. I pulled up a bunch of juniper ground cover as part of the front landscaping project, and freed up Butterfly bush and a sedum. There's also something else in the island bed with lots of light green foliage that doesn't look like it will bloom this year.

I think I've decided on a nova zembla rhododendron for the front garden near the garage. And I'm considering an azalea for the foundation planting, in addition to the boxwood I plan to transplant. I was thinking about a climbing rose as well, but I think that will be too fussy and high maintenance. Also some hollyhocks and other flowering perennials, as well as some existing things I'll be rearranging.

Here are a few pictures, I'll take more of the pool bed once the rudbeckia is at its peak. Still waiting for my Russian sage to do something, but so far no blooms. It looks healthy though. And I think I'm getting slightly better at photographing these flowers, although I still have a long way to go.