Early Clematis Bloom

I woke up to my first clematis flower this morning, which was a nice treat. I didn't get my first flower until early August last year, so I'm not sure what this means. I know I cut the plant back too far last year, which delayed the blooming. I only see 3 other buds on it now, so I hope this is the start of a very long bloom season and not a bad bloom year.

There's not too much happening in the garden right now as I wait for a bunch of perennials to flower. The annuals are starting to fill in well at least. Here are a few pictures:



African daisy (Osteospermum):


Hardy gladiolus:


Valerian root:


I couldn't get the colors right in this shot. It's a purple swirl dianthus from Bob with dark purple rock daisies:


First daylilies to bloom. They're in bad need of division, which I'll do this fall:


Snapdragons with lobelia (calamint in the back)




Lovely moth Jake and I hung out with on the driveway. This thing was the size of a small bird and very furry. I later discovered it's a Polyphemus Moth. From wikipedia: The eye spots are where it gets its name – from the Greek myth of the Cyclops Polyphemus. The caterpillar of the Polyphemus Moth can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months.