Clematis koreana

Clematis koreana brunette has its first flush of flowers in early spring and then returns about now for another go, and so on throughout the summer and into autumn. I keep expecting the flowers to turn their faces up to the sun, even though I know that they're not going to. Their shyness is a part of their charm, and the colour and fruit peel texture of the reverse of the sepals (?) is very attractive. It's a slow grower, but has a tenacious hold on the obelisk it's climbing up, as well as a determination to do its own thing; encouraging it to go in one direction or another can be quite challenging.