Montana Madness

The Clematis Montana 'Queen Elizabeth' has gone totally mad this year. Growing fast and vigorous, grabbing and coiling onto anything that it can find. It will have to be taken into hand this year. But for now we enjoy the delicious perfume that comes from it.

With a mass of flower that it has, the perfume intensity is compounded. I can only describe it as a sweet dusty scent. Reminding one of a favourite Aunt who gently powders herself with a talc found only in stores frequented by gentile ladies.

Clematis montana attracts many insects to it and is a valuable source of nectar.

Gradually the centre area of our top garden where the Clematis montana resides, is fleshing out more. The aim is to make it have a wooded feel with plenty of shelter from prevailing winds. Then hopefully we will gradually be able to establish a bat colony within it. Bats have been in decline over the years and are now heavily protected. They  need as much help as they can get.

We have erected 11 bat boxes in just this area of the garden. The garden itself we have been planting to ensure many forms of insects are attracted to it as potential food source for bats.

Three bat boxes can be seen on three of the trees in this picture.

Paths within the garden are made from shredded woody cuttings to create  forest floor conditions, once again to support  invertebrates.

During Summer we have bats swooping and wheeling around the trees so hopefully they will be encouraged to investigate the setup.