Clematis Make Great Cut Flowers!

Clematis "Crystal Fountain"

This is my first year getting flowers from my "Crystal Fountain" Clematis vine, purchased last year from Brushwood Nursery.

I was curious as to whether clematis (or at least this particular clematis) would make a good cut flower, so I snipped an already-open bloom and floated it in a bowl of water.

The bloom on the left has been floating in a bowl of water for approximately one week now. I haven't even refreshed the water! The one on the right was just cut today.

Personally, I'm really impressed with the staying power of "Crystal Fountain" clematis as a cut flower. The stems aren't very long, so I don't see how it could work in a vase (unless you're an expert flower arranger and can get creative with wires), but it certainly makes a lovely floating centerpiece.

Have you ever tried this clematis or any other as a cut flower? How did it work for you? And are there any fragrant clematis vines? Please leave a comment using the New and Improved Comment System below.

PS - I really screwed up with the comments. I apologize deeply for the brief sojourn into using Google+ as a comments method. I know some people were really turned off by Google pushing them to join Google+ in order to leave a comment. And then I tried Disqus, but that didn't work at all either. (It failed to import any of the existing comments and made it impossible to leave new ones.) I've settled on IntenseDebate for now to manage the comment. I think it's much nicer and more user-friendly than any of the comment systems I've used before, including the original Blogger comment system. Hopefully you'll enjoy it too! (Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to make all the comments that folks made already reappear. I understand IntenseDebate does have a system to make that work, but apparently there are bugs at the moment that keep that importer from working. See - bugs are not just a problem in the garden! Maybe they need some beneficial bugs over at IntenseDebate?? ;-)

PPS - Update - looks like all the comments are back on most of the posts ... all the ones created using Blogger's comment function and not the Google+ function. I'm guessing the Google+ comments are gone forever...or perhaps they live on, but only within the Google+ world? Either way, I'm glad to have IntenseDebate going on now! :)