It is with great joy and relief that I announce that my clematis has come back to life. It’s only our second year together, and after a lacklustre showing last summer and a distressing decline into a barren stick appearance over the winter, I assumed she had done what most of my gardening efforts do and simply given up.
I really tried to give her a good start. I purchased the largest pot in the sale section at B&Q and I paid heed to the “cold feet, warm head” rule that I read so much about on the internet and surrounded her base with additional purchases. I even googled “plants the clematis might get along with in the pot” and sought out anything in the sale section that looked or sounded similar.
However, once early autumn hit, I was cruelly betrayed by nature. I cannot resist the sad countenance of the local grey squirrels peering in the back door at me – and they know what they’re doing with those big doe eyes and tiny pleading hands. So I caved. I treated them to some seeds and nuts, forgetting that they are driven by a guttural instinct (and a flagrant disregard for my kindness) to bury food for the winter ahead. And so it was that I watched them rip up my carefully planted carpet of creepers that were meant to protect the clematis roots from the last of the year’s sun and heat, so they could stock the larder. And do you know what else squirrels like to do? They like to regularly dig up their stash and rebury it elsewhere.
I had really lost all hope for the clematis. Between the ravaged base and the overall gaunt appearance, I was resigned to her being a one-and-done addition to my little rental “yarden”. I could almost hear the scoffs of the neighbours in the surrounding apartments. They’ve seen me dance this dance many times – a burst of green-fingered enthusiasm followed by a complete lack of follow-up care and the eventual demise of whatever shrub or perennial (hah!) I have impulse purchased purely because I have a trolley in Lidl.
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But then, a few weeks ago, a little green shoot appeared on the clematis. I dismissed it as a parasite; some weed taking advantage of the desolate carcass. I’m quite welcoming to weeds. A growing plant is a growing plant and, as I’ve already demonstrated, I can’t exactly be picky when something is alive in the garden.
Further investigation revealed that these were actually clematis leaves and shoots, bursting back to life. The little climber that could.
I’m hoping that the reappearance is prophetic. My reluctance to commit to a plant that would ideally become established and spread its wings/tendrils for many years to come is largely influenced by my status as a renter. That’s why I’m a sale section devotee too. As a renter, investing with any significance in gardening feels counterintuitive. However, around the same time my clematis made its 2026 return, I was informed that my apartment was to be sold, my greatest fear.
It has been my home for almost seven years. I’ve made it my own in every temporary way possible and have regularly dreamed of the security of owning it. So now I will embark on the uphill battle of procuring not only a mortgage, but one sufficient enough to purchase a south inner-city apartment in a highly desirable area as a single, self-employed woman in her 40s with recently confirmed ADHD and a problematic relationship with money and paperwork and no relationship whatsoever with generational wealth.
I’m not much of a believer in signs, but surely the resilience of the clematis is something to cling to, just as she clings to the trellis I bought in – you guessed it – the sale section at B&Q.
Just as the clematis roots have been paying rent in that pot, I have been paying rent without fail for more than 20 years. The clematis is lucky in that if I were to evict her, she would simply give up and perish, whereas I would face a fate worse than death: the Irish rental market with a cat in tow. It doesn’t bear thinking about. So, I must dig (sorry) in and make this happen. And I will treasure the clematis as a good omen, because hopefully we have many, many more years together. I have also purchased some netting (full price) to keep the squirrels out of the pot. A sound investment, just like me.
