MinxterBLOOM

Clematis. The correct pronunciation is, unequivocally, CLEM a tis, with a short e and the accent on the first syllable. All the dictionaries are agreed on this, and even Fowlers Modern English Usage, in a (to me) impenetrable article on “False Quantity”, comes down in favour. ‘This climber’s common fate is to be pronounced cle MATE is,’ with the accent on the second syllable and a long a. In America clem MAT is common, rhyming with lattice. The continentals have a hard time of it. Magnus Johnson (a Swede) confided to Tom that he had to be careful while in the UK, lest he commit the heresy of saying ‘clemartis’ (the long as is the norm over there). What an intolerant lot we are – the poor man sounded quite intimidated (paragraph on the families that developed clematis strains including the Jackmans who gave us the immortal and best – my aesthetic – Jackmannii, which should be pronounced as jack MAN eye.) For the plural of clematis I (and many others) use the same words. I cannot say this is correct, but if enough of us go on doing so for long enough, it will become correct. The English language is overburdened with sibilants, especially in the final syllable of syllables. Crocuses and irises are tolerable, but clematises leaves the tongue congealed and torpid. Imagine ‘she possesses 66 clematises’. Most unpleasant.

Thus writes Christopher Lloyd in Clematis. Lloyd identifies the Latin and Greek origins of the word and crowns the etymology as would an English plantsman: the OED documents the clematis-word as meaning some climbing or trailing plant likely a periwinkle. Source: Clematis by Lloyd, Christopher (Revised with Tom Bennett) Out of print but go here and scroll down to 'Lloyd.'

Clicked by darling dot No.2, the entry photograph pairs Jackmanii with New Dawn rose. This classic pairing is not shown off to best advantage on red brick. But the perfect garden eludes us. We can love the flowers we have. And, we can love the family we have, too. May as well be kind, as Kurt Vonnegut says (said).  I love this image because it marks a day when said dot saw through the mom in me, seeing the gardener. Lovely to be acknowledged, gracefully and truthfully.

Ah yes, in case you did not click into the wiki-bio of CL, you may appreciate this image of a silverprint photograph hanging in the National Portrait Galler (London). Tessa Traeger took the photo. I like how the NPG request that I (we) NOT post the image without permission. The web is a wild and wooly place! And I do not mean Lambs Ears, Stachys lanata.