Summer is here in all its ice-cream-loving glory. Well, technically, it’s the 21st, but it sure feels like its here. It sure felt like summer in Philadelphia last week. I was lucky enough to be asked to scout the Philly Flower show last week, and it was HOT but quite spectacular. I also squeezed in a few equally, if not more, spectacular public gardens.

In fact, I was so busy touring gardens I forgot to post last week! So I’m catching up. Click here to see some images from my Philly trip. The album is still a work in progress. I need to add a couple of gardens, but I don’t want to let perfection get in the way of progress. Plus, this post is already a week late.

I love summer, and last week was the perfect kick-off to this steamy, dreamy season. Speaking of summer, ‘Sweet Summer Love‘ Clematis is a great choice for any garden. Whether planted in the ground or grown as a container plant on the deck, it will delight people with its fragrant blooms and easy care. And no, it’s not invasive.

‘Sweet Summer Love’ Clematis grows in USDA 4-9, so most people can enjoy it. It will get about 10′ tall – maybe a little more – and will grow in sun or part shade.

Adrian Higgins writes glowingly about it in his recent article about clematis in the Washington Post, so it must be something special. But don’t worry, you don’t have to have the skills of Adrian Higgins to have success with ‘Sweet Summer Love’, this one is really easy to grow. (Although he does provide a very good tip for success in the article.) So if you’re apprehensive about growing or recommending this Clematis, don’t be.

It’s not the heat; it’s the humidity?

That’s what we tell ourselves, anyway. And frankly, in Michigan, the humidity is pretty terrible. After all, we’re surrounded by Great Lakes, riddled with lesser lakes, and high humidity seems to be a constant. At least we got some much-needed rain this week.

If you’d like to follow along to see how the heat and humidity are affecting the gardens around here, we have some really fun weekly videos of our trial and display garden. This latest one shows some Clematis; they’re the early season ones, but we should see ‘Sweet Summer Love’ appear soon.