My parents once had a Clematis plant in their front garden. In springtime it opened hundreds of beautiful flowers in lilac colour. Although the plant has sadly disappeared since then, the sight of the beauty stays in my memory forever and I wanted to make it as Wagashi sweet. The Clematis sweet I made last year and two years ago also can be seen from the links.
I made Clematis Japanese sweet ‘Wagashi’ by trying to reproduce the flower from my memory.
Clematis is one of my favourite flowers. Last year I made a Clematis sweet with a ‘Mochi’ type sweet so this year I wanted to create it in a different way. I decided to make it with a ‘Nerikiri’ sweet. The Clematis flowers are normally from white to pink or purple colour which is the colour I like the most. However, I did not want to use any food colouring this time so I used Ube Purple sweet potato/yam to colour and flavour the sweet. I like purple blue Clematis flower so that helped too.
By using the same sweet material in two colours (and flavour) of white and purple I created these two types.
It’s so spring here in London all of a sudden! Once the sun starts shining above our heads everything bursts out in the fiels and the garden. One of the plants that looks almost dead during the long miserable winter time but is the first to show signs of life in my garden is the Clematis. When the temperature becomes slightly higher, tiny green buds emerge from dead looking branches and then if you don’t care for it quickly enough all the leaves get tangled up and become a mess. However, if you look it after it well you gets a beautiful reward!
There are many different types of Clematis. Some flower in spring and some in autumn. Some get small flowers and some get huge ones. The one I love the most is the type with bluey purple flowers with a slight pinkish tinge and which come out at this season. The Clematis in my garden is quite similar to this one in this photo and will start flowering soon.
I created a Japanese sweet in a Clematis shape as the monthly sweet for May.
We have the first flower/bloom in a year in my garden right at the moment. It is Camellia. It was already here when we moved in so I don’t know the specific horticaltural name unfortunately. It is ‘the red blossom one’. The blossom is rather nice but it had a tough few years. It was maybe because that Blue Tits seem to like pecking the buds and it was not given the chance to open them properly. Although it does not have millions of blossoms even this year, it created good enough number to admire. Well done Camellia. You made me very happy.
I don’t do any gardening during winter. When the sunlight starts becoming slightly brighter and it gets warmer, I notice the first sign of spring in my garden. I can see it even through the window of the back room. When I notice this first sign of spring there is one thing I have to do. Although the sky is brighter, the air is still quite cold so I often hesitate to do the task and delay…
What I see from the window is Clematis, Clematis on the trellis which stands right next to the back room. I can see tiny buds are appearing from the almost dead looking stems. During the growing season Clematis’ stems tangle up each other and it goes in all sort of directions. It is only in its dormant period that I can see the structure of the plant without any leaves. You should tidy up and navigate the stems to the right directions right now so that it will look good in summer time.
Buds are starting to appear from almost dead looking stems of Clematis
But you must hurry to do the task! Because once you notice the newly appearing buds, they start to grow very fast. If you hesitate going outside, it will be too late to do the task and the leaves are tangled up in the blink of an eye. Almost every year I hesitate to go outside a little too long and struggle to do the task properly later.
However, this year, I managed to do it already without any hesitation. I even re-painted the trellis. No tangling at all.
Oops, some leaves are painted as well.
I just hope the Clematis flowers well this year. Last year it was not its best at all.
Happy Gardening.
Sakura Junction 