Well these have been worth waiting for! Cleomes were on my wish list of plants to grow, but they have taken a bit of trying. This morning they were catching the early sun so brightly I had to stop and take a photo.
I first noticed cleomes in Basel, when I was living there, and was enchanted from first sight. They are not a standard flower in Perth, perhaps they don’t cope with hot dry summers, but in Basel they were in bloom on the path in to the swimming pool in my first Summer there, with their tall airy spikes of spidery flowers.
Growing them has been a challenge though; the packet recommended direct sowing in Spring, which I did, but there followed a battle between recognising what was cleome and what was weed seedling, and then keeping them going through dry hot weather. In the end I sowed again in a seed tray in the shade house, and after nursing the direct-sown seedlings through to the wet, I think it was only my transplanted seedlings that survived in the end. Survival included not being scratched up by the chickens which found the mulch I put around them irresistible.
Now the chickens are isolated in a day-yard, and I’ll know to add cleomes to the growing list of spring plants that are best raised in the shade house. From a mixed colours packet only the white ones have survived, but that has turned out OK as they make a good drift of white and are next to colourful zinnias. I’ve since seen that some sites recommend sowing in Autumn for our climate, so I will give them another go soon.