Remember the obelisk ?

It's now painted in Farrow and Ball Estate Emulsion 'Lichen' and planted with two Clematis Jackmanii from B&Q (two for £12 offer). The Jackmanii were in definite need of TLC as they had wilt by the looks of it, along with more bits of stick and tape than you can imagine, not just the usual three each, and dead broken bits. One pot had a small slug in it, as well as moss and weeds. Not impressed B&Q !

I mixed two coir compost bricks from Oxfam's Ethical Collection sale with water yesterday and stirred once absorbed. I mixed a handful of Growmore into this and three of those slow release plant sticks and used that as the bottom layer. Next came Wilko tub and basket moisture retaining compost from Wilkinson, mixed with a handful of sterilised bonemeal from Poundland. Then after planting the clematis in diagonal corners, I added a thin layer of moisture resistant compost and then a thin layer of expensive left over orchid compost (mostly bark and fibre) as a mulch.

It needs to be moved to its' final position but I will take a photo. I should mention that the International Clematis Society recommends Jackmanii as being easy to grow for clematis beginners and not prone to wilt, so the wilt-like appearance was probably due to the slug. I will get my husband to add slug pellets when he waters the garden tonight.