My Clematis cirrhosa, whose straggly stems climb through a crab apple tree in my garden, managed to produce just this single flower before the first spell of freezing weather arrived. There are more well developed flower buds on it but the icy weather has returned and it's doubtful if they'll open now. Bearing in mind that this species hails from the Balearic Islands it's a small miracle that it survives here at all. It came through last winter safely so I'm optimistic that it'll do so again.
In milder parts of southern England there have been several reports of bumblebees that emerge on mild days in mid-winter visiting these flowers, along with Mahonia blossoms, but that's unlikely during this winter's icy blast.
