In 1984, we started our formal garden. For about 20 years, it was an RHS partner garden and in 2019 it was the regional winner in the National Garden Scheme “Nation’s Favourite Garden”. In 2020, it was shortlisted for “The Garden of the Year” sponsored by Christie’s and run by the Historic Houses Association, subsequently coming second in this country wide competition.
The formal design and number of small separate gardens, lends itself to incorporating collections of plants such as salvias and clematis into the planting schemes.
For garden open times consult our web site www.wollertonoldhallgarden.com or Tel: 01630 685760
2022 opening may still require assurances for safe visiting. In that case, timed tickets for visiting sessions can be pre-booked on our web site. Find us:
Wollerton Old Hall Garden, Market Drayton, Shropshire TF9 3NA
We are brown signed off the A53 between Tern Hill and Hodnet.
Clematis montana ‘Broughton Star’
Your Society
Welcome
Lizzie Gibbison, Chair of BCS
Those were the days my friends
Yes, those were the days. Where do I start? Heady days when we were eager to head out and meet other members in beautiful gardens, having a good chat over tea and cake. Then there were the shows. What challenges – getting a good pitch, then sourcing spectacular clematis to display, together with good educational materials. Members volunteering for the rota on the stand to enthuse visitors about clematis and to answer their questions about successful growing. What stalwarts you all were! Despite the stress we all enjoyed the experience and the icing on the cake was when we won an award. Fantastic. Now we come to the present day, as we gradually climb out from under the dreadful experiences of Covid which prevented visits to gardens and the opportunity to listen to great speakers. Never say never, however, and we will get back to meeting up for those wonderful chats. In the meanwhile, we will continue to use zoom for our AGM in April because, just like this year, it provided an opportunity for members to join in who live far away. The start time of 6.30pm is also to facilitate attendance by overseas members should they wish. So, on that positive note, keep looking forward because everything is hopefully now changing for the better once more. Until then, stay safe, and, as another song says, Be Happy.
An Introduction to This Year's Journal
Ken Black, Coordinating Editor, BCS
Even during 'lock down', when everything appeared to stand still, time has passed by and here we are with our second new look Journal. Last year's design received favourable reviews, so we have kept to the same format. Some of the section headings have changed and, because gardens in 'lock down' have not played such a prominent part in our lives this year, we have focussed more on gardeners and their experiences with clematis, plus a collection of articles about growers and nurseries. This year's Journal is not entirely without reference to 'lock down', however, as you will see from the article about Wollerton Old Hall which was written by Charne Griffiths, with the permission of the owners.
We thought that a section focussing on growers and nurseries would be interesting because it presents an opportunity to celebrate commercial growers and breeders, past and present, to record the important contributions they have made to the development of clematis as garden plants for all. When talking recently to Professor Mary Toomey, I found myself on the receiving end of an impassioned plea to remind members to promote the preservation of older clematis cultivars rather than allowing them to disappear beneath the waves of all the new so called 'must haves' showcased and promoted each year at the main large RHS Shows. This view certainly chimes with what Richard Hodson told us in his talk at the AGM earlier this year. Therefore, the message to us all is to keep growing the older, well known cultivars, otherwise we may see them disappear.
As usual, there are many fascinating contributions from members covering subjects including propagation, breeding, the importance of pollinators, and how to get the best from specific cultivars in the garden, and experiences of starting a nursery. Everett Leeds takes us through the second part of the Jackman story and Wim Snoeijer challenges us about whether the C. 'Jackmanii' that we grow in our gardens is actually what we think it is. Something for everyone I hope.
'Odoriba' a prolifically flowering viorna raised in Japan by Kazushige Ozawa in 1988
The Front Cover
Clematis 'Wesselton' and 'Cragside'
In my view, these two atragenes combine well when grown together, either in a pot, or in the ground. It is many years since early flowering clematis featured on the cover of one of our journals, so I thought that this year we should highlight these ballerinas of Spring.
'Wesselton' was introduced by Jim Fisk, and named using the 17th century spelling of the village where he lived. Cragside is a more recent introduction by Edmund Phillips and, I assume, that it was named after the Armstrong family home which is near Rothbury in Northumberland.
Acknowledgements
Ishould like to thank all this year's authors who, I think, have provided a range of fascinating articles. A special thank you goes to those of you for whom English is not your first language, and I hope that the editing process has enabled your views to be conveyed more smoothly than a literal translation would have done.
Thank you to our dedicated proof-readers:
Aidan Armitage
Alison Booth
Charne Grffiths
Sue Reade
Keith Treadaway
Keith Shortland
Julian Noble
Thank you to all the advertisers
Finally, my gratitude goes to all my colleagues at the British Clematis Society, Lizzie, Peter, Glenn, Alison, Julian, and Annette; Everett Leeds for his fabulous cartoons, and all at the Graphic Design House in Portsmouth.
Clematis 'Wesselton' and 'Cragside'
Renewing Your Membership for 2022
Annual memberships are due for renewal on the 1st of January each year.
Ways to do this
ʀ By cheque addressed to the British Clematis Society and sent to the Membership Secretary at the address below.
ʀ By PayPal via the British Clematis Society Website www.britishclematis.org.uk
ʀ By Annual Standing Order Mandate which can be downloaded from the British Clematis Society Website or obtained from the Membership Secretary.
Whatever method you choose, please ensure that you provide an identification reference such as your name or membership number. Suscription
The committee has continued to meet on-line via Zoom. This has enabled us to hold more frequent meetings and at minimal financial cost. The continuing lockdown and uncertainty about face-toface meetings led to us holding the 2021 AGM on-line again using Zoom. This was a new experience for us all.
We sent out the notice of the meeting and other papers for the AGM to all members by mail in February. Our 30th AGM took place on 10th April 2021 with 50 members attending all or a significant part of the meeting. It was heartening to have so many members joining in the meeting, even if they felt rather distanced from the officers presenting their reports. Voting on various items was possible using the polling function on Zoom. By the end of the meeting most members were familiar with how to cast their vote. Members were able to contribute to the meeting. All the current officers and committee members were re-elected. The minutes of the 2021 AGM were sent out to members in the September Newsletter.
The BCS accounts for 2020 have been filed with the Charity Commission.
An on-line talk about small flowered clematis for the Summer garden, given by BCS member Richard Hodson had been arranged to follow the business meeting, but technical problems with the internet connection led to us having to postpone this. The talk took place on the 29th April 2021 and was attended by about 50 members and guests. Richard gave us a fascinating talk with excellent illustrations. A slightly edited version was then posted in the members' section of the BCS website.
During the year, the Midland Group has been able to organise some garden visits. Josie Hulbert, who has led the Group so successfully for many years, has stepped down and has passed this role to be shared by Charne Griffiths and Ian Nex.
Date for your diary: BCS 31st AGM, to be held on-line. Thursday 7th April 2022, at 6.30pm followed by a short talk. Again, we are holding the next AGM on-line as this enables members to 'attend' who would not be able to travel to a face-to-face event.
Clematis 'Bill Mackenzie'. This tangutica was raised by WG Mackenzie in 1968
Report from The Treasurer
Peter Hargreaves, Treasurer, BCS
Results for the year ended 31st of December 2020
During 2020 volunteers continued to undertake the running of the society's affairs which would be expensive to provide if the BCS had to pay for the external provision of these services. During 2020 our expenditure reduced due to very limited activity. Our main expenditure was on the production our of annual Journal.
The society's funds reduced from £26,489 to £25,335 in the year ended 31st December 2020. The finances of the BCS still remain strong and the committee continues to monitor costs. The BCS is faced with challenges and changes and increased reporting requirements in our affairs, in line with our status as a charity, and the society maintains specific reserves for such purposes.
BCS accounts for 2020
Report from the Newsletter Editor
Glenn Rowbottom, Newsletter Editor, BCS
The Newsletters and BCS “In Touch” emails, which are issued throughout the year, have been well received and l would like to thank the members who have shared their gardens, their clematis, and their growing experiences to provide useful tips and information for fellow members.
What another strange period for us and l hope that we all managed to stay safe and to navigate ourselves through it. I don't know about you, but l am almost “Zoomed out” and looking forward to the day when we all feel comfortable to meet up again. Let us now, on a positive note look forward to 2022.
The Newsletters and BCS “InTouch” are integral parts of the British Clematis Society (your Society), so please think about sharing your views and gardens by producing a piece, however small, with pictures, if possible. Other members really do appreciate this, and your input of gardening experiences, knowledge and interesting tips and ideas may encourage other members to join in.
Stay safe.
Clematis 'Polish Spirit'
Report from the Membership Secretary
Ken Black, Journal Editor, BCS
Membership numbers
As with all societies, our membership numbers fall each year but, as we approach the end of 2021, we still have a very healthy number of members. These are as follows:
*Please note that these memberships are no longer awarded by the Society.
Clematis 'Warsaw Nike'
During the year so far, we have welcomed the following 17 new or returning members: Julie Carrier, Jette and Lars Jensen, Gwen Hargreaves, Ryan Debolt, David Chitty, Deborah Hardwick, Marion Leslie, Blanch Cross, Claire French, George Bentley, Richard Burnett, Nick Carton, Wim Snoeijer, Peter Keeping, Janice Boris, Lu Large.
BCS Facebook Group
Earlier this year we started a Facebook Group which is just for members. Any member can post information, photos, articles, questions etc and the only people who can see and respond are other members of The Society. The old BCS Facebook page, to which all members did not have direct access, has now been closed. It is early days, but we hope that more members will use the Facebook Group to communicate with each other. The BCS Website is also available to all members and now carries links to talks and webinars that we host.
Shows
RHS shows began to restart this year although we decided that it was probably still too early to apply for any stands. As a membership we would benefit from having a debate, possibly over Zoom, to establish whether to resume our presence at RHS Shows, or whether there are more effective means of reaching out to people about the wonders of growing clematis in their gardens.
Please continue to stay safe and thank you for your support over the last year.
Silver medal winning British Clematis Society stand at the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park in Cheshire, July 2019
Section 2
Gardening lives and Clematis
Wollerton Old Hall Garden during the Pandemic
Charne Griffiths
The Garden
Wollerton Old Hall Garden is privately owned, but open to the public a number of days a week from Easter until the end of September each year. It was designed and created by Lesley Jenkins together with her husband, John. The property, which surrounds an Elizabethan dower house, is a place where Lesley spent some years of her childhood and she and her husband were able to purchase it having seen it for sale in the early 1980's. There was little left of what could be described as a garden, therefore they set about developing a modern English garden.
Front Porch
Leslie and John Jenkins
An English Garden
Since that time, it has been a labour of love for Lesley and John to bring the Garden to the level it is now at. It has moved from a personal garden development project to a garden that gives much pleasure and inspiration to many visitors. The Garden has become much admired both nationally and internationally as a fine example of an English garden and has featured in many television programmes including the 2021 Carol Klein series of Great English Gardens. In the January 2021 issue of 'The English Garden' Chris Beardshaw writes that the garden is 'the definitive tutorial in the art, style and essence of the English garden'.
The garden extends over four acres and is divided into a number of carefully created and intensively planted areas. There are collections of several plants including clematis, roses and salvias which are woven into the themed areas. Although the garden is the main attraction there are many associated activities that also require high levels of planning and action.
Activities and Facilities
The main regular activity is opening the Garden to the public for several days a week throughout the six months from April to the end of September. In the autumn and winter there are some openings for specific events such as a winter walk. The Garden has special days when speakers, well known in the gardening world, present talks to small groups in the house, which is not open to the public. This is followed by a lunch and an opportunity to visit the garden. There is also a sales area which is stocked with plants grown in the garden, and last but not least, there is the tea room where delicious food can be purchased.
Organisation and Maintenance
The administrative work involved with the above is considerable and added to that there are also group visits to be booked and organised. The garden and the complimentary activities require consistent but flexible staffing. The Garden needs year-round work to develop and maintain the planting as well as growing the plants for the plant sales and to replace or renew any areas. Administrative work is also constant, but garden openings and provision of refreshments are more seasonal, needing part time and temporary staffing.
Wollerton Old Hall
Front Porch
Lockdown
When the first lockdown happened, it was far from simple to bring the garden and its associated activities to a halt as there were many areas, as outlined briefly above, that needed decisions and actions. Many activities had been planned at least a year in advance. It was like trying to turn around a large ocean liner. A garden at this level of planting cannot be left without work, particularly in the spring, so early decisions had to be made about the staff and volunteers who maintain the Garden. The instructions from the government were for people to work from home unless impossible, but obviously a garden needs tending in situ.
The income from the garden opening, tea room and plant sales support the employment of staff, and to have that cut off at the time in the year when no money had been coming in over the winter period was particularly difficult. The 'furlough' scheme was announced on 23rd March 2020, but payments did not start until after 20th April and there was much paperwork involved. Then the difficult decisions had to be made about who were the most vital staff members to be kept. A lot of things were unclear at this time such as what other financial support might be available and if it was to be a loan how would that be repaid? Grants were to be paid out by local authorities, but each moved at different speeds and with varying criteria.
There was little idea of how long the lockdown would last and whether there would be any adjustments to the rules. A business running from home tended to be regarded as in a different category to a business operating from a separate address. Finding a way through this minefield took time and effort. The plants in the garden, greenhouses and tunnels could not wait too long for a decision.
Considerations and Reorganisation
A further consideration at this point in relation to maintenance of the garden related to the filming of the 'Great English Gardens' series. The autumn and winter sections of the film had been recorded but filming of the spring section was scheduled soon after 'lockdown'. Fortunately, Lesley and John were able to keep the Head Gardener in post to help them maintain the garden and look after the plant propagation and sales. Other garden staff were able to return to work part time after adjustments were made to the furlough scheme. Also, after a few months, some of the volunteers who help to look after the garden were able to return to support the gardener.
At first, garden centres were closed but later were permitted to open and this allowed Wollerton to reduce some plants in their stock by producing an online list for purchase as click and collect from the plant sales area.
The planned special days had to be reviewed and those booked early in the year had to be cancelled. This involved contacting speakers and rearranging dates where possible,
C 'Viola'
but without knowing the likely future progress of the pandemic it was like making a stab in the dark. Those who had booked to attend special events needed contacting and information about the proposed future possibilities and an option to request repayment of the monies. As it transpired there were to be no special days in 2020 and later, planned dates had to be cancelled when it became clear that groups would not be able to meet indoors in that year.
Creative Thinking
By 26th June 2020 it became possible to open the garden in a limited way. In following the rules for social distancing, it meant some expenditure at a time of little income. Transparent tailor-made screens had to be purchased and fitted for places where visitors interacted with staff, and masks and other protective items obtained. As part of Covid-19 protocol it was necessary to develop a sanitising system for all surfaces that would be accessible, and ensure that this process would be repeated and recorded on an hourly basis. A booked, timed, system of entrance and exit was organised, but this did reduce the number of visitors in a day by a considerable number. A one-way system of travelling around the garden is possible and, with limited numbers in the garden at any time, it kept close contact to a minimum. The Tea Room was unable to open at first, but takeaway food was possible by 24th July. Visitors were able to picnic in the parking field in small family groups. When the tea room was able to open, the number of tables indoors had to be reduced to enable social distancing. Using their outdoor tables was of course dependant on good weather. In normal seasons Wollerton Old Hall Garden would have many group visits each week, and most would order refreshments, but obviously that was not possible last year. Indeed, every prebooked visit by horticultural groups was cancelled in 2020.
Restriction in the income that supports the garden, in the many ways described above, had a significant effect economically and, in turn, could have affected the whole development and maintenance of the garden. Lesley and John are grateful to their then Head Gardener, Phil Smith, loyal staff and volunteers, and family who have all been supportive during this extraordinary time. They are also grateful to the visitors who trusted that they would do everything possible to protect them whilst in the garden. I think it is to their great credit that Wollerton has managed to come through the last months while still being the much-admired garden it was before. Evidence of this can be clearly seen in the programme about Wollerton Old Hall Garden in the 'Great British Gardens' series where the autumn and winter sections were recorded before the start of the pandemic, the spring section filmed during the lockdown and the summer section filmed when there was some easing of restrictions. In the latter part the garden is shown in its full summer glory with the plants looking as colourful and floriferous as ever and the strong design elements clear.
Group visit
Tips Worth Sharing
Mike Brown
The longer we garden, the more we should pick up (and use) good gardening tips.
I am not sure that this is always right because when some of us reach a certain age, (varies for different people), we tend to forget more than we remember. The two best tips that I can remember, and would like to share are:
Dealing with pests
Because I grow more herbaceous clematis than most people, I tend to suffer slug, snail, bird, and mice damage more than my clematis friends who mostly grow the climbing types. As you may well know, most herbaceous clematis are hard pruned back to ground level, so all new growth starts from below ground. These juicy stems, and foliage, can be attacked (and much enjoyed) by many pests that seriously damage the plants, unless action is taken to prevent it. Even other clematis, that are not so heavily pruned, often decide to restart at ground level, so it is not something to be ignored.
Over the years I have tried many solutions, but for the last about 15 years, I have settled on steel wire mesh. I started with half inch by 1 inch, but had to move on to quarter inch square (6mm), to stop the local pheasants and partridges inviting their mates to “Meals at Mikes” every spring. This mesh comes as galvanised wire in various sized sheets (and rolls for those who need a lot). I tend to go for the 2ft x 3ft sheets as they suit the size of the cylinders I make from them.
Pest prevention
Cylinders about 18 inches high and 10 to 12 inches in diameter fit the bill, and deter most mice, voles, and normal garden birds, including the pheasants and partridges, as well as snails and mature slugs. Slug bait is copiously spread around too, although a Liquid Slug Killer is less unsightly.
Moving heavy containers
In the last 50 years, by far the most useful tip I have come across is in the moving of containers, large and small. Despite needing to downsize my clematis collection, (something I must get around to one day) I still have more than 100 largish containers, some extremely heavy. We have at least 4 sack barrows and the same number of wheelbarrows but found that we still had problems (old age) trying to move certain large containers.
Whilst most of the sack barrows do not have a big enough base platform for large containers, they can be fitted with extension plates. Unfortunately, most barrows are bulky and heavy, with narrow wheels which are wide set, so are far from ideal on narrow garden paths. A genuine “Pot Mover” is the real answer. Strong and lightweight, easy to use, thick bevelled solid wheels and adjustable to an enormous range of pot sizes. My current one continues to give me excellent service, even after 10 years of hard use. It is easy to use one handed, so the other hand can guide or support the plant, no matter how much top growth is being moved with it. Moving heavy pots used to be both hard work and damaging to my back, but now it is no problem. At around £30.00 it would be an excellent investment. Mine was a birthday gift, excellent really because it is a gift that KEEPS giving. For moving large pots over rough ground, a normal sack barrow with large wheels is still necessary. However, it is best to avoid the need to do that. Remember, it is much easier, and safer to pull large containers over ground that is not flat, rather than trying to push them. What tips would you share?
Sack barrow
Pot mover
Vineus Weevilii
Everett Leeds
Amongst my clematis in containers is one C 'Everett' (I had to have one, didn't I!) It has performed extremely well for a clematis in the close confines of a pot 43cm diameter by 38cm deep, with the distinct possibility of “did I water it this week, or didn't I? When did I give it food last”? etc. (This happens a lot with OAPs. You youngsters who scoff will find out soon enough!) Last year (2020) it went skywards like a plant possessed and I counted 11 stems rising from the pot to a height of just over 2 metres. It flowered OK but to my mind it never reached the depth of colour of the original in Glenis Dyer's garden.
This year (2021) it seemed to take a long time to get going, and by the end of May had produced one miserable 10cm shoot that lacked total vigour, and there were no signs of anything else except a couple weeds blown in on the wind.
In my advanced state of years, I have put off anything like a root prune or change of compost, 'cos this container with thickish walls was going to weigh a ton and, not having performed in the OAP Olympics recently, and therefore not up to speed, I have conveniently left that job 'for later' for the past few years. So, it was now time to do something about it.
I removed the support (one designed by Dr Mary Toomey, a previous editor of our Journal, and produced in the west country by a gate manufacturing company) and tried to move the container. No way was I going to be able to carry it, so I angled it on to its side and rolled it with both hands the 40 feet to where I was going to do the extraction operation. Suffice to say I managed to get the plant out eventually. By this time my brain cells (what was left of them) had been put into gear and my thoughts turned to possible Vine Weevil infestation which in fact was the case, as it turned out.
I did a vigorous side root prune with a spade and tried to wash off as much soil as possible. However, this was not 100% as the root ball was extremely tight under the crown of the plant so I looked, poked, and prodded as best I could, and in the rest of the compost
Clematis 'Everett'
The pot
I found 'master weevil' in varying stages of adult-hood. Some were babies, some were nearly adult with legs forming, but all were done to death when found. In all, I found about 2 dozen of the 'critters'. I rolled the container back to its original position and re-potted the plant into fresh compost-a mixture of John Innes No: 3 and peat free, with some added grit. The one miserable shoot is now sulking as though it is wilting, but I did notice some more shoots waiting to ascend, so am keeping my fingers crossed. My thoughts have now turned to my other clems. in containers and although they seem to be Ok I am off to the garden centre to buy some anti weevil solution to water into all of them, including C. 'Everett' as I was not able to 100% clean off the soil. It looks as though this should be an annual event so there is a knot now tied in my hankie…
The plant
The 'critters'
A Little Corner of Jersey
Judith Quérée
Ilive in the north-west corner of Jersey, in the Parish of St. Ouen, with my husband Nigel, and together we have created a garden from nothing. In between, we have raised two children, who now have their own families, one in Jersey and one in London. I am originally from Selsey in West Sussex and came to Jersey at the age of 16 to live with my father who had moved here a few years earlier. Our next door neighbour was a local family and one of the sons was called Nigel. We married a few years later.
But I need to go back to a time just before we married, when we were walking the dog and came upon an old derelict cottage in a beautiful valley. Luckily a gentleman, who was gardening in a house nearby, knew the name of the owner so we wrote to her asking if there was any possibility it was for sale. The elderly lady only spoke the local language, Jerriais, but luckily for us, that was Nigel's mum and dad's first language, so they did all the negotiations and really that was the key to successfully buying it. We didn't mention I was English and not a local girl! Nigel can trace his family back over 600 years in Jersey and originally, the Quérées' most likely came to Jersey from Finisterre in Brittany, France. As far as we know, I am only the second English person to have married into the family, but then I think that is no bad thing as perhaps the blood needed thinning!
The old granite cottage is set into the side of a valley which runs north to south. Empty for over six years and with no windows and doors, it was a sorry sight. But it had good walls and a roof and bags of potential – what more do you need. We were young and had lots of energy and enthusiasm. Though my in-laws thought that a nice little bungalow woud be much more appropriate, there has not been one second that we have regretted buying it.
'Perle d'Azur' and viticella 'Carmencita'
The garden has a collection of over 2,000 plants which have been collected over the years and I still buy new plants every year. I like to change things and to buy new and interesting plants. Nigel's role has been invaluable, and he is largely responsible for the maintenance. He is self-taught and has honed his skills over the years, so he can turn his hand to almost anything. In the beginning, the garden was full of granite stones, most likely dating back to the time of construction over 300 hundred years ago. The soil was like dust and needed a lot of work to improve it. Also, the previous tenants had just thrown their rubbish out of the front door and into what is now the garden. We removed seven tractor trailer loads before we could think of making a garden.
We have now been here over forty years and we have worked tirelessly to create the gardens. Becoming an RHS Partner Garden in 2019 was quite an achievement and has made all that hard work worthwhile.
Because the pretty pink granite cottage and garden are set into the valley side, the top most garden around the house is very free draining, so here I have used plants that tolerate dry conditions. In this area I have a large collection of over 100 salvias and 120 perennial geraniums. The climate in Jersey is generally very kind with little frost and high light levels, which are some of the best in the British Isles, and this encourages good flowering. Though I increasingly find that there are now long periods of drought followed by heavy rain, which makes for a heavier workload.
I have a large collection of clematis. I must say, at this point, that our light free draining soil and large population of voles do not always help the clematis to grow, so I have done a very good job of supporting the nurseries over the years! But with a lot of perseverance, I have a collection of over 200. I grow mainly smaller flowered and viticella varieties as I find they are able to tolerate the conditions better. Clematis montana var.williamsii is one of the largest in the garden and is evergreen; it is not showy but has pale-yellow flowers in the spring. It is growing through a Cornus capitata that has now sadly died but it has created a very nice habitat for nesting dunnocks that use it every year. Next to it is Clematis napaulensis, another climber that creates good habitat for the birds and provides winter interest.
Rosa banksiae var. banksiae adorns the front of the cottage. This thorn less rose looks beautiful in May. A rose that likes the warmth of the pink granite that retains the heat overnight and through it the winter flowering C. urophylla 'Winter Beauty'. There is also a Campsis raidicans flava that has found its way over the cottage roof cascading down to meet the rose, it loves the
'Odoriba'
'Buckland Beauty'
napaulensis
heat given off from the Welsh slate and the yellow flowers look stunning in mid-summer. The wasps love the trumpet flowers and we welcome them as they work hard in the garden to eat the garden pests.
Every year we mulch the soil with compost and the soil is now unrecognizable from the original, friable, and full of humus. With increasingly drier periods and higher temperatures this is so important to retain any moisture. We rely on water from a borehole for all our needs, so we do very little watering, it really is a last resort to stop things dying! The lower garden, towards the valley floor, is completely different and is fed with natural underground springs so it never dries out, even in the driest summer. The English name for the valley is, unsurprisingly, Spring Valley. This has allowed a whole new and different collection of plants to grow. It has a large fallen sycamore tree that continues to grow, and this is valuable as a support for Rose 'Francis E Lester' and Clematis viticella which grow in the drier area near the roots.
Within a few feet the ground is sodden and plants such as trollius and caltha herald the spring. A range of Louisiana iris flower well in mid-summer and I have found that sidalcea do well in the damp soil, completely contrary to the advice and monarda thrive in the moisture and flower for weeks on end.
This part of the gardens' fanfare is in August at a time when the drier gardens are struggling. The lobelia looks stunning in colours of pink, purple and white; yellow Rudbeckia deamii and pinks of astilbe and persicaria. It is a cacophony of colours and something you would not dare to wear in fashion!
One of the major considerations is providing a good environment for birds, insects, and small mammals and, to that end, the three meadows that surround us are managed to enhance the habitat for them. We cut the meadows just one a year and any vigorous plants like hogweed are removed by hand so that other smaller native flora have a chance to spread. In Jersey, we have a good population of red squirrels, so we have planted many nut trees like walnut, hazel, and almond and fruit trees such as crab apple, damson, and pear.
We also have a large collection of sculptures, many of which are by English sculptors such as Helen Godfrey, Robin Wright, James Wilkinson, and Derek Kinzett. These add humour and interest especially for those not so keen on plants!
Editors note:
If you would like to know more about Judith and Nigel's garden please vist their website www.judithqueree.com or better still, visit Jersey.
Urophylla 'Winter Beauty'
'Tie Dye' and friends
The Painting Gardener
Jean Harley
I grow clematis and have done for many years – more than 60 years in fact.
The Gardening Painter
There are more than 20 clematis in my garden and they are such useful plants, climbing through shrubs, over trellises and walls, or providing useful and attractive ground cover. With their different flower shapes and colours, they provide colour for every season. I have at least one clematis in flower somewhere in my garden in every month of the year.
I am often asked for tips and hints which I do my best to provide. Of course, I take note of, and use, all the information to which I have access. Since I discovered The British Clematis Society I have learned so much and have had so much help from everyone with whom I have been in contact, and I would like to put my thanks and appreciation on the record. Over the last 30 years, in this garden, I have lost a few favourites but not before they flowered for a long time C. 'Vyvyan Pennell' and C. armandii 'Apple Blossom' were the first two that I planted in this garden. I also had C. 'Bill McKenzie' but these are now gone. I had also planted some C. cirrosas and C. 'Frances Rivis'. I have just replaced C. 'Freckles' but 'Frances' is still here.
Sketch 2 koreana 'Amber'
I mainly treat clematis like my children. I just feed and water them, making sure they are comfortable in their space; try to train them in the way I want them to grow, and then leave them to get on with it. Sometimes they sulk for a while and decide they are not doing much this year or even do a disappearing act, but they usually come back in the end.
I thought I had roughly 25 different cultivars in my garden, but recently I asked a friend to help me to count them to ensure that I hadn't missed any out or counted some twice. I was astonished to find that I have 35 different plants, in the ground, or in pots and planters. Some of the clematis are in pots so that I can move them around to find the best place for them. Others are in pots because they are happier there, as long as the pots are large enough to provide plenty of root space. Maybe one or two may have gone through the bottom of the pot and the roots are now deep in the ground, but I don't intend moving them to find out. If they are happy and thriving, then I don't interfere. Just like children, you see.
At the time of writing there are six clematis that are either sulking or having a rest. Others have either flowered earlier the year and are covered in seed heads or will flower later this summer. Some, of course, flower throughout the Winter. I am pleased to find that I have at least 19 clematis either flowering now (mid-Summer) or are covered in buds.
The Painter Gardener
As an artist, I must admit that sometimes I choose to plant a clematis simply because of its shape and colour, and that I want to paint it. A photo gives a good likeness, but a painting captures something more – I think so anyway. There are so many shapes, sizes, textures and colours, not to mention different growing habits, leaf and stem patterns, that I don't believe I shall ever run out of inspiration. I don't think I have finished more than 20 paintings of clematis, although it was my original intention to paint every single one of them in my garden. I think I will need another lifetime to achieve that!
I was hoping that this year I would be able to offer another painting or two for publication in the BCS Journal, but I have had such a busy time with exhibitions, printing cards of my paintings which I sell to suppoort our local hospice, that I have just run out of time.
Members may have seen some of my paintings in previous editions of The Journal, so this year I hope you will find these pages from my sketch book interesting. They show the preparatory work that I do before starting a painting.
Sketch 1 C. 'Betty Corning'
Clematis and Minibeast Garden Companions
Alison Booth
Many of us love to see the fluttering and hear the buzzing of our garden companions, those garden minibeasts which bring invaluable service to our plants and soils. The minibeasts or invertebrates of our planet are the most numerous and diverse of all the animal species. Spending time working in our gardens brings a familiarity with insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, woodlice, worms, and snails, to name just some of the animals which share the space with us. Unlike much of the surrounding countryside, especially in some farming areas, gardens provide a diversity of microhabitat and a yearly continuity which is vital for the health and ultimate survival of this large group of animals. There can be over 2000 species in a single garden over the years, and together, they support the health of the soils and plant life we all know and love.
BUTTERFLY Common Blue and BEE on Knautia arvensis
BEE Anthophora plumipes female
I will explore the relationship between clematis and specific insects, that is, butterflies and bees, not because they are more vital to us, our soils or plant life than the other minibeasts but rather to share my particular interests with you. There are more insects living on our earth than any other kind of animal – around 8 out of every 10. In the UK, there are 270 species of bee and over 20,000 globally. Our largest solitary bee, the hairy footed Anthophora plumipes (see picture), is one of the commonest bees of gardens in spring. The beige males fly rapidly around flower beds hovering and darting periodically, their yellow faces usually obvious. Females are very different-looking to males, and are jet-black, except for the orange hairs on their hind tibiae. They visit a wide variety of flowers, especially those with bell – like forms, such as many of the alpinas (see picture), and macropetalas. Male bees emerge before females, usually in early March but emerging females can be found as late as June.
These important insects gain many benefits from our clematis; year-round shelter, a place to bask and raise body temperature, a place to overwinter and a food source from the pollen. The adult stage of a butterfly is all about breeding, and a garden is an invaluable habitat to meet up with a mate. Some insects also visit gardens to feed on those species we view as pests, so avoiding the use of insecticides is vital.
We benefit from insects too, because more than 90% of all plants require a pollinator to set fruit and seeds, so in return, butterflies and bees pollinate vegetable crops and flowers including clematis, and support birds, amphibians, and reptiles as a link in the garden food chain. There are 60 wild butterflies in Britain and Ireland and 2,500 species of moths in the British Isles and many are in decline.
C. alpina 'Helsingborg'. Nodding and purple bell shaped; an atragene found in April and May
BUTTERFLY Peacock. Flight period months 4,8,9
BUTTERFLY Small Tortoiseshell. Loves gardens. Flight period months 4,7,8,9
C. napaulensis
Bees are better known pollinators, but butterflies and moths do their fair share travelling longer distances, covering equal amounts of flowering plants in a large area. We can encourage them to visit and stay, by cultivating types of clematis they find attractive and beneficial. It is worth noting, that it is not essential to have native wildflowers to do this, but to choose plants which mimic the qualities of the wild flowers with which the insects evolved. The evergreen winter flowers of, for example, C. cirrhosa 'Freckles' flowering from October through to February, are nodding and open and provide winter pollen food for buff tailed bumblebee queens establishing their winter colonies. Flowers evolved specifically to attract insects and many (but generally not clematis) reward them with energy giving sweet nectar too.
C. napaulensis (see picture), flowering from November to March, has protruding reddish stamens carrying the pollen food source for a bee hive, so that in early spring, if the weather is warm enough, three of the most common early bees found in gardens, the honey bee, carpenter bee and bumble bee may appreciate a visit at the start of a year.
Similarly, early C. armandii, with flat open and scented flowers up to 6cm across, provide a platform for bees to land. The large leathery leaves, carried up to 7 metres high, can provide winter shelter.
The garden bumble bee -Bombus hortorum (see picture), is one of our commonest bumblebees, usually easily identified by the conspicuous yellow band across the midriff and
BEE Bombus hortorum. Garden Bumble Bee
BUTTERFLY Brimstone. Flight period months 2,3,4,5,8
BUTTERFLY Comma. Flight period months 3,4,5,6,8,9
C. montana 'Grandiflora'. Flowers months 5&6
the very long face and tongue. Males are patterned like females. Bombus hortorum occurs in a great variety of habitats including highly urbanised settings. Queens usually appear in March and visit a variety of spring flowers and blossoms. Workers appear from late April and will often concentrate foraging on the deeper flowers provided by tubular clematis. Most minibeasts need shelter at some time and many hibernate, including our spring butterflies such as peacock, brimstone, small tortoiseshell, and comma (see pictures). They overwinter as adults, not larvae, and need good undisturbed cover.
Bee and butterfly adults can be casual as to the species of plant they visit for food, even though as voracious larvae they have very specific food plants, such as sun-bathed nettles for the peacock and small tortoiseshell caterpillars. Preferably in the sun, they visit clematis flowers which attract them through their sheer quantity, colour, cluster arrangements, perfume and form to suit their mouth parts or as a platform for landing. Some clematis are scented, especially encouraged to do so in the sun and if also with stamens exposed or enclosed within a tube, pollen collection is more likely, which is then taken back to the bee nest. Pollen is vital protein for the production of bee eggs. The warms. Planted in the sun, any scent is enhanced and butterflies needing about 17'C to fly and forage, can warm as they visit the garden.
C. montana 'Fragrant Spring' has a vanilla scent, is pink with an open flower and exposed stamens. Unlike blue, pink is a preferred colour for butterflies as well as orange, red, white, yellow, and purple. White C. montana 'Grandiflora' (see picture), is fragrant in the sun with flowers abundant and massed together, just like butterflies, moths and bees prefer. Pink
C. montana 'Odorata' is very sweet vanilla scented, 7-10 metres high providing a magnet for insects collecting pollen from the exposed stamens. The feet of visiting butterflies touch the pistol and stamen of flowers and so transfer the male gamete pollen for fertilisation. They collect less pollen than bees as their legs and proboscis (tongue) are longer and further from the pollen. Hence an enclosed flower or one with exposed stamens, is more likely to b pollinated by butterflies.
Sadly, little is mentioned in the literature of the presence of any nectar sources within clematis. An exception is late summer to autumn (months 8 & 9),
C.terniflora 'Sweet Autumn'
BEE Apis mellifera
white C. terniflora (see picture), also known as 'Sweet Autumn' clematis. Butterfly feet carry special nectar tasting receptors and the butterfly proboscis coils under the head ready to open and suck the sweetness.
Flowers are abundant open star shapes, hawthorn scented, producing some nectar, are up to 5cm across and found up to 8 metres high; an irresistible combination for butterflies, moths, and bees. Bees have a straw-like mouth and collect nectar in a crop. Honey bees tend to forage on one type of flower on a trip, so ensuring cross pollination. Therefore, they enjoy large plants with masses of the same flower.
Apis mellifera (see picture), is the familiar domesticated Honey Bee of the western world; kept by bee-keepers throughout Britain in hives, though feral colonies can live for several years in trees. It is the workers (sterile females) that are normally seen. There are many breeds which vary both in appearance (the abdomen can vary from black to almost entirely orange) and temperament.
The flammula group, flowering from June/July to August, are large plants, up to 3 metres high and often white. C. flammula 'Sweet Scentsation' benefitting from full sun, shares its scented, abundant, and star-shaped flowers with pollinating insects. Hawthorn scented C. recta has similar properties, as has C. flammula (see picture), the species plant, the flowers of which gather in insect loving large clumps.
A relative newcomer is sun loving C. flammula 'Sweet Summer Love' (see picture), bearing large, scented, red purple flowers in profusion. Red is a favourite for butterflies, but not for bees which see red as black. This plant can produce an incredible show of red through the summer.
C. heracleifolia 'Cassandra' (see picture), produces scent in a sunny spot, from blue flowers preferred by bees. The tubular flowers have rolled back tips exposing the stamens and the plant is only 1 metre high for smaller gardens. In months 7-9, the tubular flowers are all excellent for attracting bumblebees, solitary bees and the domestic honey bee and those bees which specialise in tubular flowers.
C. flammula
The double flowered or 'flore pleno' clematis rarely provide nectar or pollen and what little there is can be difficult for insects to reach through the mass of doubled up petals. However, flowering from July into September, the many C. viticella offer variety in colour and form but rarely scent. Purple, violet, and blue being popular with bees, can be found in many clematis with large flowers (see picture), providing a landing platform and easy access to pollen.
Later flowering, single and clustered C. rehderiana (see picture), has a cowslip scent in the sun and a pale-yellow tubular bell flower with exposed stamens. A vitalba group clematis C. 'Paul Farges', also known as 'Summer Snow', flowering in profusion into September, is also sweetly scented in the sunshine.
Providing a good variety of the clematis types similar to those mentioned here, throughout the year, provides for a large range of insects. Most insects prefer sunny positions rather than shade and those at the edges of borders or shrubbery are favourites. Enjoy filling your gardens with many scented, tubular, or open and flat clematis, throughout the year. Do not forget those butterflies attracted in, which also need additional supplies of nectar alongside. You can then feel gratified that you are making a contribution to sustaining these vital minibeasts.
Steven Wright Butterfly conservationist and photographer
Ken Black BCS photographer
Lizzie Gibbison BCS photographer
C. flammula 'Sweet Summer Love'
C. 'Cassandra'
C. viticella' Etoile Violette'
C. rehderiana
Twenty Five Insights
Aivars Irbe
Ilive in Latvia and have grown clematis there for many years. These are my 25 insights about how best to grow and to display them.
1. Think carefully about what is most important to your garden: clematis, the overall composition of the garden or a beautiful garden with colourful flowering creepers.
2. It is not the range of varieties or the number of plants that determines the overall impression in the garden, but the harmonious interaction of all plants with each other.
3. By skillfully applying the assortment of different species and varieties, flowering of clematis can be achieved from mid-May to autumn frosts.
4. Clematis grow in any reasonable garden soil. Provide them with enough moisture and fertilizer, appropriate support for the branch, windward and solar heat, then you will have basically given almost everything.
5. With these wonderfully flowering plants you can create a garden space, covering the unwanted eye, but highlighting everything attractive. However, do not forget that this plant cannot hide various clutter in the garden such as carelessly formed supports, unpainted and crumbling building facades and untidy plantings.
6. The optimal height of clematis displays is 2-2.5 m, sometimes more horizontally (even 7-8 m), but in an individual display, considering the specifics of the variety, it can vary from 1.0-3.0 m.
7. Properly selected and constructed supports will make clematis easier to maintain and easier to grow, as well as providing maximum enjoyment from the glamorous flowers, their groupings with widely spaced and uncompressed shoots.
C. 'Pamiat Serdtsa'
8. The supports must be stylistically identical, appropriate to the architectural solution of the site, the size of the garden and, above all, perfectly suited to the characteristics of the plant in question.
9. Clematis gladly attach to a support that is the thickness of a pencil, therefore we should create such preconditions that we do not have to think individually about the entry of each plant, each shoot into the grid and its stability in it.
10. The supports of the clematis must not only be durable, but also simple and good-looking, so that they do not damage the overall appearance of the garden during the long period when the seedlings themselves are covered or are just beginning to grow.
11. A vertical grid is not always the optimal support for clematis. Often horizontal or downward parts of plants will give more uniqueness to your garden.
12. Also use non-traditional methods to support clematis: branches of other plants, various masonry, retaining walls, fences, stumps, slopes, canopies, etc.
13. By knowing the growth requirements of each plant and satisfying their special wishes, you will save your time and labor.
14. The fragmented presence of other plants in the plantation suppresses the richness of clematis flowers. It creates a chaotic impression, while a carefully tended lawn, wellthought-out background planting and uncluttered placement of shoots on the walls of buildings create a soothing composition throughout the garden. The ratio of the sizes of all the areas is very important here.
15. Abundantly flowering, larger, varieties can be planted further away from where they will be viewed from, they will form an intense colour area in the garden, but varieties with an exceptionally beautiful flower shape and tonal color combination should be planted nearer, for closer examination.
16. When creating a row of plants, do not plant clematis closer than 0.7-1.0 m from each other. Do not forget that one strongly developed plant can cover a large enough support area.
17. If you are not a passionate clematis enthusiast, planting large collections and choosing rare, perhaps unsuitable varieties for the region will make it difficult to care for the whole garden, not always providing the expected result. There is a relatively wide, easily accessible assortment of varieties that grow well, overwinter easily, and give abundant flowering with minimal care. If you are inexorably in love with these plants, then collect everything you can find. There will be a place for each plant. They will never disappoint your good care.
C. 'Entel'
18. The south and west walls of various buildings are the best places to grow clematis, but it must be remembered that they are also the driest places in the garden, where additional watering and fertilizing will create the desired conditions for abundant flowering.
19. Clematis are, in the main, moistureloving plants. However, long-standing water and impermeable soil can destroy them.
20. Before purchasing a young clematis, it is necessary to try to find out the peculiarities of its growth, flowering habit and pruning needs. This will save you the frustration of using a plant that is completely unsuitable for the circumstances.
21. Shabby paint, rusty metal structures reinforce our careless attitude towards these plants. Impregnation of wooden structures with non-toxic preservatives will allow them to remain intact and good-looking for a longer period.
22. By growing clematis in pots, it is possible to achieve their flowering in apartments early in February – March, thus creating a pleasant surprise with these plants being helped to flower outside of their normal season.
23. Many species and small-flowered varieties, with their abundance of flowers, are more attractive than some hard-to-obtain and rare large-flowered hybrids.
24. Flower seed clusters make the plant interesting not only in the final stage of flowering, but can also provide interest the whole winter in various dry plant combinations.
25. By organizing specialized seminars and exhibitions, showing flower arrangements both individually and together with other plants, we help people to respect and love the attractiveness of any flower as a standard of beauty created by nature itself.
Editor's note
This is an adapted extract from “Clematis and other plants in the Garden”, which was written by Aivars Irbe and published in Latvia in 2017.
C. 'Serratifolia'
Atragene seed heads
A Clematis Journey –
It's too
late for Inoculations
Keith Shortland
Gardening did not come naturally to me. It started as an imposition quite late in life and has since developed into a way of life. I can now no longer imagine not spending part of my day communing with plants, whether in my garden, the greenhouse, in someone else's garden or even rambling around the village. It may sound soft but, and I'm sure at least some of my gardening colleagues will concur, that it helps to maintain one's equilibrium in the maelstrom of what may otherwise be a busy day.
My early life in India, where we always had a gardener employed in the family menage, reinforced in me a complete indifference to gardening. Our family travels took us to exotic outposts and there was always a gardener. Some locations were well within the Western Himalaya, where amongst other exotic plants, clematis montana grows naturally and abundantly. In some localities it could rival clematis vitalba in the UK, although, unlike the UK, the Himalaya is not known for hedgerows which C. vitalba embraces. It does, however, climb and tumble through any foliage in which it can establish itself, usually trees. Given my interest today, would that I had paid more attention to my botanical surroundings in those teenage years.
Much later in life, having fulfilled my military ambitions, I returned to being a civilian. Hitherto it had always been my wife who was happy to deal with the garden. I was more than content to be the mower, the lifter, the digger, with my early indifference still intact. As with most things in life, it had ameliorated somewhat, to a need to maintain tidiness and order, but that was the limit. The question of making improvements, plant propagation or even visiting a garden centre were quite alien to my thought process.
However, in returning to civilian life one's house becomes a home and a personal possession with different responsibilities. The initial years passed happily, and suddenly I was presented with a most unwelcome fait accompli. My wife, being pregnant, informed me that I was now in sole charge of the garden. Suddenly, I recognised a responsibility for which I had little knowledge. It had been a practice throughout my employment, that if some secondary task was necessary, it made sense to find someone interested enough to do a good job. I was now in the invidious position of having no one else to whom I could pass the buck. Therefore, it was a question of acquiring knowledge, urgently. I had assumed that I could turn to the guru indoors, but I discovered that the guru's interests had moved on. Nevertheless, in the course of a year or two, though very far from confident, I was learning to be at ease with this new interest, even to the extent of experimenting with propagation from free seed.
Years passed, with a quiet development in personal botanical knowledge. One house move actually resulted in being accompanied by forty plants and cuttings to the new location. However, the next house move was even more surprising. It required a small truck, to move one hundred and forty plants of various sizes. Without noticing, gardening had become a genuine interest.
Montana 'Broughton Star' with a climbing Jasmine
In time, I retired from regular employment, at a younger age than was necessary, to some marital consternation. We had established in the Cotswolds and, it occurred to me, that with a preponderance of large properties in the area, I could take up gardening to augment my pension. That created even more consternation and some disbelief. However, I convinced myself, against the odds, and inundated the local community with cards, offering my services as a gardener. To my surprise, I created a local demand and now had to make good my offer. If confidence is best reinforced with knowledge, I needed to undertake some formal instruction. I enrolled on an RHS evening course offered at the local college. It turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and a wonderful re-awakening of those dilatory brain cells. Like others before me, I suddenly recognised that I should have been gardening much earlier on in life. Why had this elementary and therapeutic occupation escaped my appreciation for so many years? With my confidence buoyed, I came to terms with having regular self-employment, whereby, even the Inland Revenue was now demanding a contribution.
Somewhere along the way, I began to notice the genus clematis. Having a few montanas in my own garden, I had always treated them casually, like honeysuckle or wisteria; just a climbing plant to fill a space or cover a gap. My teenage recollections continued to reinforce this consideration, and I certainly didn't have the garden trees worthy of the average grandiflora. More importantly, in visiting the gardens of clients, I became aware of the different clematis varieties available, their flower shapes, colours, sizes and seasonality. In due course, I discovered the BCS and cautiously made some enquiries. The rest, as they say, is history. I still can't believe ten years have elapsed since Everett Leeds and Liz Gibbison welcomed me to the Society.
I began with a few clematis to fill spaces, and without recognising my conversion, I then began looking for spaces to fill; I was propagating by seed and cutting; I was looking to exploit the seasonality of the genus and my friends and neighbours had begun to look at me askance. Had I developed some rare condition? They couldn't name it, but it occurred to me that I had, unwittingly, developed an untreatable condition, known to clematis enthusiasts the world over as “clematitis”.
I do still appreciate other plants as my own garden will bear witness. I still have a fondness for trees, for iris, for paeonies and so many other plants. Yet, underpinning everything else I do in the garden, there is this constant and insatiable consideration for clematis. I now have over one hundred different clematis at various stages; yet, the garden has not grown in size, there are no more gaps to fill and clematis containers have to come out in flowering rotation. It is, undoubtedly, the delight of year-round flowering pleasure and variety that drives my enthusiasm.
Is one still just a gardener if one's garden planning and direction is entirely based on complementing the interests of one's clematis population? Has one, in fact, passed into another reality of appreciation by singularly following a clematis enthusiasm? I am an apprentice to this reality and contentedly so. Like others at my level we soon learn that things don't stop there. There exists an ultimate reality within the fraternity. Amongst our ranks there are those who, through experience, dedication, or authorship, have passed from mere enthusiasts, to being recognised as “clematarians”.
Perhaps clematis plants should be sold with a cautionary label: “BEWARE – Purchase of this plant offers the distinct liability of contracting 'clematitis`, from which there is no known cure”.
Montana 'Pleniflora' (a seedling of C. Montana) scrambling through a Tulip tree
Montana 'Mayleen'
Clematis as Cut flowers
Brigitte Niemela
In my garden I grow many clematis and I love to use them as cut flowers. Most of them are very suitable for flower arranging and they keep well in the vase. I am fascinated by their growth and the variety of colors and shapes that make it possible to bind the most wonderful bouquets.
The underrated cut flower
Many authors about clematis books mention that clematis can be used as cut flowers. The only book I know that deals mainly with this topic is "A Celebration of Clematis" by Kaye Heafey and Ron Morgan with photos from the Chalk Hill Clematis Farm.
Magnus Johnson writes in his book "The Genus Clematis" that in the first half of 20th century the varieties 'Prins Hendrik' and C. x durandii were commercially grown as cut flowers. This seemed to have been forgotten, at least in Germany where I live. Because I had never seen Clematis in a flower shop. The greater was my joy when I recently found a bunch of splendid Clematis during a stay in Paris.
Which varieties are suitable as cut flowers?
Clematis of the Integrifolia Group have the habit of a typical cut flower: one or more flowers on a long stem. This growth habit is also found in some hybrids and texensis varieties. They are all great for flower arranging.
For many others e.g. the Atragene Group and Viticella Group, the individual flowers are lined up with a relatively short stalk along a shoot. If you tie a small posy, the stem length is usually sufficient. Alternatively, you can fix short stems in floral foam or put the flowers in a bowl of water.
Clematis with short stems can also be well integrated in wreaths. These should be placed in a shallow bowl of water. Otherwise, the life of such a wreath is limited. Because unlike wreaths with roses or hydrangeas, wreaths with clematis flowers can not be dried. For the duration of a festive coffee table, however, they will definitely hold out.
A bunch of clematis in front of Notre Dame de Paris. A year before the devasting fire
C. texensis 'Rapture' with roses
Of course, whole shoots can be cut with several flowers. Clematis branches are flexible, but they also have "their own will" and are hard to press into a solid shape. But that's what makes their charm. Loosely overhanging, they give every bouquet a wonderfully natural and romantic appearance.
When summer is over, there is still no end. The fruits of many clematis are also very decorative and can be used well in autumnal wreaths or arrangements.
How to make clematis fit for the vase
Clematis keep well in the vase provided they are not cut in the heat and they are never without water. It is best to go into the garden with a bucket of water very early in the morning and put the flowers into water immediately after cutting. The lower leaves are removed so that later in the vase there are no leaves under water. This prevents rotting processes in the water. The water should be exchanged regularly.
It is often recommended to immerse the ends of the cut flowers in hot water, or to scorch them briefly with a lighter. I have never practiced that and my clematis still hold up very well. However, I never place the bouquets in direct sunlight. This quickly damages the delicate petals of the clematis.
Tips and tricks to arrange clematis
When I prepare a bouquet with clematis, I often think to myself: My dear clematis, you are very pretty, but you are also quite stubborn. No chance to force it in a direction it is not willing to go to. However, it is precisely this natural wildness that I like about clematis. I try to capture this grace in the bouquets too.
C. 'Albina Plena' with red tulips
C. 'Arabella' (1994) and Rosa 'Larissa'
Natural grace of clematis flowers – soft, airy, floating. And matching the name: C. 'Skyfall'
Wreath with clematis seed heads and Rosa 'Super Excelsa'
Hand tied bouquets or arrangements
Basically, there are two different ways to arrange flowers. Either you prepare the bouquet in your hands and put it into a vase afterwards. Clematis that can be used for hand tied bouquets should have long, straight and upright stems. Especially C. integrifolia and some varieties of C. viorna are suitable for this use. Clematis with shorter stems can be used in small posies.
The other method is to arrange the stems directly one by one in a vase or bowl. Most kind of clematis can be used this way. However those who have tried it know that keeping clematis stems in the vase can be quite challenging. Usually nothing can be achieved without aids. Such an aid can be floral foam. Nowadays floral foam is increasingly rejected because of its negative ecological effects. Luckily, there are alternatives that work well with clematis.
Alternatives to floral foam
Chicken wire
Chicken wire is a very cheap and effective tool. It can be reused often. Cut off as much as you need and adapt it to your vase. Best is to form a sort of ball. Then you can fix the stems by two layers and you can place the branches at an acute angle. The flowers will fall loosely over the edge. In the beginning I often used the stems too flat. Then they were no longer under water and withered. You have to develop a feeling for it.
Chicken wire keeps the stems in place
Herbaceous clematis like 'Juuli' are ideal for hand-tied bouquets
The stems of the large flowered C. 'Innocent Glance' are not very long, but long enough for a small hand-tied posy
C.'William Kennet' with Aster cordifolius 'Little Carlow' and Dahlia 'Lavender Perfection'
Sometimes it is tricky to fix the clematis stems. C. 'Purpurea Plena Elegans'.
Flower frogs
Flower frogs are often used in japanese ikebana arrangements. Hence the name "Kenzan". The heavy metal devices with pins are placed at the bottom of the vase. There are round and rectangular forms available. The clematis stems are not thick enough to be skewered on the needles. That's why I put in other plants with thicker stems first (rose, foliage etc). These then give the clematis stems support.
Don't use one vase, use several
My preferred trick is to hide severeral vases in a greater vessel. The outer vessel has to be opaque of course, so that the trick is not exposed. The inner vases should be as slim and tall as possible to give the plants good support.
Clematis bouquets througout the year
Spring
The spring bloomers make the beginning. The Atragene Group (C. alpina, C. macropetala, C. fauriei etc.) bloom from April to June. They can be combined with flower bulbs and early flowering perennials. Flowering shrubs such as lilac or snowball are also suitable partners.
Early Summer
May and June is the season for the early, large-flowered hybrids. These clematis have large and showy flowers. Many varieties also impress with double flowers or multi-color stripes and gradients. Contrasting stamens bring additional eye-catchers. The stems of the early large-flowered hybrids are not very long. That is why I mostly use
Inspiration from Japan: Flower frog or Kenzan
C. 'Albina Plena' with white Lilacs and Tulips
One vase can hide another. This construction is very useful for taming stubborn stems and heavy flower heads
floral foam for such bouquets. The foam supports the flowers. When using foam you have to pay attention to the following: First you cut a piece of foam that fits the vessel. This is then placed in a bucket of water. The foam should soak itself up with water. Never push underwater with your hand. You should plan at least half an hour for this. Better longer. The clematis flowers are extremely sensitive to lack of water. They collapse in the vase immediately if they don't have enough water. That is why you have to regularly fill the arrangement with water.
In addition to the large-flowered hybrids, the herbaceous clematis begin to bloom in june. Many herbaceous clematis are ideal cut flowers. They have relatively long stems and there is one flower at the end of each stem.
Summer
The months of July and August offer an abundance of clematis. Now the late large flowered hybrids, viticellas, texensis viorna and herbaceous clematis are blooming. Many roses still pamper us with blossoms in July. The perennial borders cope well if you cut a few flowers for the bouquet. Dahlias and many annuals produce more flowers if you cut them back regularly. So why not take the beauties indoor.
C. 'Mrs Cholmondeley' with white iris and faded helleborus flowers
C. Sea Breeze 'Zo09063 'with white Peony and Nigella
C. Miranda ('Floclemi'PBR) with Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt'
C. Forever Friends 'Zofofri' with Gypsophila
C. 'Perle d'Azur' with Dahlia 'Burlesca'
Late summer and autumn
The bright flower colors of late summer and autumn can be combined well with clematis. Some of the large-flowered hybrids bloom a second time. Others, such as the viticellas or the texensis, still offer us flowers until the month of September. In addition to the typical autumn bloomers grasses or fruits can be used for the arrangements. Many roses give us a lush, second bloom. Thus, the material does not run out even in autumn
In the meantime the fluffy seed heads of the clematis have also developed. These are particularly suitable for autumn wreaths. They also keep well when dried. And so you can enjoy a wreath for many weeks.
For more information
Please also visit my German website https://clematisworld.de. Using Google translator you can translate it in English.
C. 'Semu' with Aster pringlei 'Pink Star' and Dahlia 'Twilight Time'
C. 'William Kennett' with Rosa 'Lady of Shalott' and Aster cordifolius 'Little Carlow'
A wreath with clematis seed heads and the silvery fruits of Lunaria rediviva
C. 'Arabella' (1994) with dahlias
C. 'Huldine' and Dahlia 'Gerrie Hoek'
Questions?
Charlie Pridham
If, like me, you occasionally get asked to give talks for various garden groups, you soon discover that although you may grow, and give talks on a range of different plant related subjects, by far the most popular topic is “clematis”, and by far the most often asked question (often before you have even started the talk) is “How do you say Clematis?” to which the, perhaps not so helpful but truthful, answer is that both Liz and I, in the best traditions of British politeness, tend to repeat back the pronunciation of the person who asks us unless they ask about their large blue flowered camellia! But seriously, there is no right or wrong way, so relax, after all it won't make any difference to how they grow (or how quickly they die)!
Other questions follow, such as “How deep should you plant them?” Here I think it's important to consider why you are being asked to plant some types deeper. For me, there are two main reasons, first, the deeper you plant it the damper the soil will be in dry weather, but the second, and in some ways more important reason, is that for any clematis you are going to, at some point, prune. Burying dormant buds at planting will help produce, over time, that forest of stems that is so rewarding in terms of flowers in the future and, as a fringe benefit, will help the plant recover if something untoward should happen to the top of it. “Plant deep” the books say, for me in the past this has involved heading off with a spade, a crow bar and lump hammer, as in places my soil is only 4 inches deep (over the years this has got better). Occasionally, if in a hurry, I would simply heap soil around the plant, so it was coming out of the top of a small volcano, but then on a visit to Spetchley gardens near Worcester I spotted that the late John Berkeley had used bottomless pots to mitigate water logging in his case, but I thought it would also solve my shallow soil problems and I have stolen the idea and used it in a couple of particularly bad spots. You can also plant on an angle, or with the plant on its side, and layer the stems sideways. So, the answer to the question is the exact depth is not the issue, but rather that you have covered some buds.
“Should you add compost to the planting hole”? Here I think my approach stems as much from general idleness as from any scientific reasoning. I don't add compost to my planting holes because, if you make the soil in the hole substantially nicer than that around it, maybe the plant will be reluctant to root out. I prefer instead to spread organic mulch thickly on the surface and let the worms do the work over time.
“Can I grow them up other plants”? Well, of course, yes you can, but common sense applies. With the hard prune group 3's its easy, group 2's need a bit more thought. I have several Group 2's which, in the past, I have planted to grow up rambling roses and this affords excellent wind support, but makes me very reluctant to get in and do a decent pruning job! Be very careful what you put a vigorous group 1 type up. Remember in all cases that the newly planted clematis is having to compete with the host plant with its already established root system. I tend to use watering tubes, made from cut off milk cartons, to deliver water directly to the plant's roots. This brings me to my all-time favourite question which was “Does it matter if the milk was skimmed?!!
“How often should they be watered”? This is a rather difficult question to answer because different areas, and different soils, and different planting times, will mean that no two plants will have the same requirements. Once again it is important to think things through. If you plant in the Autumn, the plant will have settled in by the following summer and require a lot less water than one that you plant in May. I much prefer to water a lot, but infrequently, so that I can be sure the ground is properly wet. This is where the watering tubes really help get the water to the roots and below. Sprinkling water daily on the surface is, in my view, a bad idea, as all it will do is encourage slugs and snails and make the clematis reluctant to send roots down.
“Can you plant more than one in the same place”? Well I do, but again a bit of common sense is needed. It's not very useful to have planted clematis from different pruning groups if you then must try and work out which bits to cut!
“What should you feed them with”? Mine get by well on just plain water, but I do treat them to some Blood Fish and Bone fertilizer each spring, the main attraction being that it has a very slow release and therefore I only have to do the job once each year! Having changed dogs recently I now realise it's an option some dog owners can't use!
Back in 1991, when I was just starting the Nursery, I was buying in stock from Denis Bradshaw in Kent. The plants were lovely, but all the ones that I planted into my garden here seemed to do badly or die. When I asked Denis what I should, do he suggested I should join the British Clematis Society, and ask my questions there. So, I did, and many of my questions at the start were answered, often by people who had already gone through the very problems I was having. The answers were as varied as the range of clematis. The balance has shifted now, and 30 years on, I probably have the same number of answers as questions, but still ponder such things as “why do slugs rip some plants to pieces while leaving others untouched?” So, keep asking your questions.
Editors note
Charlie & Liz Pridham own Roseland House Garden and Nursery in Cornwall and are holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella & Lapageria rosea cvs.
The View from Clematis Corner 2021
Mike Brown
Seasons, what seasons?
Mother Nature has continued to challenge us over the past 12 months. Her choice of weather has meant that we no longer seem to have seasons, but instead we have periods of weather totally out of character with what would normally be expected at that time of year. Some of our clematis were not interested in going dormant, however, they were having to learn how to swim instead!
April turned out to be our coldest on record, and May the wettest. It was therefore very surprising to find that our ground was bone dry to a good depth before mid-June. Like many people, we are on a water meter but there was no way we were going to let our plants suffer too much. Whilst watering by hose is far from ideal, it does at least keep plants alive and, luckily for us, the very recent rains have limited the damage and refilled the water butts.
Wildlife
The only sign of our hedgehog this year, so far, is his calling cards, no doubt he did not approve of us taking his toy away from him last year. However, our resident toads were more active this last winter, mostly in late evening, and Harry, our dog, eventually learned that toads are more than a match for dogs. Whatever it is that toads eject to protect themselves, it is quite toxic to dogs and can kill them. Harry seemed to take a lot of time to change from considering them objects to chase and play with, to giving them a wide berth and lots of respect!
Clematis
Right, clematis: hybrids between the viticellas and integrifolias belong in the diversifolia group. They mostly do not climb for the first metre of their growth, then some climb almost the same as viticellas, whilst others do not, remaining completely herbaceous in growth. I was always taught that this aspect of growth was to do with the integrifolia's herbaceous genes being dominant for a start and then the viticella genes taking over. However, I have recently been advised that this is nothing to do with the genes, but light levels, which rapidly increase in May, causing changes in the growth of those plants that now begin to climb. Whilst I admit that it is mostly sometime in May when the growth habit might change I have never noticed a measurable quick increase in light levels.
Clematis from seed
Growing clematis from seed is very rewarding and there are a great number of different ways to do so, but have you tried this one? You get a small (say 3 inches by 4 inches) plastic resealable envelope and put in it your seeds and three quarter fill it with water. The envelope is sealed and stood vertical somewhere warm. After about 4 days, a third of the water is tipped away before resealing, this is repeated after another 4 days and then 4 days later, the seed is set in whatever compost you normally use. Germination is very quick, with the seed I used it was always 11 or 12 days, compared with many months when set straight into compost. Obviously, the added warmth had some effect, but clematis acerifolia seems to love this method. It would be interesting to see how other clematis seed react to this method. (As C. acerifolia is quite rare there is little chance of obtaining enough to do a trial). The instructions for growing on C. acerifolia are more complex than the initial germination, but space here is limited so please contact me if you manage to get some seed.
King Dandelion
No doubt we all have weeds that are a damned nuisance and, as far as perennial weeds go, our pet hate is dandelions. I am convinced we have enough to feed the global rabbit and guinea pig populations. Why so many? That is easy, our property borders a road and then a 300-acre arable field. Like most modern farms, ours has 8 metre headlands (borders) and the border nearest to us is a mass of dandelions, much more intense than daffodils, so no matter how many we manage to kill each year there are literally millions of seeds coming over the hedge for many months of the year and they are excellent at germinating!
'Please open your garden' they said
We had not opened our garden for about 4 years and then, like the fool that I am, I agreed to open as one of a dozen or more gardens for the local villages. Nothing special they said, a few weeds etc will not matter. The trouble is that we all have our standards, and I just cannot accept anything mediocre. So, it was a case of slogging away week after week with only the minimum of rest each day. We just about got there, but only just. I would like to say that the kind words from the visitors more than made up for our efforts, but our muscles are nearly worn out and I have agreed with my better half that I will NEVER again volunteer to be Open! Anyway, enjoy your clematis.
Clematis 'Charlie Brown' raised by Mike Brown in 1992 from an unknown cross with 'Prince Charles'
Section 3
Growers and Nurseries
A Wholesale Clematis Nursery
Nicole Higginson
New Leaf Plants is a specialist clematis and climbing plant nursery based on a 25- acre site near Sedgeberrow, Worcestershire. The business was formed over 30 years ago, and David joined in 1995 as sales manager. David and Nicole bought the business in 2015 and relocated from Evesham to Sedgeberrow. We supply top quality, garden-ready clematis and climbing plants to garden centres across the UK.
We propagate approximately 85% of our final plants 'in house', having invested in a modern one-acre glasshouse with rolling benches (Photo 1 rolling benches), in order to maintain a continuous supply to our customers. Our experienced propagation team heads out every morning to collect fresh material, either from our propagation greenhouse, or from the rest of the nursery. On the day it is cut, this material is placed in our cold store until needed.
We have 6 permanent members of our propagation team who spend most of the year making cuttings. The experienced propagators amongst you will know what a clematis cutting looks like, but for the less experienced, see below (Photo 2 making cutting).
On the day they are cut, our cuttings are 'trayed up' (Photo 3 traying up) into plugs which are also produced onsite (Photo 4 Ellepot machine). These plugs are completely biodegradable as they are wrapped in paper with no plastic content. The cuttings are dipped in a biofungicide bath to reduce botrytis etc and hormone rooting powder to encourage rooting.
Rolling benches
These trays of cuttings go onto a tented bench in our propagation greenhouse (Photo 5 tented bench). The plastic tent increases humidity to reduce stress and encourage rooting. These benches are pushed into our heated zone for the first 6-8 weeks and are slowly weaned by opening the tent little by little. The cuttings are monitored regularly by our propagation supervisor, who ensures they are watered and free of pest and disease.
Once the cuttings are rooted, they are potted on, either into liners (small square 9cm pots, which we reuse), or into our final 3L pot. We may have taken 2 or 3 batches of cutting material from them before they are potted on, ensuring continuity of supply for future years. The whole process takes around 12-18 months, in order to allow the plants to be fully rooted and to the top of the 90cm canes.
Because we have our own in-house propagation system, we are able to grow a wide, continuous range of both clematis and other climbing plants. Indeed, we are also able to grow some more unusual varieties such as C. Rehderiana, C. Napaulensis and C. Flammula..
We are fortunate to have established very good links with breeders such as Raymond Evison and Val Le May Neville-Parry who provide us with new and exciting varieties which we multiply for supply into the general garden centre market. New varieties are always of interest to us and if any member has something new which they would like us to evaluate please do not hesitate to contact us.
Traying up cuttings
Ellepot machine
Tented bench of cuttings
The Rogerson Clematis Collection
Linda Beutler, Curator
The passage of time is often marked with nostalgia for what has gone before, but as the Rogerson Clematis Garden navigates its second decade, the future is so bright and beckoning (COVID-19 notwithstanding), it is hard to remember its raw beginnings. It seems much longer than 14 years ago that 900 potted clematis were moved to a new greenhouse standing solo in a garden existing only in the imagination of passionately dedicated volunteers. Not wanting to rest on our laurels, the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection (FRCC), and I, used the enforced quiet of early 2020 for reflection upon the past and the setting goals for the future.
The FRCC had taken possession of the clematis from founder Brewster Rogerson through a deed of gift in 2005. There were 900 clematis representing 450 taxa. Every one of them was in a container. The City of Lake Oswego, near Portland, Oregon, had agreed to allow them to carve out display gardens at their historic Luscher Farm Park, and planting officially began in autumn of 2006. By the end of 2007, the Heirloom Garden, the Front Bank, and the Beech Trees Garden were essentially complete in as much as a garden can ever be said to be complete. The Baltic Border was underway.
When the International Clematis Society visited in 2010, the Test Garden had been installed, the Founder's Garden was in place, but not planted, and planting had begun in the series of island beds where the old apple orchard had been restored. Inviting such an august body as the IClS to visit that soon was probably premature, but their members, long acquainted with “Brewster's Collection”, were delighted to see it established in a permanent home.
In 2009 the FRCC applied for recognition by the North American Plant Collections Consortium, now known as the Plant Collections Network (PCN), of the American Public Garden Association, but later that year they were granted only provisional status. At the time, only half the collection was in the ground, the curator was officially onsite only 8 hours a week, and the lease of property within Luscher Farm was deemed to be of too short a duration.
Clematis waiting to be planted
Clearly recognition was easier to establish on an international stage than within North America.
The following 10 years have been marked by a string of significant grants and happy accidents, hard work, and good luck, marred only by the passing of Brewster Rogerson in May 2015. In late 2009 the collection was enhanced by a sizable gift from Szczepan Marczyński, of Polish introductions bred by Brother Stefan Franczak. This was bestowed upon us as recognition for restoring a lost cultivar, 'Halina Noll', to an archival garden in Warsaw. In 2012 a grant from the Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust enabled the installation of permanent paths throughout the restored orchard area. But we weren't done yet.
The large-flowered hybrids, and C. viticellabased cultivars, that had been introduced post WWII, and that had not fitted logically into the established themed areas, were still languishing in pots. They weren't heirlooms, Noll or Franczak hybrids, or they weren't on the International Clematis Society's Recommended list. Luckily, a former board member arranged for the FRCC to receive the majority of funds from a mid-Willamette Valley garden club that was disbanding. With the help of LO's Parks and Recreation staff (who installed irrigation lines and graded the land) the FRCC was able to plant the Modern Garden in autumn 2014 and spring 2015. At last the remainder of Brewster's original plants had found purchase in the soil.
The expansion of the curator's hours from 24 to 60 per month, the establishment of an endowment, upon Brewster Rogerson's passing, and the negotiation of a 25-year renewable lease with the City, allowed the FRCC to once more approach the Plant Collections Network for a review of its provisional status.
Their first, and most important, question was how much of the collection that should be
The front bank planting
The front bank
Maksymilian and Molly
planted in the ground was actually planted? The simple answer was 100%. Not only were all of Brewster's plants in the ground, so too were the clematis acquired by the FRCC since the summer of 2005. The collection in 2018 stood at 800 taxa, represented by over 1,800 specimens. The Collection is still growing!
Full National Plant Collection status was finally granted to the Rogerson Clematis Collection in early February 2018. The festivities that followed culminated in a second visit from the International Clematis Society in June 2019.
If you have not visited the Rogerson Clematis Garden lately, or have never been, you will see the addition of interpretive signage in the themed garden beds, and welcome signs explaining our history. Thanks to another HPSO grant, we are making name labels for all our clematis, trees, shrubs, and herbaceous perennials. Our ever-expanding crew of volunteers maintain the gardens, and we have a well-organized sales area, the Sales Terrace, which is immediately west of the greenhouse.
For your inaugural visit, we suggest you join us for our annual 'Inviting Vines' event, which is held on the last Saturday in May every year (let's ignore 2020) when the Rogerson Clematis Garden is polished to a high gloss. The private Lake Oswego and Greater Portland Area gardens are also open for touring, and we host a special breakfast event, with speakers, highlighting the history of the Rogerson Clematis Garden and Brewster Rogerson. The American Public Garden Association was to have held its annual conference in Portland in 2020, but that has now been moved to 2022.
But for the FRCC, the biggest celebration comes in 2021, with the 50th anniversary of Brewster Rogerson buying his first four clematis in 1971 to adorn his new home. By 1975 he was describing himself as a clematis collector! He would be delighted that the Collection has grown from 450 taxa in 2005 to 900 in 2021! We are planning large and small events throughout the year. Our quarterly MembersOnly events will focus on Brewster's history as a collector, with special emphasis on the clematis he wanted in the Founder's Garden, and his vision for our future. Of necessity we have made the Members-Only Events Zoom affairs, but this means the benefits of membership can have a worldwide reach.
There is more information on our website, www.rogersonclematiscollection.org. While on the website, check the “What's in Bloom?” page so even though you are far away, you can see weekly updates with selected pictures of the clematis and their garden. And speaking of the virtual, if you want to connect with peak bloom, visit the garden or the website in the first two weeks of July. The “What's in Bloom?” updates are announced on the Rogerson Clematis Garden Facebook page.
C. 'Stasik' and penstemon 'Evelyn'
The Old Garden Nursery, Taynuilt, Argyll
David Croucher
Four years ago, I took proud possession of an old plant nursery in a secluded spot, that had been abandoned twenty-five years earlier. As you can imagine, nature had well and truly moved in and trees which began life when the area was forgotten about were now forty feet tall. They were very thin specimens as there were so many of them and they all had to fight for the light. At ground level nettles and brambles were the main plants that stopped me from getting in to have a look around.
After nearly twenty years living in another part of Argyll, Seil Island, I moved back. I wanted to buy some land and up came the old Nursery on an estate agents web site. I'd been living back in Taynuilt for a while but there were no signs to indicate that the nursery was for sale. Although I'd walk passed and dreamt of owning and running it, nothing happened until I saw it on the computer!
Aerial view of plant nursery
By this time, I was very fortuitously working back at the nurseryman's mother's garden, now owned by his brother. Once I knew the nursery was for sale, I negotiated a good price with him and took ownership in January 2017. I was over the moon and work started immediately.
I'm not one for plans and lists and the like. I tend to go with how I feel about things. What I did want to do was get a sales area up and running as soon as possible, so some trees were cleared. Cuttings were taken of the many interesting plants which we had been growing in the garden at home. We had a polytunnel, which I crammed full of cuttings. Additional small propagating cases were soon made, using plastic boxes and buckets. Herbaceous perennials are quick to propagate so by May a selection was building up. Thanks to the generosity of other people I worked for, and also my friends, I sourced all sorts of interesting plants. I renovated one area of the lean-to greenhouse, and moved the collection of plants down there the following autumn.
Climbing plants have always held a fascination for me and, at one garden I worked in on the south end of Seil, I'd put in about 130 clematis, and several other interesting climbers. My own garden there, which was far smaller, contained about 50 clematis and one or two rare plants such as Mutisia and Holboellia. Both came with me to Taynuilt but the Mutisia didn't enjoy the move, and curled up. Taynuilt is much colder than Seil so I have to be careful what I grow. I think Mutisia is now out of the question. It thrives on Arran where I bought it.
As the whole site had now become a woodland, a garden to compliment it was in order. I started off my career at Wisley in the Wild Garden which suited me perfectly. All the types of plants I grew there I could grow in Argyll – well a lot anyway. In Taynuilt we have a very good small garden centre that sells many clematis of the type you find all over Britain, so my aim is to grow something different. Many of the more common ones, of course, are wonderful gems and I am planting lots of them to make a colourful and interesting garden. I also like the unusual, so that's where my efforts will concentrate. One such is Clematis fosteri, and here it needs a south facing wall to get it through a winter. Cuttings of it strike easily, and I try to keep some in pots in the polytunnel over winter. Only once has it died and that was in the cold winters of 2009 and 2010. Several people now have clematis fosteri in their gardens on Seil and Taynuilt. (Well in theory anyway!)
Getting organised Ash wood
The wood is predominately ash trees, as that is a very dominate species here. I thinned about half, as the area I wanted to make in to the woodland garden was so dark in the summer. There were so many roots that it was quite difficult planting the area out and getting new plants established. I hate taking trees down, but I have now planted many new small trees and shrubs to grow under the canopy that remains. Four years on and most are doing very well. Fothergilla monticola, Styrax pseudocamellia, Parrotia persica, Halesia carolina, various Magnolias, and four Japanese Cherries. These are some of the trees I've planted, plus Hydrangea paniculata varieties, Decasnia fargesii, Skimmias, Viburnums, Euonymus, Hoheria and Carpenteria are some of the shrubs. All these could well become hosts for clematis in the future.
Around the sales area I have more in the way of flower beds. A mixed, late flowering border, has a backing of C. viticella hybrids all growing up very old bedsteads found on the site. This border also has three wigwams to grow peas and beans up. We grow a huge amount of vegetables on the site too and I like to integrate them in to borders. No flowers appear here until the end of June and then, hopefully, it should be a riot of colour until winter.
The first woodland planting opportunity happened by chance. A huge conifer had fallen, many years before I appeared on the scene, but had stayed alive. This killed everything under it as it took all the light. I removed the conifer and this created a massive area for planting, without having to clear a weed! I left the big root ball as it was a good spot to grow clematis and yellow leafed hop. This area is now totally full, and the plants are my stock for cutting material and potting up to sell.
There is one long, old stone building, that I have made into my shed. The small gable end faces south, and one side faces east. The other two walls are not mine to develop as they border someone else's field where cows graze. The east facing side has a lean-to greenhouse on two thirds of it. This is hanging on to life by the thinnest of threads, but it still serves as a protected area for propagation and bringing plants on to selling size. On the small outdoor wall space, I have the C. forsteri, and a Ribes speciosum which was stunning, with hanging fushcia like flowers, this year. I have also just planted an Ampelopsis brevipendunculata “Elegans”. This climber is a weak grower, so I am hoping this position will help it reach a good size. Another plant I have tried to grow here is Campsis and is also a weak grower in Argyll. It survives the winter, just,
Flower beds
but each year it takes so long to get going again that it never really makes much headway. I planted one on the south facing gable and, although last winter was particularly cold, it is doing very well. Maybe one day I'll see a flower on it! There is a huge, old Campsis growing on the laboratory at Wisley which I have seen in flower on a few occasions and it certainly is spectacular. One other reason for the poor show could be a lack of ripening of wood in August, just as important as other cultural aspects.
With Covid stopping many activities happening last year I decided to keep things very low key regarding opening the nursery, and to concentrate on getting a new polytunnel up; together with propagating more stock, and sourcing unusual plants. When everything is normal again I can then offer many rare and interesting plants that you wouldn't find in the big garden centres. The aim is to keep things small enough to be able to cope with it all myself, and not have to employ staff. Too much responsibility and stress will make it much less enjoyable for me. I love my plants, and way of life, so I need to try and keep it that way.
Everything is slowly coming together nicely, and I feel the woodland garden is now interesting enough to open to the public. This would be my “advert” for the plants on the sales table. There is a constant flow of flowers from January when the Snowdrops show their pretty white heads and Hellebores, Pulmonarias, Scillas and Leucojums all compete for attention. As the Spring flowers fade, the summer collection of Lilies rises above dense foliage of all sorts of flowering gems to give a stunning display.
With the plans I have for plantings and renovation of the buildings there will be no shortage of things to do, and I hope that, as old age creeps up in a few years' time, I will see the plants reach a good size and maturity. When a plant likes it wet and warm it certainly grows to a good size here in Argyll!
The Nursery today
The Nursery today Spring
A New 'Click & Collect' Service Soon Available
Ruth Gooch
After several years of only being able to offer a Mail Order Service, we are delighted to say that from mid-summer 2021 we will have a 'Click & Collect' service available from our new site at Rails End Nursery, Ashton Under Hill in Worcestershire.
As many of you will know, or may have heard, the last few years have seen many changes at Thorncroft Clematis as we have had to adapt to changes in retail shopping behaviour, including a significant increase in on-line mail order purchasing. The decline in 'High Street shopping' also badly affected the on-site nursery trade.
During our transition period, whilst preparing our new nursery, we were grateful for the kind support of New Leaf Plants in providing us with a temporary home.
We are delighted to have found a splendid new home and we very much look forward once again, to seeing our friends and customers at special events and Open Days during 2022.
In the meantime, please visit our website for further details of our Click & Collect service and for the dates of future events. If you would like to be one of the first to know, please sign up for our newsletter on the Home Page of our new website www.thorncroftclematis.co.uk
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, past and present, for their support over the last 33 years. We now look forward to a bright future. From the Team at Thorncroft, we wish you happy gardening.
Walter Pennell and his Clematis
Richard Pennell, Walter Pennell's son and current Chairman of Pennells
Walter Pennell was the sixth generation of his family to become involved with the family nursery business. The business was established in 1780 by a Richard Pennell and grew and developed over the 19th century to become one of the largest in the Midlands, growing a very wide range of plants from perennials to trees. The business holds catalogues dating back to 1845. The earliest records of clematis date back to 1851 with 'Hendersonii', 'Sieboldia' ( Thunb. var Morren), as well as unnamed hybrids. Our first listing of C. 'Jackmanii' (1863) was in 1870. By 1878 there were ten hybrids listed including 'Miss Bateman', 'Lady Londesborough' and 'Madame Grange'.
Walter was educated in Lincoln and later went to school at Gresham's in Norfolk. After leaving school he studied horticulture at Reading University. However, he was very interested in science in general and chemistry in particular. In fact, he very nearly changed his course from horticulture to chemistry, only to be persuaded by his mother that he shouldn't as his father would be very upset if he did. He was later to discover that his father wouldn't have been upset, but by then it was too late to change the course. Walter's interest in science was to come to the fore in later life both with his clematis breeding and with his other interest, which was astronomy.
After leaving Reading, Walter spent time working on nurseries in Europe to gain wider knowledge of horticulture in Holland and Germany, before returning to Lincoln where he took on the role of nursery manager. The second world war took him away from Lincoln. He was enlisted into the Territorial Army in 1939 first as a gunner and later becoming a 2nd Lieutenant, with postings initially with the British Expeditionary force in Europe and later in the Middle East. He was posted to the 8th Army where he was involved in the Battle of El Alamein. Later postings included the British Liberation Army going back into Europe where he travelled through Europe as the allies progressed. He was able to visit some of the nurseries he had worked at and was shocked at how little food was available in the country following the German retreat.
After the war, Walter returned to the business and became managing director after the death of his father in 1956. He had a keen analytical mind reflecting his interest in science. He was one of the first in the UK to start growing plants in containers for sale throughout the year. He opened the company's first garden centre (then called a plant
Walter Pennell
centre) in the early 1960's. Based on the American example, plants were grown in cans –a lot of which were crisp tins that came from the local Smith's Crisps factory.
He was keen to expand the range of clematis that the company grew, and at the same time started to collect seeds from naturally pollinated plants. The earliest hybrids raised in this way were 'Lincoln Star' (1954) and 'Bracebridge Star' (1956). Both cultivars are seedlings of 'Nelly Moser' to which they owe a lot of their characteristics.
From this start, Walter made his first calculated crossing of 'Daniel Deronda' x 'Beauty of Worcester'. From the seedlings he selected one was to become one of the most famous cultivars that he introduced – . 'Vyvyan Pennell' (1959). Named after Walter's wife, the clematis has large fully double or semi-double flowers in the spring with single flowers later in the year. The flowers vary in colour from lilac to lavenderblue or deep pinkish-lavender tinged purple or red. It has beige or pale- yellow anthers on white filaments. The variety received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Other varieties raised from seed collection in the 1950's include:
ʀ 'C. W. Dowman' (1961) Large lavender-based flowers with deep pink shading from the centre. It has unknown parentage, but it is likely from seed collected from 'Nelly Moser' and was named after the company's nursery manager in the 1950's.
ʀ 'H. F. Young' (1962) Brilliant medium blue flowers in May and June and then again in September. Named after Horace Young who was the director responsible for the company's shop and nursery in Grimsby.
ʀ 'John Warren' (1968) Fine free flowering summer variety with sturdy overlapping pointed tepals with a carmine edge, and triple carmine bar on French grey. Red anthers. Parentage is unknown. Named after the principal of the Lincolnshire College of Agriculture at Riseholme.
ʀ 'Kathleen Wheeler' (1967) Large plummy mauve flowers with gold stamens. Tepals have deep veins of mauve-pink. Seedling of 'Mrs Spencer Castle'. Named after the wife of the manager of our Doncaster shop in the 1960's
ʀ 'Mrs N. Thompson' (1961) Deep violet base with a vivid scarlet bar. Purple red anthers. Raised from seed of unknown parentage. Named after Lily, the wife of the
'H. F. Young'
'Kathleen Wheeler'
These included:
nursery office manager, who was the licensee of the Monks Abbey Hotel in Lincoln.
ʀ 'Percy Lake' (1961) Delicate and charming porcelain blue tinted pink with gold stamens. Of unknown parentage, it was grown from seed in 1954 and came onto the market in 1961. Percy Lake was the company secretary during the 1950's and 1960's.
ʀ 'Percy Robinson' (1961) Full flowers of lavender pink with golden stamens. From seed sown in 1954. Named after the manager of the company's Lincoln shop.
ʀ 'Will Goodwin' (1961) Large and vigorous lavender blue, deeply veined with frilled edges to the tepals, golden stamens, flowering June and July and again in the autumn. Parentage is unknown. Named after a former director.
As a result of the success of . 'Vyvyan Pennell', Walter decided to run a breeding programme which was based at the company's nursery at Scartho in Grimsby. This only ran between 1960 and 1963 but gave rise to hybrids that were introduced over the next decade and more.
ʀ 'Annabel' (1974) Large mid blue flowers with a white bar and cream stamens. Named after Annabel Carle, Walter's youngest daughter.
ʀ 'Charissima' (1974) Very large with pointed tepals cerise-pink flowers with deeper pink bar. 'Nelly Moser' x 'Kathleen Wheeler'. Named by Sheila Gilbert, one of Pennells long serving plant propagators. Sheila was offered the chance of having the variety named after her but preferred to call it 'Charissima' and to spell it this way!
ʀ 'Elisabeth Foster' (1975) Large Pink Tepals with a darker bar, brown anthers. Flowering May to June. A hybrid of 'Vyvyan Pennell' x 'Nelly Moser'. As with a lot of the Pennell varieties this was named after the mother of John Foster who was the company's long serving nursery manager in the 1970's and 80's.
'Scartho Gem'
'Charissima'
ʀ 'Herbert Johnson' (1973) Very large reddish mauve flowers with maroon centre. Herbert Johnson was the company's Lincoln shop manager before becoming managing director between 1970 and 1976. A hybrid between 'Vyvyan Pennell' x 'Percy Picton'.
ʀ 'Jim Hollis' (1976) Large silvery blue double flowers in May-June with single flowers on new growth in September. A hybrid of 'Barbara Jackman' x 'Daniel Deronda'. Jim Hollis was the manager of the company's garden centre at Lincoln from when it opened in 1971 until he retired in 1975.
ʀ 'Keith Richardson' (1975) Brilliant petunia red with deeper bars with a bold white centre. A hybrid between 'Barbara Dibley' x 'Bracebridge Star'. Keith Richardson was the company's chief propagator during the 1970's and was also responsible for the company's displays at Chelsea and other flower shows.
ʀ 'Ken Donson' (1976) Large deep blue flowers with contrasting gold stamens. A hybrid between 'Barbara Jackman' x 'Daniel Deronda'. Ken was the packing shed foreman. Orders taken at the various shows around the country during the spring and summer weren't dispatched until the autumn. Ken made sure all the plants leaving the nursery were well packed to withstand the journey to the customer.
ʀ 'Pennell's Purity' (1973) Warm white often semi double flowering clematis which was a hybrid of 'Beauty of Worcester' x 'Marie Boisselot'. Unusually it wasn't named after a member of staff!
ʀ 'Richard Pennell' (1974) Large warm rosy purple flowers. Distinct whorled cream anthers on purple filaments. A cross between 'Vyvyan Pennell' x 'Daniel Deronda'. Named after Walter's son Richard but also in recognition of the founder.
ʀ 'Saturn' (1978) Very large lavender blue tepals with a maroon bar. White filaments with dark purple anthers. A hybrid between 'Lord Nevill' x 'Nelly Moser'. Named after Walter Pennell's death in recognition of his love of astronomy.
ʀ 'Scartho Gem' (1973) Deep pink flowers with a darker bar. Produces semi-double flowers early in the year, smaller paler flowers later. Named after Scartho a village near Cleethorpes where the nursery was based and where most of the Pennell hybridisation took place. A hybrid of 'Lincoln Star' x 'Mrs N Thompson'.
ʀ 'Susan Allsop' (1973) Rosy-purple flowers with a magenta bar with yellow anthers. A hybrid of 'Beauty of Worcester' x 'King Edward VII'. Susan Allsop worked with Walter Pennell carrying out the pollination work and keeping the records of the hybridisation work.
ʀ 'Veronica's Choice' (1973) A large and beautifully formed semi -double lavender fading to white flowers with crimpy tepals. A hybrid of 'Vyvyan Pennell' x 'Percy Lake'. Named after his second eldest daughter, Veronica Cleary.
ʀ 'Violet Elizabeth' (1974) Large mauve pink double flowers with yellow anthers in May-June. Can produce double flowers in the autumn, but usually single. A hybrid of 'Vyvyan Pennell' x 'Mrs Spencer Castle'. Named after Violet Smith who was Walter Pennell's secretary for many years.
ʀ 'Walter Pennell' (1974) Large fully double deep pink flowers with a mauve tinge and of charming symmetry. Free flowering. Flowers in May – June. Cream anthers. Single flowers in the autumn. A hybrid of 'Vyvyan Pennell' x 'Daniel Deronda'. Named of course after Walter himself.
As can be seen, all the varieties raised by Walter Pennell are pruning group 2, flowering in May and June, with subsequent flowering on new growth in the autumn. Following the breeding programme, Walter concentrated on developing the retail side of the business. He opened garden centres in Doncaster, Cleethorpes and Lincoln during the early 1970's. His other interest during the early 1970's was astronomical photography. He made a photographic atlas of the northern hemisphere sky and became a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Walter died from a heart attack on the 11th July 1977, aged 67. He had suffered from heart problems from the age of 55. His son Richard Pennell became managing director. Richard changed the format of the nursery, building a wholesale business concentrating on Clematis and supplying garden centres throughout the UK. While no further introductions were made from Pennells own breeding programme in 1995, a seedling raised by Ken Pyne called. 'Special Occasion' was introduced. This was a seedling of 'Mrs Cholmondeley' with large pale pink flowers with a dark centre. Alongside the changes to the nursery, the centres at Lincoln and Cleethorpes were developed and expanded. However, following financial losses towards the end of the 1990's the decision was taken in 2002 to close the wholesale nursery and end production of clematis to concentrate on the retail side of the business. A small nursery was retained to grow bedding and perennial plants for the company's two centres at Lincoln and Cleethorpes. Both these centres have been developed and a further centre at Sleaford was purchased in 2018.
The business continues to develop. Richard Pennell's son William (the eighth generation) is now managing director and Richard is the company chairman. Not all the Pennell Clematis varieties are now in production, but some are still available from mail order clematis nurseries and some can be found amongst the young clematis sold in supermarkets.
'Richard Pennell'
'Veronica's Choice'
In Pursuit of The Burfords
Richard Hodson
As a National Collection Holder, I have a responsibility to try to source some of the older, almost extinct varieties of clematis before they are lost forever. Sadly, many have slipped through the net in earlier years and even though they may have been replaced by more modern, flashier forms, it is sad that some fantastic plants raised by very knowledgeable breeders, are no longer available.
One of my collections, which includes several of my favourite and most reliable garden plants, is the Viticella Group. They are reliably hardy, low maintenance, and very colourful over a long period. The Collection now houses over 100 different cultivars and species including several associated with the late John Treasure, who lived at Burford House near Tenbury Wells from 1954, until just before his death in 1993. He was another truly remarkable English clematis breeder who was responsible for a superb range of plants, several now lost. After his death, several newer cultivars have been Registered by Treasures of Tenbury.
Pagoda
I often wonder why the magnificent C. 'Pagoda' is not more widely offered and grown, because it is a wonderfully colourful cultivar. It is believed to be a cross between C. viticella and 'Etoile Rose', and has a lovely pale pink, almost transparent flower. Our parent plant grows in deep shade up a pergola pillar, with the very overpowering rose 'Bobbie James' overhead, but it never fails to put on a good show of flowers in the summer months.
Another good Viticella cultivar introduced by Treasures of Tenbury after John's death, is 'Burford Princess' which I was so very fortunate to acquire many years ago. I have on my desk a well-thumbed book by the late Dr John Howells, 'Trouble free clematis – The Viticellas' Whilst reading this book in September 2003, I came across C. 'Burford Princess', which I had never heard of, so I phoned Burford House. The lady on the switchboard gave me the phone number of the ex-Head Gardener whom I contacted, and he told me that he believed the original plant was still in the old greenhouses and if I would call on Sunday morning with cash, he would have it ready for collection. So I set off early Sunday, collected what looked like a bucketful of compost and twigs and hurried home – a round trip of almost 270 miles. I repotted and nurtured the plant, propagated a few cuttings and now 'Burford Princess' is available again at Charlie Pridham's in Cornwall, or at my place in Lancashire.
C. 'Danae', believed to be a seedling from C. 'Minuet', is another in the Viticella group raised by Treasures. This is a very good garden plant but not available from many sources.
The Viticella group C. 'John Treasure' was introduced by Treasures after John's death
Danae
John Treasure
Burford Princess
and is a truly great plant, very vigorous with lots of flowers over a long period, but not easy to propagate.
In Christopher Lloyd's book 'Clematis' he mentions, 'Treasures market the progeny of a self-sown clematis in John Treasure's garden that is probably a hybrid between C. Orientalis and C. Tangutica, calling it C. orientalis 'Burford Variety '. This is a showy and vigorous plant which is sadly no more. It was last listed in RHS Plant Finder in 2008. I would like to know if any BCS members still have this cultivar.
One of my favourite plants in the garden here is C. pitcheri / C. crispa 'Burford Bell'. This Summer (2021) it has been better than ever, with very large, leathery, purple blue, bell like flowers. It is a magnificent sight, with good foliage on our North facing fence. One unfortunate characteristic of 'Burford Bell' is that it is not easy to propagate, however a good one is that it has produced some fantastic seedlings.
Other Treasure cultivars such as 'Fireworks', 'Royalty', and 'White Columbine', would appear to still be available but 'Annie Treasure', 'Shropshire Blue', and the previously mentioned 'Burford Variety' are seemingly lost to the clematis world. Richard Hodson holds the National Collections of Clematis Texensis, Viorna and Viticella species.
Burford Bell
The Jackmans of Woking, Surrey
This is the second of two articles on the Jackmans which was first published in 'The Clematis' in 1998. The first article was reproduced in last years edition of The Journal.
Everett Leeds
Arthur George (1866-1926) and Percy Jackman (1873-1934)
When George Jackman II died in May 1887 his eldest son Arthur took over the reins two months short of his 21st birthday. He had already been in the business nearly five years having entered it when aged 16. Percy, a younger brother, had also been working in another nursery at Maidstone, Kent, to gain experience and he joined Arthur in 1898 at the age of 25.
More hybridising
In 1890 Arthur managed another Jackman breakthrough in the quest for new cultivars when he succeeded in crossing Clematis 'Star of India' with pollen from Clematis texensis, a species known at the time as C. coccinea. Unhappily, the only ones to survive in cultivation today are Clematis 'Sir Trevor Lawrence' and Clematis 'Duchess of Albany'. Clematis 'Duchess of Onslow', 'Duchess of York' and 'Grace Darling' have disappeared. We have to thank Christopher Lloyd for rescuing Clematis 'Sir Trevor Lawrence' from oblivion, an event he describes in his book.1 There is a short article about these introductions in The Garden 2 together with a colour plate (See Page 36).
In the early 1990s information was circulating that Clematis 'Countess of Onslow' was alive and well on the estate of the present Duchess at West Clandon near Guildford, Surrey. Fred Godfrey of Glyndley Nurseries, Hailsham Road, Pevensey, East Sussex, being unable to visit West Clandon himself, asked me to call in to look at the plants. Alas, they were fine specimens of Clematis 'Duchess of Albany'.
Arthur also had his own theories about the dreaded clematis wilt and in an article called Hybrid Clematis in the RHS Journal 3 he put forward the theory of clematis suffering from…'loss of constitution through over propagation'. Personally, I am inclined to agree with him.
Arthur married but his wife died in childbirth having their second baby. His only son George Rowland was aged 5 when the bereavement occurred. The Nursey celebrated its centenary in 1910 and members of the Horticultural Trades Association were entertained and shown around the nursery by Arthur and brother Percy, lunch being served in the packing sheds.
The First World War intervened and much of the nursery ground was used for growing crops such as corn and other vital necessities. With so many young men away fighting, labour was scarce, and orders were much reduced. However, they were able to keep going and managed to survive as a going concern.
Arthur George Jackman died of Leukaemia on 16th March 1926 aged 59 leaving Percy to run the business. In his Will he expressed the hope his son George Rowland would be admitted in to partnership of the business in due course.
The remaining partner, Percy, did not have the business acumen displayed by his late brother and he left most of the day to day running in the hands of his manager Fred Reed who had been with the nursery since 1883. Percy had married but the union was childless, and he died on 7th September 1934, aged 61 leaving an Estate valued £35,000 to his wife.
George Rowland Jackman
George Rowland Jackman was born on 1st July 1902 in the family home called Alveston in Wych Hill Lane, Woking, Surrey. He was an only child and as previously stated his mother had died when he was only 5 years of age and he was brought up by a hired guardian, Mrs Whyte, who was very firm but also very loving at the same time. His father Arthur did not remarry. Rowland, as he became known, went to Dane Court, West Byfleet, for his preparatory schooling and when aged 13 was sent to St Lawrence, Ramsgate, a boys' public school.
He left school in 1919 and travelled around the country working on various estates studying forestry, as the nursery trade was still suffering from stagnation caused by the First World War. By 1921 the position had altered somewhat, and he undertook work in France with Barbier of Oleans who specialised in growing trees and shrubs. He followed this by spending a year at the nursery of Pearsons of Nottinghamshire.
When his father became ill in 1923 he returned to the nursery to undertake the administrative side of the business (which apparently, he disliked). He also married Barabara Ross, by whom he had one daughter, Pamela (now Pamela Guantlett).
When Percy Jackman died in 1934 Rowland was left in sole charge of the nursery until 1967 when, not having a male heir to carry on the business, he sold it to David McNeill. Even so he stayed on in a non-executive capacity to study his favourite plants and shrubs for a further five years.
It appears that Rowland was, in modern parlance, a workaholic and his nursery was his obsession. In 1938 the nursery consisted of about 130 acres under cultivation, being divided into a 70-acre home nursery on Guildford Road and 60 acres fronting the Aldershot Road. There was also a 20-acre plot awaiting attention. Seventy staff were
employed at this time, many having been with the Company for a long time. However, another World war loomed, and once started much of the acreage was again turned over to producing food crops. Rowland was very careful to retain his special selections when much of his stock was dug up to plant vegetables.
Although Rowland did not share his forefathers' love of clematis hybridising he did produce three modern cultivars of note. They are Clematis alpina 'Barbara Jackman' named after his wife; Clematis alpina 'Pamela Jackman' after his daughter and Clematis 'Barbara Dibley' after his secretary. A picture of alpina 'Pamela Jackman' can be found on page 148 of this journal.
He preferred to follow the methods of earlier nurserymen who would look for attractive and desirable forms of plants, trees and shrubs and then propagate them for general sale. His daughter recalls journeys in the car being interrupted when her father spotted some specimen by the roadside or in peoples' gardens. Plants he introduced or re-introduced by this method include Ruta graveolens 'Jackman's Blue', a rue he found growing beside a cottage door in Ottershaw and Ligustrum delavayanum from seed found in Yunnan, China, on the border with Burma. Whilst travelling through Horsell, near Woking, he saw a sturdy specimen of mountain ash with larges clusters of berries. It transpired that its present owner on the banks of the Basingstoke Canal had found the tree and he had transplanted it to his own garden. Rowland named this Sorbus aucuparia 'Sheerwater Seedling' after the location where it was originally found. On a house in a terrace of cottages beside the Kingston By-Pass (A3) he noticed a small-leafed climbing plant which he thought might be the original ampelopsis veitchii from Japan introduced by Veitch. This was subsequently propagated and sold under the name Vitis inconstans 'Beverley Brook Form'. Knowing there was a colony of wild marjoram at Bury Hill he carefully selected the best form from among the many plants and this became Origanum vulgare 'Bury Hill'.
When he took over the nursery he started to cater for retail business rather than wholesale. His interest was dwarf conifers, trees, shrubs, and hardy plants and in 1936 he produced a booklet entitled 'The Planters Handbook' which was a catalogue giving helpful hints on ultimate height and spread of trees and shrubs, planting, spacing and general cultural hints. This booklet was revised every year.
Rowland was a perfectionist and if he did not think plants were of a sufficient standard he would think nothing of destroying them. In one year he considered a crop of roses as sub-standard and had them destroyed, even though it meant a loss of nearly one thousand pounds. Perfection was always his goal. (When one thinks how many cultivars of clematis should have been strangled at birth!)
In 1960 he moved the nursery site yet again, this time to Havering Farm, which was about two miles away and the old site was sold for building land. It was this new site which was eventually sold to David McNeil in 1967.
He was an active member of the Royal Horticultural Society and was on various committees and a judge of the Chelsea Flower Show. Following up his passion for perfection, he was instrumental with another nurseryman, Mr Collyer of Everton Nurseries, in laying much of the groundwork for BS3964 (1965) particularly in regard to Part 1-Trees and Shrubs. He was awarded the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour in 1974.
Following a fall and the onset of ill-health has was obliged to resign from his RHS committees and other activities. He died on 26th March 1976 aged 71.
1976 and After
In 1976 David McNeil sold the nursery (which by that time had evolved into a garden centre) to Sir Ernest Harrison, a garden-loving businessman who still retains ownership today. However, the famous name has been retained and the name Jackmans of Woking lives on to service the needs of modern gardeners in Surrey.
The Clematis Legacy
Clematis 'Jackmanii' has stood the test of time and remains the best known and best loved clematis hybrid in cultivation today. The cultivar 'Superba' has slightly broader sepals and as a mere amateur I find it difficult to tell them apart. Other large flowered cultivars that have stood the test of time are:
C 'Belle of Woking', C. 'Blue gem', C. 'Countess of Lovelace' (First Class Certificate, 1874), C. 'Crimson King' (Award of Merit, 1916), C. 'Duchess of Edinburgh', C. 'Duchess of Sutherland', C. 'Fair Rosamund' (FCC 1873), C. 'King Edward VII', C. 'King George V', C. 'Lady Betty Balfour'(AM,1921), C. 'Lady Northcliffe' (AA 1906), C. 'Mrs George Jackman', C. 'Mrs Hope', C. 'Mrs Spencer Castle', C. 'Sir Garnet Wolsley'. Small flowered varieties include the two texensis hybrids mentioned earlier and C. alpina 'Pamela Jackman'.
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge with grateful thanks permission to use much material from two very interesting books: 'Jackmans of Woking' by Pamela Guantlett (1995) and 'Nurserymen to the World' by Eleanor Joan Willson (1989). Both of these volumes I obtained from the RHS bookshop at Wisley. I would also like to thank Surrey Record Office (Guildford Muniment Rooms) for permission to reproduce items from their Jackman archives; the RHS for use of their library for items contained in The Gardeners Chronicle, The RHS Journal and The Garden: and finally, Virginia Murray of John Murray (Publishers) Ltd., for detail of their involvement with Thomas Moore and the book The Clematis as a Garden Flower.
References: (1) LLOYD, C. (1977) Clematis, p.84, First Edition, Collins, London. (2) The Garden, (1897) Vol.52, pp 305-306 (3) The RHS Journal, (1900). Vol XXIV, pp 315-322.
Farewell Denny Caddick
Brian Collingwood UK bcollingwood@ntlworld.com
It was with great sadness that I today (16th December 2020) attended the funeral of Denise (Denny) Caddick. Denise was one half of one of Northern England's greatest Clematis teams, together with husband Harry, the founder-owners of the revered Caddick's Clematis Nursery in Thelwall, Lancashire.
For anyone who could not attend, I reproduce below the Order of Service. I worked many times with Denise and Harry on several BCS articles, which I had the pleasure of producing during my time as BCS Journal Editor from 2007 to 2019.
I have many, many memories of Denise over the years, from my frequent visits to their Nursery to buy plants, back in the early 90s, along with many trips to their home since that time (taking Harry to the pub, to talk Clematis of course, as well as seeing what they were currently growing in Harry's greenhouses) not to mention many hours on the phone with Denny either in producing the articles for the Journal, over the years, or in talking her through various fixes and tweaks to her computer; she was a lovely, friendly lady with time for everyone and always a total delight to know and chat with.
I have below added one or two comments from people who knew Denny. She will be greatly missed by all.
"Thank you for this heartwarming post (originally on Facebook). I love the music chosen and particularly the poems." – Joy Pearson
"Thank you so much for remembering my Mum in such a lovely way xx." – Jenny Caddick
"You are more than welcome Jenny. She was such a lovely lady. I was fortunate to get to know her beginning with my very first visit to the nursery back in the early 90s, which I remember as though yesterday. I was breeding plants already by then and took one of my new seedlings, with its first flowers, to show her and Harry. She asked me if I was 'another clematis 'nut', like Harry, to which I had to respond 'yes!'. After that I visited numerous times and spent a lot of time on the phone with her.
Over the 13 years while I was BCS Editor Harry dictated the parts of various articles and she would write them out neatly for him, and organise them, then I would drive
over and pick them up. I always took my camera in order to photograph Harry's plants, while I was there. We would then go through scripts on the phone and once I had finished editing a text I would send it back to her for approval, or any further changes.
Along the way, she also supplied me with amusing stories and events at Caddick's through the years, and lots of pictures, nursery catalogues and other items which I would take home and scan, for incorporating into the articles. Harry and I developed the occasional habit of going to the pub (The Green Dragon) to chat and discuss plants.
After Denny got her new computer, several years ago now, she would ring me up from time to time (as she knew I was a bit of a 'geek') to go through various 'how do I do this' questions – we covered everything from downloading pictures from her camera to setting up emails and fixing printer problems. We always had a good laugh along the way." – Brian Collingwood
So sad to read this news, I used to do a lot of photography for their brochures in the late 80s and early 90s and used to enjoy chatting with Denny and Harry. Such a lovely couple. – Dave Ward
Thank you for this. She was a lovely lady." – Josie Hulbert.
Denny and Harry Caddick
Section 4
Cultivars, Species and Groups
Clematis terniflora
Aidan Armitage
About eight years ago, Brian Collingwood sent me a spare bare rooted cutting he had of a good form of Clematis terniflora also known as Sweet Autumn clematis or sometimes as C. maximowicziana.
I grew the cutting on for a year and then planted it in my garden giving it a tall obelisk as a support. It was fortunate that I had done this because, I subsequently found out that, it is a vigorous plant which can put on up to 30 feet or more of growth!
C. terniflora is a native of China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan and in its natural habitat grows in shrubby areas, hedgerows and forest margins. It was first introduced to the West in the late 1700's by the Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg who sent plants from Japan to the West, and who described it as C. paniculata. This name was later dropped as a New Zealand species had already been given that name three years previously. A further introduction was made by Philipp Franz von Siebold, a German botanist and traveller, who, in 1830, sent seeds from Japan to the Botanic Garden in Ghent, Belgium from which plants were grown.
C. terniflora resembles a vigorous bigger brother of C. flammula and they share many similar characteristics. The plant has never been popular in gardens in Britain because of reports of its unreliability in flowering in the British climate, but I do think a lot depends on the particular genetics of the plant you have, as well as its growing conditions.
terniflora on obelisk
You definitely need a warm spot combined with a long hot summer with plenty of sunshine to ripen the vines for it to flower well, and to produce seed, as it has been noted, that in a northern temperate climate, seed is seldom produced. My experience bears this out because the plant in my garden, in Leeds in the north of England, has never produced seed.
My plant has consistently flowered well, with one exception in 2020, when it failed to flower at all. In the eastern United States where the summer temperature is consistently higher it generally performs better and is naturalized across parts of the United States. It also flowers well in France where the summers are hotter. The climate will also determine whether the plant is deciduous or evergreen, as in milder climates it will remain semi evergreen.
C. terniflora flowers from late June to September in the UK but looks particularly good in Autumn, producing huge masses of white to creamy white flowers on the current year's growth. It fills the air with a sweet hawthorn or vanilla scent, hence the name 'sweet autumn clematis'! The flowers are small and star-like with four widely spread sepals and prominent creamy white anthers and short green stigmas. The leaves are dark green and smooth, ternate, or pinnate shaped with a rubbery texture.
Interestingly, evidence of the confusion that existed in the 19th century in the naming of C. terniflora can be found in Moore and Jackman's book “The Clematis as a Garden Flower” first published in 1872. On page 133 there is a description of “C. Paniculata, Thunberg”, which is clearly C. terniflora and is described as “A Japanese climbing shrub, with pinnately decompound leaves, and axillary panicles of white sweet-scented flowers resembling those of C. Flammula and produced in July and August.”.
Moore and Jackman had at this stage evidently not realised that their C. paniculata was in fact C. terniflora because at the end of their book on page 157 they state: “The names of some few species which occur in garden catalogues are omitted from amongst the foregoing descriptions, in consequence of the plants they represent being quite unknown to us, having, as we suppose, passed out of cultivation. We particularly refer to ….” and among the plants listed is “C. terniflora (white)”. They conclude by saying “It may, we think, be safely assumed that they are unimportant as garden plants.”.
I would certainly disagree with that assessment and would recommend C. terniflora if you want a plant that can cover old walls, toolsheds and garages or scramble into trees.
Growing through a tree
A close up of the flowers
Notes on Clematis x aromatica – Coerulea Odorata Group
Dr Mary Toomey
M ost gardeners consider clematis to be climbing plants used essentially for covering walls, growing over arches, pergolas, and such other structures. However, there is a small group of less-well known herbaceous clematis, which differ in appearance from the climbing varieties and their sizes range from large plants for borders to much smaller species with a variety of tiny, handsome flowers. Clematis x aromatica is a valuable herbaceous garden plant and its hawthorne scented flowers are a joy from about late June until autumn. In fact, it is one of the very few clematis which boasts any scent. It is for this particular reason that it should be well known and widely grown.
Origin
The origin of this hybrid is not clear. The most reliable information is to be found in Lemoine's catalogue (1863). Lemoine apparently obtained a plant from MM. Deville Freres, Lyon, France, who probably raised the original plant. Lemoine introduced the cross to the horticultural public as Clematis erecta hybrida invalid around 1855. However, plants seem to have been in existence even before the introduction by Lemoine. Poizat of Lyon, France (Kuntze, 1885) gave a plant to Bertin of Versailles who, in turn, introduced it as Clematis caerulea odorata invalid in around 1840.
Taking into consideration that there was a long gap of 15 years between the time Bertin and Lemoine introduced these plants, and under different names, it is quite possible that MM Deville Freres may have obtained the plant from Poizat.
Kuntze also makes a reference to Armand Gontier (1845), Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, who found a plant in the seedbed of C. viticella L., possibly the result of a cross with C. flammula L. Hartwig and Heinemann (1880) state the possibility that C. caerulea odorata grown during that period was the plant from Gontier. However, this seems unlikely, because the plant C. aromatica, as known and grown today, does not show any characteristics of C. viticella (Snoeijer, pers. Comm.) Furthermore, Kuntze (1885) refers to Lemoine as the one who raised the plant, perhaps because the latter introduced it. According to Kuntze, the plant was published by Lenne & Koch (1855) in Index Seminum Hortus Berolinensis. Kuntze (1885) says that Clematis x aromatica and Clematis erecta hybrida are one and the same plant.
Kuntze's conclusion is very interesting because the parentage of Clematis x aromatica is presumed by many authors to be Clematis x integrifolia L. and Clematis flammula (see Whitehead 1959; Moore & Jackman 1977; Lloyd 1989; Burras & Griffiths 1994; Gooch 1996) Lemoine (1855) & Kuntz (1885) refer to the parentage as Clematis
integrifolia and C. recta L. Snoeijer (pers. Comm.) tried the same cross between C. integrifolia and C. recta and raised plants similar to those of C. aromatica except for some differences in height – from 20cm to 80cm (pot grown) and minor variations in colour and shape of flowers. Snoeijer also raises some pertinent points regarding the assumed parentage of C. aromatica, namely C. integrifolia and C. flammula.
The flowering times of C. integrifolia and C. flammula do not always coincide (see Whitehead 1959, Fisk 1963, Fretwell 1989). The former flowers earlier than the latter.
Even if there is the possibility of the flowering times of the two assumed parental plants overlapping (see Evison 1995, Gooch 1996), what are the chances of collecting viable seed from either of the plants?
Why is the climbing habit of C. flammula not inherited by the hybrid C. aromatica, giving rise to a plant somewhat similar to that of C. triternata 'Rubromarginata' (assumed to be C. flammula x C. viticella)?
Lloyd (1989) attributes the scent of C. aromatica to C. flammula. If Kuntze and Lemoine are right about C. integrifolia and C. recta being parents of C. aromatica then the scent could be attributed to C. recta. Therefore, is the hybrid C. aromatica the result of a cross between C. integrifolia x C. flammula or C. integrifolia and C. integrifolia x C. recta?
Clematis x aromatica Lenne & C. Koch (C. flammula x C. integrifolia) Index Sem. Hort. Berol. (1855).
Syn. C. coerulea Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1955 (1837).
C. erecta hybrida Lemoine in Lemoine V. & Fils Catalogue (1863).
C. poizati Lavallee in Les Clematites (1884).
Description
A semi-herbaceous non-climbing perennial up to 2m with slender, somewhat downy much-branched stems. Leaves simple or pinnate with 3-7 leaflets, the terminal one sometimes 3 lobed, margins entire. The flowers or hermaphrodite, scented, 3-4 cm in diameter and borne centred 3 to 4 centimetres in diameter and borne on loose terminal long-stalked chimes with small bracts which is simple or 2-3 lobed. Sepals 4, spreading or sometimes reflexed, oblong-lanceolate, often long-pointed with tip recurved, 1-1.5 cm long, dark violet or bluish violet, fading to pale blue. Stamen-filaments yellowish white, broadened above and downy; anthers yellowish white. Flowers are produced from July to September.
Cultivation
C. aromatica is hardy in the British Isles (US Horticultural Zone 4) and will succeed in most types of well-drained soils enriched with good garden compost or well-rotted farmyard manure it should be planted in a sunny border in order to enjoy the scent. The stems die back to woody rootstock and should be cut at ground level either during late winter or early spring. As new shoots emerge from below the soil and grow away, it is advisable to provide them with a suitable support.
The plant is relatively pest -free though every care must be taken to protect the strong young shoots from snails and slugs.
Propagation
Propagation by means of softwood internodal cuttings is the most favoured method. Cuttings should be taken between June and July and placed in a gritty compost (equal parts of peat and sharp sand or grit) in propagation/seed trays or pots. It could be beneficial to dip the cuttings into hardwood hormone rooting powder. The propagating tray or pot, with cuttings, should be placed in the cold frame or glass house away from direct sun. The cuttings should be potted on once they have rooted. However, it is important to allow good root systems to establish and not rush the potting on.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Wim Snoeijer for his invaluable help with the literature and his prompt answers to my questions, to Victoria Matthews for gathering and supplying me with much information as possible on the plant and Ruth Gooch of Thorncroft Clematis Nursery, for clarifying some points about propagation.
References:
BURRAS, J.K., &GRIFFITHS, M. (ed) (1994).
Clematis. In the New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary, Manual of Climbers and Wall Plants. MacMillan, London. pp.54-71
EVISON, R.J. (1995). Making the most of Clematis (edn 3). Floraprint, Nottingham.
FISK, J. (1994). Clematis. The Queen of Climbers. Cassell, London.
FRETWELL, B. (1989). Clematis. Collins, London.
GOOCH, R. (1996). Clematis. The Crowood Press, Marlborough.
HARTWIG, J., & HEINEMANN, F.C. (1880). Die Clematis.
KUNTZE, o. (1885). Monographie der Gattung Clematis. Verhandlungender Botanischer Verein Brandenburg 26: 83-202
LLOYD, C. (1989) Clematis. Viking, London.
MOORE, T., & JACKMAN, G. (1977) The Clematis as a Garden Flower. New edn. WHITEHEAD, S. (1959). Garden Clematis. John Gifford, London. Mary K. Toomey
This article first appeared in The New Plantsman in June 1997 and has been reproduced with the Editor's kind permission.
Plate XIV. – CLEMATIS JACKMANNI, From ‘The Clematis as a Garden Flower’ written by Thomas Moore and George Jackman and first published in 1872
Is Clematis 'Jackmanii' True to Name or Not?
This article was first published in ‘The Clematis’, The Journal of the British Clematis Society, in 2005
Wim Snoeijer
When I visited Dr John Howells in August 2005 he let me read his article titled "The origin of Clematis 'Jackmanii'". After reading this I said to John: "Do you know that the description and botanical drawing in "Moore & Jackman" is not of the plant we grow today as Clematis 'Jackmanii'?" This laconic remark from me was unexpected by John and it produced disbelief if not shock.
It seems that "everybody" who loves Clematis and goes slightly deeper into the subject has a copy of Moore & Jackman. So does John and he had a look in his 1872 copy. He was quickly convinced; the botanical drawing and the description in the book is not of the plant we grow today as Clematis 'Jackmanii'
To understand the differences between the botanical drawing and the description from the Thomas Moore, F.L.S. and George Jackman, F.R.H.S book, ‘The Clematis as a Garden Flower’ and the plant grown today, it is necessary to quote their description from pages 109 and 110 of the 1872 edition.
"C. Jackmanni (Jackman). [Plate XIV.] – This may be regarded as the type of a race of hybrids to the dissemination of which is to be attributed the present popularity of these hardy ornamental climbers. Though the first which was introduced to public notice, C. Jackmanni is a wonderfully fine acquisition, and up to the present time stands in the foremost rank as to merit. The plant is free in growth, and an abundant and successional bloomer, becoming profusely laden with very large showy flowers of a remarkably rich colour. It grows to a moderate height, and bears bold pinnatisect leaves, the leaflets of which are large (three to four inches long), ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, sometimes slightly cordate at the base, entire or occasionally incisely-toothed, narrower and more pointed than those of C. rubella. The flowers are from five to six inches across, and consist of from four to six roundish obovate apiculate sepals, which have a ribbed bar down the centre; they are of an intense violet-purple remarkable for its velvety richness, and a shading of reddish-purple towards the base, and are furnished with a broad central tuft of pale-green stamens. The buds are green and pendent. It has the continuous-blooming property developed to a remarkable degree—a character which it doubtless owes to its female parent, which was of the C. Viticella type. It is figured in the Gardeners' Chronicle (1864, 825); also in the Florist and Pomologist (1864, 193); and subsequently in the Flore des Serres (xvi., t. 1628-9); the Floral Magazine (t. 226); and the Illustration Horticole (xi., t. 414). M. Morren, who also figures it in the Belgique Horticole (xiv., t. 18), gives it the novel name of C. Viticello-lanuginosa. Our Plate XIV. is taken by permission from the figure in the Gardeners' Chronicle. For illustrations of the various uses to which this and
the kindred varieties may be applied, see Plates V., VI., IX., X., XI., and XII."
The description by Moore and Jackman in their 1877 copy is similar. They have used the same words, but the arrangements of some sentences slightly differ, and they added the height of the plant: "The plant is free in growth, attaining when established a height of from 10 ft. to 12 ft. in the season, and is an abundant and successional bloomer, ....". The botanical drawing is the same as in the 1872 edition.
My botanical description of the plant grown today would be something like:
"Leaves ternate or pinnate, leaflets ovatelanceolate, up to 6 cm long and 4 cm wide or less, apex acuminate, base obtuse to cordate, margin entire or sometimes with a teeth or lobe, glabrous on both sides. Flowers solitary or a few flowered dichasial cyme terminal and axillary on young shoots, bisexual, 10 cm across, horizontal to slightly nodding, open campanulate to spreading. Flower bud lanceolate, starting green with purple-violet veins but purple-violet before opening, nodding, more or less glabrous, with villous seams. Tepals 4 (occasionally 5 or more rarely 6), violet-blue (89A) with purple in the middle which is darker towards the base, this purple colouring fades, obovate-rhomboidal, apex acute or abruptly acuminate, not overlapping. Outer filaments pale violet-blue at the base to white near the anthers, inner filaments greenish, anthers cream, connective brownish."
This would be my description however brief, mainly referring to the details used in Moore & Jackman's description. If I had to write my description using the terms from Moore & Jackman, the description of the plant grown today would be something like: 'Clematis 'Jackmanii' is a wonderfully fine acquisition, and up to the present time stands in the foremost rank as to merit. The plant is free in growth, and is also an abundant and successional bloomer, becoming profusely laden with medium size but showy flowers of a rich colour. It grows to a moderate height, and bears normal ternate leaves or sometimes pinnate. The leaflets of which are of a medium size, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, obtuse or cordate at the base, entire or sometimes with a tooth. The flowers are from two to four inches across, and consist of four (rarely five or more rarely six), obovate or rhomboidal gappy tepals, which have a just slightly ribbed bar down the centre; they are of an intense violet-blue colour, with a shading of purple towards the base, and are furnished with a broad central tuft of dull white stamens. The buds are violet-blue and pendent."
So, what are the differences between these descriptions? First, the size of the leaves, which sounds enormous in the Moore & Jackman description, but on the living plant they are not big. Secondly, also the flowers are not as big as in the Moore & Jackman description.
Today's C. 'Jackmanii'. Note the more or less glabrous flower bud and compare with that with Plate XIV
The today's grown 'Jackmanii' will never reach a diameter of 6 inches. On a good spot the first terminal flower might reach 5 inches but all the lateral flowers on the shoot will be smaller. The shape of the tepals comes quite close to those of the living plant. However, I would like to call the tepals of the living plant more rhomboidal, due to the fact the margin at the lower half is bent downwards, which influences the shape of what you really see. This shape would also appear in the drawing if it existed. Moore & Jackman distinctly refer to the "ribbed bar", something I would not mention in a general description as this is not obvious in today's grown plant. The "velvety richness" is something of a personal emotion I think, but I suppose in those early days of clematis crossbreeding, the colour would stand out more than today as we have so many to compare and to choose from. More distinct is the mentioning of the pale-green tuft of stamens, which is not the case in 'Jackmanii' today and the buds are not green but fully coloured, also when young.
Why do I mention in my description the term "gappy"? In the trade today, Clematis 'Jackmanii' is mixed up with Clematis like 'Gipsy Queen', 'Guiding Star' and 'Jackmanii Superba'. The most obvious comparison for 'Jackmanii' is 'Jackmanii Superba' and in the latter, the tepals are overlapping. 'Jackmanii Superba' has 6 tepals or sometimes 5 or even 4, but they are always overlapping, at least most of them in one flower. This makes the term "gappy" for 'Jackmanii' very important, as the tepals are always gappy, even when the flower has 5 or 6 tepals.
So, why do Moore & Jackman not refer to the overlapping tepals? I think that it is because they write that the plant has "very large showy flowers" and having Clematis lanuginosa as one of the parents, the breeder would expect nothing other than "very large showy flowers", and thus neglected this aspect in the description. This is also true for the flower shape. Again, the breeder expected a "round" flower like the parent, so why bother to mention that the shape of the flower is round? The drawing in Plate XIV clearly shows a round flower but the plant grown today is really "starry-like", with those gappy tepals.
Almost finally to this list comes the colour of the stamens. I suspect that referring to the "central tuft of pale-green stamens" by Moore & Jackman again has to do with the parents. Their plant has big flowers, which is expected from the parent used, but with the green stamens (from a viticella or a viticella hybrid) from the other parent. They regarded that their plant was more related to what they called Clematis lanuginosa and thus the "green" stamens were new to them, and so was referred to in the description. This becomes clear when you read the description of the stamens of Clematis lanuginosa, on page 115 of the book:
Today’s C. ‘Jackmanii Superba’. Note the flower bud compared to Plate XIV
"...., and the anthers, seated on pallid filaments, from a central tuft of a pale reddishbrown hue."
That is what they expected in their hybrid, those pale reddish-brown anthers, but they got "green" stamens, and so it was written down in the description. I can hardly call the stamens of today’s grown plant green but when you take a photograph and ask someone to name the colour of the stamens this person probably will say green.
Finally, the colour of the flower bud. Moore & Jackman clearly describe the colour as green, but this does not fit the description of today’s grown plant. Also, when the buds develop in the shade there is still colouring, and I am pretty sure Moore & Jackman would have noticed that and described it.
Magnus Johnson's description
Let us study some more references and the next book to refer to is of course by Magnus Johnson (2001) The Genus Clematis. From his description, which includes also the history and references, I only quote the botanical description from page 743:
"Liane, climbing 3-4 m. Leaves usually pinnate with 5-7 leaflets, lower leaves sometimes ternate or simple. Leaflets acute-ovate, entire, or sometimes with some few coarse teeth; the terminal leaflet often 3-lobed. Inflorescence axillary or terminal in compound dichasial cymes. Flowers 10-15 cm in diameter. Tepals 4 (-5-6) broad-obovate with cuneate base and apiculate at the top, 4-7 cm long, 3-5 cm wide; on opening deep purpleviolet, Royal Purple (HCC 834) to Aconite Violet (HCC 937/2-3), with velvety lustre and with a purple-tinged central bar, Violet Purple (HCC 733); fully developed changing to bluish violet, Campanula Violet (HCC 37). Greyish with three conspicuous central nerves beneath purple-violet (HCC 733) and sometimes with a shade of green towards the base.
Flower buds nodding, narrow-conical to 25 mm long and 7 mm in diameter, greenish violet, densely hairy with tomentose seams and white lanuginose tip. Bracteoles on the lateral pedicels ovate to lanceolate, placed somewhat below the middle. Stamens 7-14 mm. Filaments at first short, wide, and flat, green, later white and elongated to 10 mm. Anthers about 5 mm long, pale yellow-whitish, later darkening. Connective at first purple-red on green-tinged bottom, later brown and protruding to a rounded tip. July-October."
There are a few things to discuss. First, the spelling. Magnus Johnson uses the spelling 'Jackmani' with reference to the Florist and Pomologist (1864) and to the Moore and Jackman 1872 edition. Remarkable, as the spelling in the Moore & Jackman 1872 book is different [C. Jackmanni] and Magnus' spelling cannot be found in Moore & Jackman. A second remarkable lack of information in the description is that Magnus Johnson does not refer to the fact that the tepals are gappy. A few pages further, however, there is a line within the description of 'Jackmani Superba' page 744:
"['Jackmani Superba'] Differs from 'Jackmani' mainly by having wider tepals overlapping each other's margins and deeper blue-violet colour with a purple-violet tinge and velvety lustre."
From this information the conclusion can only be that Magnus Johnson accepted that for 'Jackmanii' the tepals are gappy. Indeed, Johnson includes a colour picture of both cultivars, on page 713, on which the gappy tepals in 'Jackmanii' can clearly be seen, and in 'Jackmanii Superba' 4 of the 5 tepals are overlapping.
Johnson also writes in the description that 'Jackmanii Superba' has 4-6 tepals. This means that most of the description and the photograph by Magnus Johnson are of the same plant as the one which I based my description on, and thus different from Moore & Jackman. There is a characteristic in Magnus' description that does not fit; the pubescent flower bud. The bud of today’s grown plant is more or less glabrous, and so is the bud on plate XIV by Moore & Jackman.
Clematis Register description
Another reference is the Clematis Register from which the following quotation comes; The Royal Horticultural Society, Victoria Matthews (2002) The International Clematis Register & Checklist 2002, page 144:
“'Jackmanii'
Late Large-flowered Group 'Atrorubens' X lanuginosa
R: George Jackman & Son (1858), F: George Jackman & Son (1862), F: George Jackman & Son (1862), I: George Jackman & Son (1863)
FCC 1863, AGM 1993
Fls 10-15 cm across, facing outward or slightly downward, in groups of (1-)3 at ends of new shoots, stalks with bracteoles. Buds narrowly conical, greenish violet, densely hairy, nodding. Sepals 4(-6), dark violet-purple (Royal Purple HCC 834) (86A), with purple (Violet Purple HCC 733) (77A) veins and bar, flushed with reddish purple at base, ageing to a bluer purple (Campanula Violet HCC 37), outside pale grey-violet with darker violet (HCC 733) (86B) veins, 4-7.5 x 2.8-5 cm, obovate or rhombic with 3 conspicuous longitudinal veins, gappy, slightly twisted, apiculate, downy outside. Stamens 0.7-1.4 cm; filaments pale or greyish green, becoming white; anthers whitish, pale yellow or beige with purple-red connective. Deciduous climber with stems 2.4-4 m. Lower lvs often simple or ternate, upper lvs usually pinnate with 5-7 lflets; lflets ovate, entire, toothed, or lobed. FL: June-Oct on current year's growth.
Syns: C. X jackmanii Moore.
Published ref. Moore in Fl. & Pom. 1864: 193; G. Jackman Jr in Gard. Chron. 1864: 773, 823.
(Johnson 1997: 741, who has seen the records kept by Jackman, mentions that Jackman crossed 'Atrorubens' and C. X diversifolia 'Hendersonii' with C. lanuginosa, but only the cross with 'Atrorubens' produced the ripe fruit that resulted in 'Jackmanii'.)”
Clearly the description in the Register is taken from Magnus Johnson's book with a few differences: the spelling of the name is different from Johnson's book and is today's
spelling used for the living plant. An accurate reference in the Register is the mentioning of the gappy tepals. This, again, makes that the description in the Register is of today's living plant and not of the plant described by Moore & Jackman. Because of using Magnus' description the Register refers to the "densely hairy" flower bud.
First Conclusions
The first conclusion is very clear: the plant grown today as Clematis 'Jackmanii' is not the same plant as described in Moore & Jackman's book. So, were Moore & Jackman wrong and included the wrong description and drawing? I do not think so. The drawing was first published in Gardeners' Chronicle in 1864 and reprinted in both editions of the book by Moore & Jackman in 1872 and 1877. There is no reason to believe that if the drawing was wrong Moore & Jackman would not have noticed this and changed it after 8 years, or even after 13 years. No author would accept a wrong drawing in his or her book and would surely demand a change from the publisher. And changes were included in the 1877 edition, as the description in the 1877 copy is slightly different to the 1872 description.
This means that the plant grown today as 'Jackmanii' has the wrong name. So, what is it that we grow now? I really have no idea. Respect for the breeders is top on my list. The description in Moore & Jackman with plate XIV is of the type specimen for Clematis 'Jackmanii'. Because Moore & Jackman did not make any effort to change the description and drawing in those 13 years, the plant grown today as 'Jackmanii' appeared after 1877.
Change of plant?
Perhaps the plant grown today is a sport from the true 'Jackmanii' introduced in 1864. This is quite possible. This supposed sport may have been stronger than the original plant and because of softwood propagation or grafting, this stronger sport would eventually survive and so, take over. Taking in account the decline of the trade due to Clematis stem rot (wilt) at the end of the nineteenth century and the lack of money by gardeners to spend on ornamental plants during the crises around World War I, a weak cultivar had no chance of survival.
Could there be another reason? O yes! There are many circumstances at a nursery whereby plants get mixed up. Many things can go wrong and mixing up plants still happens today. Sometimes the whole stock of a cultivar is changed into the wrong one within a year because the wrong cuttings were taken, the wrong mother plants were used, or because the label became lost, and someone remembered what it was (or didn’t) a day or so later, etc etc etc. There are so many reason for mixing up a cultivar at a nursery. It might therefore be so that after 1877 two plants became mixed up, and within a couple of years, or even one year, 'Jackmanii' with gappy tepals was grown and has been propagated ever since. It is also possible that the breeder changed plants after the initial introduction, causing confusion, but I think, in the light of those 13 years between introduction and the second print of the book this can be excluded.
Evidence from the herbarium at Kew
I think that the herbarium specimens at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew are a main and oldest evidence that something is wrong. In their collection they have a specimen labelled Clematis 'Jackmanni' in the Nicholson collection of 1881, and a specimen labelled Clematis 'Jackmani Superba' collected by Veitch on July 17th, 1882.
Kew Herbarium specimen C. 'Jackmanni', Nicholson, 1881
The herbarium specimen of 'Jackmanni' collected in 1881 can be regarded as the same plant we grow today as 'Jackmanii'. It is not necessary to repeat the description, but there is one remarkable characteristic: the flower buds are clearly pubescent. This means that the origin of the pubescent flower bud described by Magnus Johnson is now known. I visited the Kew Herbarium in 1991 and found labels from Magnus and so he was there before me and he had used this herbarium specimen for his description. Apart from the gappy tepals clearly seen in the herbarium specimen, the pubescent flower buds do not appear in plate XIV from Moore & Jackman. The flower buds on plate XIV are clearly drawn as glabrous with a pubescent seam. Why the flower buds of today's grown 'Jackmanii' have become more or less glabrous over these 125 years I do not know – perhaps an environmental influence? Modern nurseries are now so well equipped that plants do not need a defence against drying out so perhaps hairs are no longer necessary. Then there is the herbarium specimen by Veitch labelled 'Jackmani Superba'. Nice to see that the name of ‘Jackman’ on those two herbarium specimens is spelled differently on each of the labels. Even in those early days cultivar nomenclature "they" could not make up their mind how to spell a name. However, the flower has only 4 tepals, the herbarium specimen clearly shows a round flower shape with overlapping tepals. Next to this is the
Herbarium specimen C. 'Jackmani superba', Veitch, 1882
flower bud. Compared with the 'Jackmanii' herbarium specimen the flowerbud is much less hairy, almost glabrous, with a distinct white seam because the seams are villous. This is exactly what can be seen in plate XIV from Moore & Jackman.
Conclusion
That the description in Moore & Jackman, together with plate XIV, is that of the plant grown today as 'Jackmanii Superba'.
What is the origin of Clematis 'Jackmanii'?
Of course, today's references give 'Jackmanii' as one of the parents of 'Jackmanii Superba', but I think this is just one of those errors which sticks with us – for 125 years now. If plants are so easily mixed up at a nursery, why not the notes taken by the breeder, or more likely, those who publish them. In clematis descriptions the parents published for a deliberate crossbreeding should not be taken for granted, with reference to a modern publication as the Clematis Register in which the parents are published alphabetically instead of female plant first. A rather sad conclusion is that over these 125 years nobody seems to have studied Clematis 'Jackmanii' thoroughly. Publications, descriptions, pictures, and photographs were taken for granted and authors repeated what previous authors had written, including the two quoted references. And because of this, the wrong Clematis 'Jackmanii' has been grown for 125 years.
The enormous leaf of today’s C. ‘Jackmanii Superba’. Corresponds exactly with Plate XIV and the description in Moore and Jackman
This also means that a previous article written by Dr John Howells for the British Clematis Society is about today's 'Jackmanii Superba' and not about todays 'Jackmanii'. It is quite likely that todays 'Jackmanii' has todays 'Jackmanii Superba' as one of the parent. The fact that Jackman's name is still used in the cultivar name is the first clue.
Let's try to find out the origin of today’s grown 'Jackmanii'. In Clematis breeding several characteristics are dominant and 2 of them are the violet-blue colour and declining of the number of tepals. Today's 'Jackmanii Superba' ['Jackmanni' in Moore & Jackman] is a cross between Clematis lanuginosa (8 tepals) X Clematis 'Hendersonii' (4 tepals), see John's article which can be found on page 120 of The Clematis 2005. This is a classic text book example, a form truly intermediate between the parents; violet-blue flowers and decline in numbers of tepals, now 6 or sometimes 5 or 4.
A F2 hybrid from today’s 'Jackmanii Superba' ['Jackmanni' in Moore & Jackman] would produce some plants which look like today's 'Jackmanii': still violet-blue flowers (dominant) and still a decline in the number of tepals (dominant), now 4, sometimes 5 or 6. When you pick one flower of 'Hendersonii' and hold this next to a flower of today's 'Jackmanii' you will see that, with some imagination, today's 'Jackmanii' is an enlarged 'Hendersonii'.
What to do?
So, what to do with the plant grown today and wrongly named 'Jackmanii'?
Unfortunately, at the moment I am not able to find a matching description in Moore & Jackman's book for the plant grown today as 'Jackmanii'. It seems the plant appeared after 1877 but before 1881. Scientifically, the description and plate from Moore & Jackman are the type specimen of the plant with the name 'Jackmanni' [or today's spelling 'Jackmanii']. Practically, I think it is wise to leave the name 'Jackmanii' to the clone grown today under this name. This means that someone needs to request the Registrar to conserve the name 'Jackmanii' and 'Jackmanii Superba' for the clones we grow today under these names.
Editor’s note
Wim has, for many years, been a breeder of clematis in the Netherlands and has introduced several well-known varieties. He has a particular interest in the classification of cultivars.
Today's 'Jackmanii' on the left and 'Hendersonii' on the right
Clematis in Mediterranean and Temperate Zones – Drought, Myth & Facts
Dr Mary Toomey – This article was written in 2018 for the Hardy Plant Society
Not since 1976 have the UK and Ireland experienced such drought, causing consternation among passionate gardeners.
Those of us who grow clematis know how important it is for the soil to be moist at all times if the plants are to give a good account of themselves. Yet two garden writers have been describing C. viticella, of Mediterranean origin, and its cultivars as drought-resistant, needing low maintenance and little or no pruning. After almost 40 years of growing and learning about the genus, I truly do not believe there are drought-resistant species or cultivars which can endure dryness at the roots for long periods in temperate zone gardens. To a degree, those in the tangutica, heracleifolia and tubulosa groups may tolerate short dry periods. I have heard of some heracleifolia group plants doing well despite drought. My C. 'New Love' showed no signs of displeasure during four weeks without rain. Its foliage is somewhat leathery!
My 20-year-old well established C. tibetana subsp. vernayi with comparatively thick, greyish foliage was truly naked in July having lost all its foliage, but I saw new growths soon after two days' rain. A resilient clematis!
C. 'New Love'
Generally speaking, garden plants with silver and/or glaucous foliage prefer their feet in relatively dry soil with good drainage. They do not behave well in water logged or heavy clay soil.
Clematis in the Mediterranean zone
I recall Heidi Gildemeister, founder member of the Mediterranean Plant Society, and author of Water Wise Gardening, saying that Mediterranean clematis such as C. cirrhosa, C. cirrhosa var. balearica and C viticella are adapted to dry summers and mild wet winters and some go into summer dormancy in Mediterranean gardens. She advised us not to water them during summer months. In fact, my C. cirrhosa var. purpurascens 'Freckles' lost all its foliage during summer 2017 but came back fully in early autumn. At the end of July 2018, it looks very sad with withered yellowy brown foliage and unusually not a sign of its pendulous flowers. I have no doubt it will boast handsome foliage and flowers once normal weather returns.
Clematis viticella & its cultivars may very well grow and reward Mediterranean gardeners but that does not mean they will withstand long periods of dry weather and flower well in the British Isles. Some plants such as 'Etoile Violette', 'Little Nell', 'Madame Julia Correvon', and others in my garden (not watered because of a hosepipe ban but heavily mulched) and elsewhere performed reasonably well but with smaller flowers and poor foliage. Where these cultivars were in moisture-rich or well mulched soil, watered regularly in spring, the plants did well. I noticed in an old garden that C. 'Little Nell', neither pruned, fed, nor watered, refused to give up, instead producing tiny flowers. Time and again, I have noticed that many flowering plants flower well after a lengthy dry period – albeit with smaller flowers than normal – to help the species reproduce thus assuring continuity.
In conclusion, it is worth noting that a Mediterranean climate is typically characterized by hot, dry summers with little or no rain and plants tend to become relatively dormant during summer. On the other hand, plants growing in temperate zones need gentle summer rains to support and promote lush growth.
So, while viticella species may very well grow satisfactorily in Mediterranean gardens, its cultivars which boast large-flowered clematis in their parentage will struggle without ample water in the British Isles.
C. 'Madame Julia Correvon'
Clematis 'Paul Farges'
Aidan Armitage
Ithought it might interest readers if I explain how I came by this floriferous clematis and then go on to say something about the plant and my experience of growing it. In 2009 I arranged to meet Ton Hannink, the well renowned Dutch clematis hybridiser, in North Wales. Ton had come over to the UK on a visit bringing with him some clematis plants for friends. He had some left over and wondered whether I would be interested in taking them off his hands before he returned home. With an offer like that how could I refuse? After a long car journey from Leeds I rendezvoused with Ton in the car park at Crug Farm plant nursery near Caernarfon and the transfer of plants (about 25 clematis in total) was made. Unfortunately, this was not as easy as it sounds as a storm had whipped up and the strong winds blew the clematis plants into a terrible tangle!
When I arrived home and after unwinding the plants, I found that amongst the clematis Ton has given me was a mature seedling of C. 'Paul Farges', also known under the trade name SUMMER SNOW. The next task was to find a suitable place to plant it. My garden is not ideal for growing clematis as it has heavy clay soil. That doesn't mean that clematis can't still flourish. In fact, clay soils are rich in plant nutrients. It does mean, however, that to maximise the growing conditions the planting site should be carefully chosen, and the planting hole prepared well. I chose a protected spot behind a raised bed that sloped slightly away from the midday sun. I sieved and retained much of the original soil and mixed it with generous quantities of grit and organic matter to encourage good drainage and to avoid creating a sump.
I had no idea how C. 'Paul Farges' would fare in these conditions though reassuringly Magus Johnson says in his book “The Genus Clematis” page 454 that “it is a very easily grown cultivar thriving in all localities”. I will come back to this later.
Close up of flowers
C. 'Paul Farges' is a hybrid resulting from a crossing made in 1962 in the former Soviet Union by M.A. Beskaravainaya and A.N. Volosenko-Valensis, in the botanical garden at Yalta. It was originally registered as C. x 'fargesioides', meaning it is similar to 'fargesii' but there were issues about using a Latin name and whether it was the correct terminology, so it was decided to name it simply C. 'Paul Farges' after the French missionary botanist and plant collector Paul Farges. To add further confusion, it is also known under its trade designation SUMMER SNOW but, if that name is used, under ICNCP rules the correct cultivar name must always accompany it so Paul Farges must be mentioned in the name if Summer Snow is used.
As can be deduced from this, one of the parents is C. potanini var. fargesii. The other parent is C. vitalba and the resulting hybrid inherits the characteristics of both parents; the flowering abundance of C. fargesii and the hardiness and vigour of C. vitalba.
C. 'Paul Farges' is an attractive rampant hardy deciduous climber growing about 3.5 metres to 8 metres in height and it flowers from July to September. It puts out long spreading ribbed stems at an amazing rate, which start off green but often turn to purple as they mature. They are hairy and slightly sticky to touch, with very attractive widely separated toothed leaves. It flowers on the current year's growth and the flowers are held aloft on long stalks (peduncles) 5–14cms long. The small dainty flowers are white or creamy yellow, 4-5 cm across, sometimes larger, and can be scented, although I have not detected any scent on my plant. The flower has a prominent crown with large white filaments and pale-yellow anthers. One disappointment is that the flowers, despite being prolific, never produce any seed as it is a sterile clone, so there are no seed heads once the flowers have finished.
I found that my specimen was indeed not fussy about where it was planted and has thrived over the years, growing thick woody stems at its base and regularly putting on 5 -6 metres of growth after being cut back in February. Reluctantly, due to its rampant nature, I've recently started to cut it back in the summer, otherwise it would smother all the plants in its vicinity. For this reason, I think it is best suited to large gardens where it has the freedom to roam. Nevertheless, I would happily recommend C. 'Paul Farges' to anyone who wants a hardy, reliable and pretty clematis to cover a large area of fencing or wall.
Growing on my Fence
Stems turning purple
Clematis 'Tie Dye' – A Clematis
That's
Definitely Made it Back to the Garden!
Aidan Armitage
If you only have space for a limited number of clematis in your garden, this is one to grow for its wow factor and once seen few can resist it. This beautiful clematis has eye catching violet-purple star shaped flowers, with white marbling splashed throughout and along the bar of each tepal. The pointed star shaped flowers have 4 – 6 tepals, with wavy margins and red anthers on pale green filaments. The overall effect conjures up the tie-dyed tee shirts that were all the rage in the 60s and early 70s.
It belongs to the late large – flowered hybrid group and flowers freely on the current year's growth, from June to September, giving a stunning display each year. It has an excellent pedigree, being a sport of C. 'Jackmanii' from which it inherits its rich purple colouring. It was raised in 2002 by James van Laeken in the USA and registered in 2005. Norfolk's Thorncroft Clematis Nursery introduced it into the UK in 2010 and when I recently checked, you can still obtain it from them.
C.'Tie Dye'
It grows 6 – 8 feet (2 – 2.6 metres) and combines well with other clematis. I have mine growing on an obelisk with C. 'Forever Friends' and they make a perfect match. I have found that, occasionally, it can lose the odd stem or two to wilt, but the other stems don't seem to be affected, so I just tidy the plant by removing any dead stems. The plant likes high nutrient levels so should be fed regularly with a tomato formula or liquid seaweed, from early in the summer onwards. An occasional dose of manure also works wonders. It's important to keep the plant well-watered in the summer or you may find that later in the season it may develop mildew, as can all 'Jackmanii' types. Although this makes them look somewhat unsightly, it does no harm. Hard prune it later in the winter to within 12 inches of the ground. If you can find space in your garden for one more clematis why not give C. 'Tie Dye' a go, it's bound to become a firm favourite!
N.B. For readers who may be puzzled about the title, it's a play on the lyrics of the song Woodstock by Joni Mitchell and prompted by the tie dye reference!
C. 'Tie Dye'
C. 'Tie Dye'
Mrs Pat Coleman and C. 'Pat Coleman' – A Lovely Lady and a Wonderful Clematis
Ruth Gooch
Imet Mrs Pat Coleman back in 1989 when we first opened Thorncroft Clematis Nursery for retail sales at Easter that year. She quickly became a regular customer, and friend.
Four years earlier, we had moved to Reymerston and were renovating the cottage, establishing a garden from a field, raising two young sons – and with the help of my parents Dorothy and Geoffrey Tolver, building the nursery business – we were busy, and never bored!
Lasurstern
Pat and her husband Max lived some three miles away in the neighbouring village of Hingham, most famous as the ancestral home of Abraham Lincoln's family. Pat was a very talented amateur gardener, who loved to dabble in propagating everything that grew in her beautiful cottage garden. Pat could often be seen in Hingham market place on a Saturday morning selling her plants from the boot of her car! On her regular visits to the nursery, she would often arrive with a boot full of pots of all manner of different plants for my garden, given in exchange for some clematis! Pat loved her plants so much that she was more than happy to share them with me, even one or two quite rare ones. She was a generous and knowledgeable teacher of all things horticultural – except clematis, and this was where I could reciprocate her generosity.
Around this time, Pat found a clematis seedling nestling in her garden between two long established clematis, 'Lasurstern' and 'Miss Bateman' and, as all enthusiastic gardeners do, she nurtured it. As you may know, 'Lasurstern', is an early large-flowered clematis with huge rich, mid-blue star-shaped blooms whose margins gently undulate. The other suspected parent 'Miss Bateman' is another early large-flowered clematis with more rounded, pure white blooms, and deep wine-red anthers. Their resulting off-spring has the shape of 'Lasurstern' with the colouring of 'Miss Bateman' and is a truly beautiful clematis, that flowers profusely.
Needless to say, Pat was delighted that we were so enthusiastic to have a go at propagating her seedling and arrived one day with a huge bag of cuttings material! Thankfully, my dad (Thorncroft's propagator) was able to succeed with the task we set him.
By 1996 we had managed to build enough stock to begin offering 'Pat Coleman' for sale, and in our book 'Clematis, An Essential Guide' revised version 2011, I described her as 'An excellent free-flowering cultivar that's worthy of space in any garden' – I have not changed my opinion!!
Over the years, Clematis 'Pat Coleman' has become a firm favourite of mine, so much so that I have kept her in a large pot to use as a specimen plant on the terrace of our old house. Apart from a thorough hard pruning each year, (yes, I know, early largeflowered clematis should normally be lightly pruned, but I am a devoted 'hard pruner')
Miss Batemen
Pat Coleman close up of flowers
and keeping her well-watered with the occasional addition of a little nourishment (when I remembered), she was largely left to her own devises! One year, when dead – heading, I counted 299 early blooms!
And because my beloved clematis was already in a pot, she was able to move to our new home with us, residing for two years in front of our temporary accommodation, a mobile home, while the new bungalow was built! And it was during the stay in her temporary home that she starred in the first R.H.S. Chatsworth Flower Show in 2017! We had been sorting all the specially grown show plants that had been lovingly tended, nurtured, and pampered for the previous nine months, ready to load the lorry when someone suggested that the pot of 'Pat Coleman' looked good enough to take with us…….! She was indeed a star and her glamour helped gain us a Gold Medal!
I reckon 'Pat Coleman', must have been in that same pot for about ten years, so it was hardly surprising that last year she was much poorer, producing only 60 blooms. It's sad, I know, but when I'm dead-heading I amuse myself by counting the faded blooms as I drop them into a wheelbarrow, keeping a tally over the course of a few weeks.
Anyway, due to her poor performance, I deemed it time to take action! So, during the winter, whilst she was dormant, with Jon's help because the pot was so heavy, we extracted the root-ball, sliced it in two with an old bread knife and removed lots of the old compost and poor roots. Then one half was planted against an obelisk in the raised bed by our living-room window and the other half was planted in the raised bed of our 'clematis walk'. I am delighted to say that both halves have settled into their new surroundings and been in bloom this spring – not spectacular yet but showing great promise!
What more can I say? 'Pat Coleman' is, without doubt, my favourite of all the white early large-flowered clematis and, hand on heart, I can recommend it to anyone, whether to plant in the garden, or to grow in a pot. And don't forget – if, like me, you prefer to hard prune your clematis, 'Pat Coleman' will cope, she is a very biddable clematis!
Pat Coleman in pot
Section 5
Propagation and Breeding
Interesting Clematis
Mariko Nakanishi
Ispecialize in breeding Clematis florida var florida 'Sieboldiana' to cross with other clematis and many new crosses flowered this year, which I would like to share with you. In this article I refer to F1 as being a first cross, and F2 as a second cross.
In 2009 I did my first Clematis florida var florida 'Sieboldiana' cross, which resulted in the creation of 'Amaneku' and 'Kongō' and I would like to introduce them to you. 'Amaneku' has red variegation. 'Kongō' is reddish purple at first, then it gradually changes to bluish purple. I think that variegation and colour change are peculiar to a Sieboldiana cross.
Clematis 'Allanah' belongs to the Jackmanii group and C. 'Amaneku' and C. 'Kongō' have diverse genes. (florida, lanuginosa, viticella and 'jackmanii'). In this cross, the flower size was medium because of the viticella gene. The diameter was 15 cm to 18 cm, so it is a little smaller than the cross with the patens group, but was bigger than florida. If I sow these seeds it will produce clematis that have great potential.
Clematis florida var florida 'Sieboldiana' x Patens group (6 types. About 20 plants of the species, all with slight differences.)
'Sieboldiana' x Clematis 'Allanah'
Clematis 'Kongō' Native patens cross.
Old Japanese hybrid cross.
Old Japanese hybrid cross.
Old hybrid crosses.
integrifolia group cross.
Old hybrid crosses.
integrifolia group cross.
A cross between two Japanese native C. patens and an old Japanese hybrid. I like the old Japanese hybrids because they have a strong patens gene and these varieties contain many beautiful dark coloured clematis. In the initial cross there are many natural forms of C. patens. Hybrids currently in circulation contain many genes, and in the case of a cross using this hybrid, it can be said that it is fun because various new forms of clematis are produced. However, there is little consistency but some of these clematis have a light scent.
I think that the second cross, F2, of some of these clematis will produce very interesting hybrids. It is really beautiful that the pink clematis gradually turns light blue when it blooms. The thin and strong vines are peculiar to florida and the flower stalks are also strong and elastic. It is wonderful to see them swaying in the wind. Some of the flowers are very big, close to 30 cm, and the small ones are 18 cm.
Large flowers bloom almost always in the patens group cross, with diameters of 18 cm to 25 cm on average as this is a dominant characteristic of patens.
In the case of the patens hybrid cross, dark purple is dominantly inherited. In the native patens cross, the light colour is more dominant. I formed this view through my experience of doing various crosses with them.
Clematis florida var florida 'Sieboldiana' x Integrifolia Group
The clematis that bloom from this cross have many flowers. This was a natural result as the parents also have many flowers. It was also interesting to see that the clematis had yellow stamens and yellow pistils in the first generation of the cross. Normally, when florida is used as a parent, it produces a dark stamen and pistil.
In the case of crosses with the integrifolia group, the flowers have a twisting characteristic although it does not appear on all the crosses.
There are clematis that bloom sideways and clematis that bloom downwards. One of them has larger flowers are about 15 cm, and the smaller flowers about 3-5cm
I think that second crosses, F2, will also produce very interesting clematis.
My hybrid cross produced many dark purple clematis which is usually the case with such crosses because the dark purple predominates. The colour of clematis blooming in first cross, F1, is very similar and, at first glance, it seems that there is no big difference. However, since the hybrid contains various genes, it is very important to understand the parents correctly.
The flowers that bloom at the top of these F1 hybrids often bloom as semi-doubles. Perhaps if they bloom in a cooler environment, which is not as hot as here in Japan, they may produce many semi-double flowers. Because some of my F1 hybrids have produced some semi-double flowers it may eventually happen with F2 crosses.
Editor's note
Mariko has been growing and breeding clematis for over 20 years and she is a regular contributor to the BCS Journal.
Growing Clematis from Seed in a Limited Space
Mike Miller
Over the course of my years growing clematis from seed I've developed a process that gets the seeds to germinate and grow on to flowering size as quickly as possible in the very limited space that I have. Much of the seed I grow is from my own intentional hybrids, though I also have a good percentage of species seed each year.
This process is unique to my space – a small basement room with growing lights, a small set of shelves outside covered with polycarbonate for young seedlings, and a limited set of clematis nursery beds that allows me to grow on the plants. It has also been developed for my USA zone 5 garden where young clematis in pots may overwinter in my cold garage. When making a cross I mark the seed head, writing the names of the parents on a piece of plastic which I cut out from left over yogurt containers (Figure 1). I have about 6 weeks in the late spring and early summer to make these intentional crosses when the foliage is fresh and green. But come autumn, when I collect the mature seed heads, and everything is browning and overgrown, having this marker becomes very useful as it is easy to spot.
Figure 1
Once collected, I let the seeds dry inside for two weeks. Then the seeds sit overnight in a small acrylic box on germination paper. The box is about the size of two decks of playing cards stacked on top of each other and is designed to hold baseball cards. I've found this is better for me than soaking the seeds in water, since I can leave them for a few days if I am very busy. Then all the seed coats are peeled off, including ones on the smaller integrifolia seeds. We experience a lot of fungal disease by autumn here in my garden and I find the period of drying, then peeling, reduces seed loss due to fungal issues.
Once peeled they go back into that acrylic box, sitting on a bed of barely damp sand (Figure 2). It is easy to see when the sand is moist or dry, and I rarely have fungal issues this way, whereas I have when using germination paper. It also allows me to observe the germination process and not to lose the seed in a pot of soil. Those boxes get stacked into a larger box (Figure 3), then placed in a much larger opaque box to block out light. I don't know if that part is necessary, but that's what I do.
This allows me to store a lot of seed in a very small space. It takes 3-4 weeks for the sand to dry out in this way and thus allows me time to get to them when I can at weekends. Very small, papery seed like that of C. flammula, C. tangutica or C. acerifolia do not respond well to being laid on damp sand. In my experience, they need to be on soil covered in grit.
I feel it's important to get nutrition into the seed right away at each stage, so the plant can grow on as rapidly as possible. This is essential as my growing season is rather short. So, as soon as a radicle is formed, I'll transplant it into soil. I use a mix for this called Pro-Mix BX that is
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
composed of coir, peat, vermiculite, and perlite. It has a starter charge (light dose of NPK) and includes mycorrhizae. This fine textured mix + the addition of the fungus gets the roots growing very quickly.
I put the seed with the emerging radicle into a small cone shaped container (Figure 4) on the left. About 100 of these containers fit into a specially designed rack (Figure 5), allowing me to store a lot of germinating seeds in a small area. I keep this rack covered by a large translucent plastic box sitting under lights (Figure 6). Some clematis will send up shoots quickly but, as we know, many of them sit there for months. If they've been sitting there for some time I can take them out in small groups, place them in a smaller box and put them in the refrigerator for vernalisation.
The seedlings get watered only when needed, but once they have formed their own true leaves I start giving them a weak fertilizer at 1/8th strength.
These cone shaped pots have a white plastic insert that can be lifted out of the black cone to check for roots. As soon as I see a root tip making its way out of the potting mix I pot it on into a deep tree pot (designed for tree cuttings, Figure 4 in the middle). I use the same mix here but also give the roots a dusting of mycorrhizae mixed with a strain of trichoderma, another beneficial fungus. This is topped off with a solid fertilizer (Espoma brand Tomato Tone) with a further topping of grit. Once they've developed 3 or 4 sets of true leaves I cut them back, allowing them to develop their root systems before sprouting from adventitious buds, at that point moving them on to ¼ then eventually ½ strength fertilizer with each watering. I keep doing this until I see the first root tips emerge
Figure 5
Figure 6
from the bottom of the pots, usually within a 3-4-month period, except for the slower growing species.
Once that happens, they go into even deeper pots (Figure 4 on the right). At this point I use a different mix, one I make myself out of composted pine bark, peat, coir, perlite, and a small percentage of humus/homemade compost/rotted manure, topped off again with the solid fertilizer. I use this richer mix because they will likely end up sitting out in the rain instead of being protected under the poly roofing. Liquid fertilizer is not much help during our periods of heavy rainfall (May, June and September) and the plants grow on better this way, especially with the coarse pine bark as the major component.
The advantage of the deeper pots is that there are 2 different size trays they fit in, placing them tightly together or in various configurations. The smaller tray in Figure 7 allows nine of either size pot and a larger tray, not pictured, holds sixteen pots, both in a very small space. It also allows different configurations of pots as the plants start to grow on. If they didn't get planted out in the autumn, those trays of deep pots with the top growth trimmed off can be stored overwinter in my attached garage (where temperatures get down to 2-4° C), taking up very little space. What I end up with is a plant with a highly developed root system that sends out top growth quickly once trimmed back and planted into the trial beds.
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions at mjmil@comcast.net.
Editor's note
Mike Miller is a gardener in the USA living near Chicago. He is an amateur clematis breeder and has been growing and hybridizing clematis for the past 15 years, starting the seeds in a cool basement, then growing them on in his zone 5 garden. The weather there will be very cold in the winters, killing off all clematis growth above ground, cool and rainy in April, May and June, then hot and humid in July and August. All the clematis he grows, as a result, are cut back to the ground each March.
Figure 7
How to Prune Clematis
Ton Hannink/Pascale Krüger
Over the years, pruning has been an important issue in the clematis world, but it has also been the subject of much confusion and contradiction.
In the Netherlands, when I give lectures to garden clubs, it does not take long before someone asks me about pruning. I explain that I will include this later in my lecture, and in this part I tell them that I always have to look up the correct pruning group whenever I write about the Clematis of the Month for the International Clematis Society. This is because I don't use the concept of pruning groups when growing my clematis. To me, they are neither interesting, nor relevant. I ask the audiences if they have pruning groups for the shrubs, and the answer is always “No”. Then I ask why pruning groups are needed for clematis, and I get no answer.
How to get a well branched Clematis
When you buy a new clematis, you must build up a well – branched plant. If you start in a wrong way, it is difficult to correct this later.
After buying the clematis you must prune it above the second nodes. The plant grows and develops new shoot(s), each with 2 sets of nodes. Prune again after the first new nodes and continue to do this more times during the first year. After the first year you should have a very well branched clematis which will provide lots of buds and flowers. Give the plant enough fertilizer with low nitrogen, higher phosphorus and higher potassium NPK10:30:20.
Pruning a poorly branched clematis
For a plant with thin stems, prune above the first nodes which are just above the ground for your first new stems in early Spring. If the plant has bigger stems, prune it above the third node. Then prune the plant two or three times so that you get a clematis with at least 8 stems for good results next year.
Pruning an older clematis in the garden or pot
If the clematis already has big stems, you only need to keep the clematis in a good condition. Remove old wood and prune the stems which grow too high. For making more stems prune young stems on the second node. Check the plants every year in early Spring and prune if necessary.
Pruning clematis which are cultivars/hybrids of montana, chrysocoma, gracilifolia, tongluensis, and williamsii –
All these clematis flower on last year's growth, so if you prune these in Spring you will have no flowers. However, to develop a well – branched clematis from these groups you can prune them as I have described, but after they have flowered. What to do with a clematis with only one/two big stem(s) with flowers on 2 meters height or higher –
Before pruning
After pruning
You will often see a clematis with only a few stems in the lower area, but at a higher-level there are leaves and flowers. It is a pity that the lower stems are bare, but it is a risk to prune the big lower stems because the whole plant may die. Rejuvenation can, however, be achieved through layering.
Choose a long stem at the right and the left side of the big stems. Bring both to the ground at the left and right side. On a node which touches the ground you must make a wound and then place this stem about 10 cms under the ground. Keep both places where the stems are in the ground a little bit wet.
After about 3 months new shoots will appear from the ground. If the stem has two nodes, prune after the first node. Now you will have new stems. Repeat this pruning several times in the year and after 5 months you can sever the stems from the mother plant.
Next year you can prune the stems of the mother plant above the third node. The mother stems either grow new shoots or die. If you get new shoots, you must prune from the first nodes as previously explained.
Our experiences
We have about 80 mother plants amongst which are rare Chinese species, 150 of our selected crosses, some from two other nurseries, and about 1,200 seedlings from crosses.
Years ago, we pruned clematis in the traditional pruning group way, but that did not work because the plants grew too tall and because of this pollinating was quite difficult. Instead, we decided to prune very hard 10-20 cms above the soil for all the plants because we needed shorter, but bushier plants.
Mother plants
ʀ Must flower as early as possible
ʀ Must have flowers no higher than 150 cms
ʀ Must have a lot of stems and, because of that, a lot of buds/flowers
ʀ Plants must flower at least twice.
Selected crosses by us, and the two other nurseries
ʀ Provide good results through hard pruning with large numbers of flowers and good quality flowers.
ʀ Provide plants with a lot of stems.
ʀ Provide real double flowers without depending on pruning.
Seedlings
ʀ Must flower in their second year.
ʀ Must have stems growing from the ground as result of strong pruning in the second year.
ʀ The second year the double flowers must come through as in the first year.
Ton Hannink
1947 - 2021
Just as the final version of this year’s edition of the Journal was being completed we learned that Ton Hannink has sadly passed away and so we asked Marie-Laure Rauline of Javoy Plants to write something about his contribution to the world of clematis. Other tributes can be found by Ken Woolfenden on The International Clematis Society web site and by Dan Long, and many others, on the Facebook Group, Crazy about Clematis. R.I.P Ton.
Lizzie Gibbison, Chair of the British Clematis Society
It was with great sadness that I learned that Ton has just died from the prostate cancer that he fought for so many years.
Ton was a very talented hybridizer, using healthy wild clematis from China to obtain disease free large flowered hybrids, many of which are now available commercially. He began working alone and then in collaboration with Pascale Krüger. This work has led to some beautiful creations including ‘Scented Clem’ and ‘Delighful Scent’, two scented clematis and Vitiwester (trade name ‘Burning Love’) with an intense red colour and the recognized vigour. His creations will continue to be introduced on the international market.
His knowledge and skill as a clematis breeder and expert will be hugely missed. He was a very generous and benevolent person who was always willing to share his knowledge, skills and passion, whether in his lectures, articles or talks, or when showing someone around his greenhouse. He was a member of the International Clematis Society and was their President for many years. He was also an active participant in various Facebook sites devoted to clematis, providing help and advice to gardeners and clematis growers around the world. The kindness and passion of Ton will be greatly missed in the world of clematis.
Marie-Laure Rauline, Javoy Plants, France – 2nd November 2021
Photo with kind permission of Ken Woolfenden
Testing New Cultivars
Marie Laure Rauline
The JAVOY nursery is a family business, created in the 1980s by Pierre and Nicole JAVOY. It is now managed by Benoit and Marie Laure, two of the four children of the family.
The nursery is now the leading producer of clematis in France and a major player in Europe. Thanks to Benoit's expertise in clematis multiplication and the knowledge of the market provided by Marie Laure, the nursery has grown significantly in recent years.
She has engaged in exciting varietal selection work, in partnership with Ton Hannink in order to introduce new varieties to the market in response to the expectations of European gardeners.
We have a cuttings bench where the rooting capacity of the variety is measured in several ways in order to find the best method of propagate and to compare its rooting rate against production standards.
The Cuttings bench
Why test new varieties?
The diversity of clematis is already very important, and many varieties are not, or little marketed, despite their qualities. It is therefore natural to wonder about the motivation to select new varieties. This work is, in fact, essential and requires a real knowledge of market trends to be able to identify, upstream, the unstated needs of consumers. In addition, these consumers have different requirements depending on the country and their mode of consumption. Climates vary across countries and this also determines the range of plants sold. Thus, clematis are globally much more prevalent in the north of Europe than in the south for mainly climatic reasons. The British market is much more focused on flowers and aesthetics, unlike the French market which is more focused on food and useful plants (honey plant, plant for shade, etc.). The northern European market knows how to consume clematis as a potted, flowering plant, to be renewed regularly, unlike other countries where this plant is intended directly to be planted, in the garden or in a pot, for several years.
These different market needs are a real asset for varietal selection because they allow the development of a great diversity of hybrids. The ability of a new plant to appeal to several markets increases the sales potential of the variety. Conversely, varieties which do not fully satisfy a market, but which have been supported by strong marketing investments, can serve the entire genre. Indeed, consumers who are disappointed with a variety may no longer want to buy clematis in general, thinking that this genus is too complicated to sucessfully grow. Therefore, the importance of correct selection and market knowledge is very high. It is essential that each introduction has been designed to meet a demand. Without this, no long-term success can be expected.
Clematis 'Scented Clem' going through the different test steps. First grown in a pot indoors and then outdoors, before being planted in the ground. This makes it possible to verify the colours and behavior of plants in different situations.
Clematis 'Scented Clem', is an example of successful selection. For many years now, Ton Hannink has been working on the creation of new clematis hybrids. At the nursery, we have engaged in the work of selecting these varietal creations, to identify those with the best potential for the market.
'Scented Clem' inside
'Scented Clem' outside
Many criteria go into the selection of these creations:
ʀ The consistency of the variety with its market (flowering, habit, fragrance, vigour, etc.)
ʀ Its new character
ʀ Its ease of multiplication
ʀ The ability to lead a quality culture, economically relevant.
Without considering all these criteria, the success of a variety will not be achieved.
Among our first selection we identified the 'Scented Clem' variety, from the cadmia species, which quickly met with great success in it's market.
Indeed, this variety is already particularly relevant for several markets, because of its fragrant flower, its compact habit, suitability for small spaces, and its very good vigor. It is a clematis that knows how to guarantee full satisfaction to gardeners. So, gardeners will want to try 'Scented Clem' which will provide complete satisfaction.
Once the stage on validating the relevance of a new clematis in relation to its market has been reached, the selection work continued around the subjects of cultivation management with the multiplication and management of cultivation. It has been identified a very good rooting capacity and an average growth capacity, with flowering in container, earlier than large-flowered hybrids allowing a sales window at the end of April, beginning of May, at an ideal period.
The criteria for multiplication and production management were thus validated quickly and with great success.
One of the identified shortcomings of this variety is it only flowers once but this remains a minor fault compared to the multiple qualities of the variety.
Once this process was completed, C. 'Scented Clem'could be introduced to the market.
This selection phase generally lasts 2 years, to meet all the criteria of the scoring grid. For this variety, already protected, the marketing was done quickly. For others, it is necessary to pass the variety protection, before considering any marketing. The relationship between hybridizer and breeder is real teamwork
The latest variety selected by the nursery, in collaboration with Ton Hannink. It should be launched in spring 2022, possibly during the Chelsea Flower Show.
In conclusion
We can say that the success of a new varietal creation lies in the strong bond between the hybridizer and the breeder. From these exchanges, real long-term strategies are built, making it possible to concentrate the human and material investments of each one to optimize their efficiency and ensure a great success in the long term of any new introduction.
Carol Klein
Lilac Wine
Section 6
International Clematis Society
International Clematis Society
2021 Report
Ken and Fiona Woolfenden
One year on from the last report and we are all still living under the COVID-19 cloud. Being an international society with members in some 27 countries, we are aware that conditions and constraints vary across our membership.
The International Clematis Society (I.Cl.S.) meeting in 2020 should have been in July 2020 in Denmark. It was decided relatively early in 2020 that we could not hold this event as planned and we agreed with our travel partner, Brightwater Holidays, to postpone it for one year.
Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic situation is improving, this is only in certain countries. There are still constraints on travel abroad and, as I write this, the UK government rules for many countries are that a quarantine period is expected on returning to the UK. After more discussion with Brightwater in 2021, it was agreed we had to postpone again for one more year until 2022. Now we must wait and see what 2022 brings.
Nevertheless, with reports from members of the visits we made during the meeting to Portland, Oregon, USA in 2019, plus more than 80 pages of assorted articles on a wide variety of clematis cultivars and clematis related topics, the journal for the year, Clematis International 2020, made good reading. As editor, I am bound to say so!
The greatest innovation for the Society during 2020, which many of us believe will have a positive impact across Society, and working for years to come, has been the use we've made of online meeting software, through a series of webinars (online seminars).
The Society was keen to engage with our members despite not being able to meet face to face and so, led by our President, Jeff Jabco in the USA, we ran our first webinar, for members only. The result was an instant success, so much so that we have now run five webinars; each one scheduled to last a nominal one hour but all overrunning due to the interest of the attendees.
The start was of a video presentation by Jeff Jabco, giving an update on the Clematis Trial at Longwood Gardens. The trial was started in 2014. This was one of several items in our September 2020 Zoom Webinar. This was a Society Members' only event, though we do hold one or two webinars each year for anyone who wishes to connect.
Three of these webinars have been for members only, whilst the two remaining were open to the public. Each is recorded so that members who were unable to attend can view the proceedings. For the public / non-members, the latest public event can also be viewed. See www.clematisinternational.com and click on the left-hand Webinar menu option.
As a measure of success, the last public webinar had over 150 attendees, of which just over 50 were members. That's about a quarter of the membership of the Society!
Whilst nothing matches true face to face contact and conversation, for those unable or unwilling to attend “real” meetings due to where they live, etc., it allows them to still be a part of the Society, and to raise questions and give their views and opinions.
For more information
One final note. The Society has renamed its 'Clematis for Beginners List' to 'Recommended Clematis' and this is available on the Society's website in both web page format and a downloadable document. It was felt that the previous name restricted members recommending it to the public.
Cover of the newly named Recommended Clematis lists, available in five languages as free downloads from the Society website. Please visit www.clematisinternational.com and select “Recommended Clematis” from the menu on the left. Then select “Download Lists” and select the one you want.
Take care and stay safe and we will see what the next twelve months have in store.
Please visit the Society's website at www.clematisinternational.com.
Clematis Registered from July 2019 to December 2020
Sarah Holme, RHS International Registrar for cultivated plants (Clematis and Lily) clematisregistrar@rhs.org.uk
The last full registration report in The British Clematis Society Journal detailed registrations from July 2018 through to June 2019. This new report includes the 31 registrations received from July 2019 through to the end of 2020, and The International Clematis Society published elements of this report recently. Eleven registrations were received from Poland, eight from the UK, four from both Japan and Finland, three from the USA and one from Canada.
It is always exciting to receive new cultivars to register: new registration applications (or enhancements to existing, published descriptions) should be e-mailed either to sarahholme@rhs.org.uk or clematisregistrar@rhs.org.uk, both will reach me. If you are returning registration forms by post, please ensure that they are addressed to: Clematis Registrar, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking, Surrey, UK, GU23 6QB. The most recent application form can be downloaded from http://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/ plantsmanship/plant-registration/Clematis-registration. Please do ensure that your forms are signed in all the relevant places, enabling the RHS to store and publish certain details (especially on page 3, which contains the important General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) information).
I look forward to seeing more of your beautiful new cultivars.
'Blue Surprise' Atragene Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.
H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2017), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, semi-double, broadly open bell-shaped, 7-9 cm across, borne singly in axils, not scented. Pedicels purple-green. Sepals 4, petaloid staminodes 12-26; violet-blue, lighter on the inside, violet-blue, white or blueish white at base, 5.5-6 × 2-2.2 cm, narrowly elliptic, wavy-margined, long-pointed, with gaps between. Staminodes 5.5-6 cm long, narrowly lanceolate, slightly wavy margined, violet-blue, lighter on the inside, white or blueish white at base. Filaments greenish creamy white, anthers creamy white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m, purple when young maturing to green. Lvs divided with 3-5 leaflets and further divided to appear semi-bipinnate, green when young maturing to mid-green, margins irregularly toothed. FL: May, July-August (outdoors) on previous season's growth. Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020.
'Coconut Ice' Texensis Group
Parentage: Chance seedling; parentage unknown
H: J. Barton (2011), G: J. Barton (2011), N: M. Floyd (2020), I: M. Floyds Climbers & Clematis (2021), REG: M. Floyd (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly in axils, not scented. Sepals 4; white with a pink bar, 6-7 cm long, thick and fleshy, touching. Staminodes absent. Filaments and anthers creamy yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.4m. Lvs ternate, green maturing to mid-green. FL: June-Sept (outdoors) on current year's growth. Hardy to H5.
'Duncan Grosart' Viorna Group
Parentage: 'Princess Red' (s)
S: R. Hodson (2017), G: R. Hodson (2018), N: R. Hodson (2019), I: Hawthornes Nursery (2020), REG: R. Hodson (2020)
Fls single, broadly bell-shaped, ridged, nodding or drooping. Sepals 4; interior creamy white becoming pale pink, centre of sepal becoming darker pink towards tip, outside of sepal pale pink, margins minutely ruffled in distal parts, narrowly triangular, touching at base, tip recurved, 4 × 3cm. Filaments creamy white. Seed heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2m. Lvs simple, margins entire, pale green to mid-green, maturing to green. FL: June to September on current year's growth.
'Floral Dance' Late Large-flowered Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.
H: S. Marczyński (2013), G: S. Marczyński (2016), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, semi-double to double, flat or flattish, 5-8 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly in axils, not scented. Sepals 35 or more; violet-blue, outside of sepals pale violet-blue; 2.53.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, elliptic, overlapping, wavy-margined, rounded at tip but with a distinct apiculus, long-pointed. Staminodes absent. Filaments greenish violet; anthers yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-2.5 m, stems purple when young. Lvs simple and divided with 3-5 lflets, green when young maturing to mid-green; margins entire. FL: June-July, sometimes August (outdoors) on current year's growth. Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020.
'Golden Dream' Atragene Group
Parentage: known but not disclosed by breeder
S: S. Marczyński (2013), G: S. Marczyński (2015), N: S. Marczyński (2018), I: Clematis Zródło Dobrych Pnāczy (2020), REG: S. Marczyński (2019)
Fls semi-double, broadly bell-shaped, 7-9cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, with a light grapefruit scent. Sepals 4; light yellow, orange-red towards base, becoming reddish purple, 4.5 × 1.8-2cm, narrowly elliptic, touching at base with gaps between, wavy-margined, long-pointed, tip acute and recurved; peduncles deep purplish red. Staminodes 4-4.5cm, light yellow; filaments, connectives and anthers yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Woody deciduous climber, with stems to 2-2.5m; young stems reddish purple. Lvs ternate, light green when young, maturing to dark green; margins irregularly toothed with wavy margins; tip acute. FL: May-June and August on previous season's and current year's growth. Hardy USDA zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 18/11/2019.
'Golden Surprise' Atragene Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed. H: S. Marczyński (2013), G: S. Marczyński (2015), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, double, narrowly bell-shaped, open, 6-10 cm across, borne singly in axils, with a light grapefruit scent; pedicels red-purple. Sepals 4, staminodes 15; sepals light yellow with a pale purple flush at base, with fine yellow-grey indumentum along edge, 5.5-6 × 1.5-1.7 cm, narrowly elliptic, with gaps between, wavy-margined, long-pointed, with sepal margins curling back. Sepaloid staminodes 5 cm long, light yellow, narrowly elliptic, overlapping, long pointed, with fine yellow-grey indumentum along edge. Stamens greenish light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m, stems red-purple when young. Lvs ternate, green when young maturing to mid-green; margins irregularly toothed; petiole greenish purple. FL: Late April-May (outdoors) on previous season's growth. Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020.
'Goshozome' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: 'Evione' SUGAR CANDY (s) × 'Herbert Johnson'
H: T. Sano (2009), G: T. Sano (2017), N: T. Sano (2019), REG: T. Sano (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 11.4-18 cm across, upward- or outwardfacing, not scented. Sepals 6-8; inside of sepals light purple (76A) with a very pale purple (76C) bar, outside of sepals very light purple (75C) with a strong purplish red (64B) bar, sepals and bars become whitish with age, 5.7-9 × 2.43.8 cm, narrowly elliptic, overlapping, wavy-margined, long-pointed, tip slightly recurved. Sepaloid staminodes few to absent, 3.5 cm, light purple (76A). Stamens numerous; filaments white (NN155D) but with a brown spot halfway along length; anthers pale yellow (20D). Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 0.83 m, dark reddish orange (172B) when young maturing to moderate reddish brown (174A), with pale yellow green (4D) hairs. Lvs ternate, lanceolate, with scattered hairs on underside, moderate yellow-green (146B) when young, maturing to greyish olive-green (NN137B), margins entire, FL: April-May, (outdoors) on previous year's then current year's growth. Hardy to USDA zones 9a-9b.
'Goshozome' is the name of the colour of the kimono worn by female officers who served at the Imperial Palace during the Kanei Period (1624-1645) in Japan. The name was adopted for the new cultivar since the colour of the sepals resembles the colour of 'Goshozome' closely.
'Jan III Sobieski' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.
H: S. Marczyński (2013), G: S. Marczyński (2016), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single (late summer) to semi-double, flat or flattish, 13-18 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly in axils, not scented; pedicels purplered. Sepals 6-8, with up to 20 petaloid staminodes (spring flowering); velvety dark red, buds and underside of sepals with light grey hairs, 7.5-8 × 4-4.2 cm, elliptic, overlapping, with slightly wavy margins, rounded at tip but with a distinct apiculus, long-pointed. Staminodes 2-4 cm, velvety dark red, with light grey hairs on underside. Stamens yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 1.5-2 m, stems purple when young. Lvs simple and divided, with 3-5 lflets, green when young maturing to mid-green; margins entire. FL: Late May-July (outdoors) on previous year's growth, sometimes August (single flowers). Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020
To commemorate the King of Poland, Jan III Sobieski, commander in the victorious battle with the Turks at Vienna in 1683.
'Katelynn' Viorna Group
Parentage: crispa (s) × 'Madame Julia Correvon'
H: G.W. Vann (2014), N: G.W. Vann (2020), REG: G.W. Vann (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single, broadly bellshaped, open with widely reflexed tips, 3.5 cm across, nodding or drooping, not scented. Sepals 4; inside of sepals pink with cream centrally, outside of sepals pink becoming lighter at the base with darker ribs; 3 × 1.5-2 cm; touching at base, tips with wavy (crispate) margins, widely recurved and twisting; staminodes yellow, stamens filaments white, anthers yellow. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2 m.
Lvs divided into 5-7 leaflets, margins entire, reddish green when young maturing to midgreen. FL: May-August (outdoors), very floriferous over a long season.
'Kathleen Fyffe' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: Chance seedling, parentage unknown
S: C. W. Welch (2019), R: C.W. Welch, N: C. W. Welch (2019), REG: C.W. Welch (2019)
Fls single, flat or flattish, 16 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly. Sepals 6, dark purple (79A), bar slightly darker in tone, 7.25 × 4.5 cm, thick and fleshy, with gaps between. Staminodes yellow, 1.5 cm.
'Kerttu' Late Large-flowered Group
Parentage: 'Reetta Lotta' (s) × 'Maria Cornelia'
S: J. Räsänen (2011), G: J. Räsänen (2013), N: J. Räsänen (2013), REG: J. Räsänen (2020)
Fls single, flat or flattish, 9-11 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, not scented. Sepals 5-6; inside dark blue-purple, outside light purple with a greenish purple stripe and grey indumentum, 4.5-5 × 3.5-4 cm, broadly elliptic to slightly obovate, slightly overlapping with margins often bent backwards, rounded to acute at tip, tip slightly recurved. Filaments yellowish white; connectives dark violet; anthers violet. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m, stems greenish brown when young, maturing to brown, with grey indumentum. Lvs pinnate, with 5-7 lflets, margins entire, green maturing to dark green. FL: AugustOctober on current year's growth.
'Lady Ann' Early Large-flowered Group
S: C. W. Welch, R: C. W. Welch, N: C. W. Welch (2019), REG: C. W. Welch (2019)
Fls single, flat or flattish, diameter? Sepals 8, 9 cm long, 4 cm wide, thick and fleshy, blunt, overlapping, brilliant violet (86D), with bar vivid purple (87B). Staminodes 25 mm long, strong violet (86B), with pale greenish yellow (160C) towards base. Stamens deep purplish red (61A), with cream (160?) towards base. Climber with stems to 2.4 m, moderate violet (86A), becoming moderate purple (79D) at maturity. Leaves entire, mid-green (146B). Flowering May-June, on current year's growth.
'Little Eva' Viticella Group
Parentage: 'Hagley Hybrid' (s) × 'Little Nell'
H: G.W. Vann (2014), N: G.W. Vann (2019), REG: G.W. Vann (2019)
Fls single, flat or flattish, 10 cm across, semi-nodding initially then forward facing, terminal and bi-axillary flowers, not scented. Sepals 4, broadly elliptic, touching; pale lilac pink with white bar, base cuneate with slightly wavy margins, tip rounded and usually recurved, apex somewhat acute to occasionally apiculate. Staminodes present, yellow; stamens numerous; filaments yellow green, tinged violet at tip; anthers red; styles yellow green; stigmas pale yellow. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m. Lvs pinnate, with 5-7 lflets, reddish green when young, maturing mid-green; margins entire; tip acute. FL: June-July (outdoor) on current year's growth. Hardy to USDA zones 6-9. Older anthers turn dark, but anthers centrally are red and this trait is consistent with the seed-parent, instead of the pollen parent. Seed-heads standard Viticella type.
'Long Tall Sally' Viorna Group
Parentage: crispa hybrid (s)
S: R. Hodson (2017), G: R. Hodson (2018), N: R. Hodson (2019), I: Hawthornes Nursery (2020), REG: R. Hodson (2019)
Fls single, narrowly tubular bell-shaped, nodding or drooping. Pedicels yellow-green, flushed reddish violet at base of flower. Sepals 4; lilac-purple at base, fading to creamy white at tips, 4 × 1.5cm, narrowly triangular, partially fused along length with tips free and recurved. Filaments creamy-white. Seedheads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2m. Lvs simple, margins entire, green maturing to mid-green. FL: June to September on current year's growth.
'Maiden's Dream'
Parentage: 'Dawn' (s) × 'Dorothy Tolver'
H: T. Sano (2008), R: F. Murota, G: F. Murota (2017), N: F. Murota (2020), REG: T. Sano & F. Murota (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single flat or flattish, 11.516.2 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, not scented. Sepals 6-10; inside of sepals very light purple (85C) with light yellow-green (154D) bar; outside of sepals light violet (91B) with light yellow-green (144D) bar, bar colour becoming pinkish and similar to sepal colouration over time. Sepals 5.5-8.0 × 2.84.3 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, overlapping at base (in very mature flowers sepals with gaps between and touching at base only), long-pointed, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens numerous; filaments pale yellow-green (4D); connectives and anthers greyish purplish red (N77B); pollen yellow-white. Pistils yellow-white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 0.36 m, dark reddish orange (173A) when young maturing to moderate orange-yellow (165C), with pale yellow-green (4D) hairs when young. Lvs ternate, lanceolate, moderate yellowish green (139B) maturing to greyish olive-green (NN137D), with pale yellow-green (4D) hairs on underside, margins entire. FL: April-May, (outdoors) on previous year's then current year's growth. Hardy to USDA zones 9a-9b.
When this clematis starts to flower the sepals are slightly pinkish and the center of the flower has a faint yellow colour. The contrast of these colours is reminiscent of a pure maiden's dream.
'Matias Nestori' Late Large-flowered Group
Parentage: 'Lyydia' (s) × 'Maria Cornelia'
S: J. Räsänen (2011), G: J. Räsänen (2013), N: J. Räsänen (2013), REG: J. Räsänen (2020)
Fls single, flat or flattish, 12-15cm across, upward- or outward-facing, not scented. Sepals 4-6; inside dark violet over a paler ground with a slightly reddish bar, outside very pale violet to white becoming violet at margins, with grey indumentum; 5-6 × 4-4.5cm, broadly elliptic to obovate, overlapping, margins very slightly wavy, entire in lower half becoming notched to slightly crenate in distal parts, tip acute to occasionally cuspidate, tip slightly recurved. Filaments yellowish white; connectives dark violet; anthers dark violet, stigmas purplish red. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-2.5m, green maturing reddish brown, with grey indumentum. Lvs ternate, occasionally 7 lflets, green, underside of leaves with grey hairs, margins entire. FL: July-October on current year's growth.
'Merja' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: 'Huvi' (s) × 'Lyydia'
S: J. Räsänen (2011), G: J. Räsänen (2013), N: A. Myyry (2015), REG: J. Räsänen (2020)
Fls single, flat or flattish, 10-17cm across, upward- or outward-facing, not scented. Sepals 6-7; inside white with a pale reddish pink bar, outside white with a grey indumentum, 5-8.5 × 2.5-4cm, elliptic, overlapping, with slightly wavy margins, tip acute. Filaments yellowish white becoming violet at tip; connectives dark violet; anthers violet; pollen white; stigmas creamy white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 1.52m, green maturing reddish brown, with grey indumentum. Lvs pinnate, with 3-5 lflets, green maturing dark green with grey hairs on underside, margins entire. FL: July-October on previous season's and current year's growth (in Finland, the old growth sometimes remains over the winter and flowering begins in June).
'Misugi Village' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: 'Fujimusume' (s) × 'Westerplatte'
H: T. Sano (2009), G: T. Sano (2017), N: T. Sano (2020), REG: T. Sano (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 10-14 cm across, upward- or outwardfacing, not scented. Sepals 6; inside and outside of sepals pinkish white (N155B) with a bold light yellow-green (145D) bar that becomes pinkish white over time; 5.0-7.2 × 3.1-4.3 cm, broadly elliptic, thick and fleshy, overlapping, tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens numerous; filaments greenish white (157D); anthers light yellowish pink (159A). Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 0.8 m, stems dark reddish orange (173A) when young becoming yellowish white (156D), with pale yellow-green (4D) hairs. Lvs ternate, lanceolate, margins entire, moderate olivegreen (137B) with brilliant yellow-green (150B) margins when young, maturing to greyish olive-green (NN137D), underside slightly hairy. FL: May-June (outdoors) on previous year's then current year's growth. Hardy to USDA zones 9a-9b.
'Misugi Village' was the name of the Registrant's hometown, located at the western end of the central part of Mie prefecture, bordering the Nara prefecture in Japan. It is surrounded by 'beautiful cedar' forests and is the headwater point of the Kumozu River. However, 'Misugi Village' was renamed 'Misugi Town' in 2006, although the surrounding landscape remains unchanged. “This whitish clematis, which blooms with the contrasting yellowgreen against darker green leaves always reminds me of my hometown” (Takeo Sano, 10/08/21). Before flowering the leaf margins turn a brilliant yellow-green, contrasting with the darker olive-green of the leaf blade and the white flowers. After flowering, the leaves regain their original olive-green colouration.
'Mother Hubbard's Diamond' Viorna Group
Parentage: Chance seedling; parentage unknown
S: R. Hodson (2014), G: R. Hodson (2016), N: R. Hodson (2020), I: Hawthornes Clematis Nursery (2020), REG: R. Hodson (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single, narrowly bellshaped, nodding or drooping, borne singly in axils. Sepals 4; outside of sepals creamy white flushed very light pink at base; inside of sepals greenish white at base becoming creamy white and flushed pink at tip, 4 × 3 cm, broadly lanceolate, touching in lower third of sepal with pointed tip recurved. Filaments and anthers creamy white. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 3 m. Lvs simple, green maturing to dark green, margins entire. FL: June-September (outdoors) on previous season's growth.
'My Beauty' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.
H: S. Marczyński (2013), G: S. Marczyński (2016), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single to semi-double flat or flattish, 12-16 cm across, upwardor outward-facing, borne singly in axils, not scented; pedicels purple-red. Sepals 8, with up to 30 petaloid staminodes; dark red-purple along central bar becoming purple then light violet towards margins, underside of sepals grey-purple with a greenish bar, 7.5-8 × 4-4.2 cm, elliptic, overlapping, wavy-margined, tip acute (sometimes rounded) with apiculate apex, longpointed. Staminodes 2-7 cm, purple-red along central bar becoming purple then light violet towards margins, elliptic, not overlapping at base. Stamens numerous; filaments creamy white becoming red-purple towards tip; connectives and anthers purple. Stigma and styles creamy white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 1.5-2 m, purple when young. Lvs simple and divided, with 3-5 leaflets, green when young maturing to mid-green; margins entire, petiole purple-red. FL: Late May-July (outdoors), on previous year's growth. Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020.
'Pink Surprise' Atragene Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.
H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2016), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, double, broadly bellshaped, open, 7-8 cm across, borne singly in axils, not scented; pedicels yellow-green. Sepals 4, staminoides 30-34; sepals mottled pale red-purple over a creamy pink ground, with darker red-purple margins; 4-4.5 × 2-2.2 cm, elliptic, with gaps between, wavymargined, tip acute with cuspidate apex, long-pointed. Sepaloid staminodes 4.5 cm long, mottled pale red-purple over a creamy pink ground though centre of staminode noticeably paler, with darker red-purple margins, narrowly elliptic, wavy margined, long pointed with acute tip. Stamens creamy green. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m, stems light green when young maturing to green. Lvs divided with 3-5 leaflets, and further divided to appear semi-bipinnate, green when young maturing to mid-green; margins irregularly toothed; petiole yellow-green. FL: Late April to May through to June (outdoors) on previous season's growth. Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020.
'Purple Surprise' Atragene Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.
H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2017), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, double, broadly bellshaped, open, 8-9 cm across, borne singly in axils, not scented; pedicels purple-green. Sepals 4, staminodes 15; purple, with fine purple-grey indumentum along edge, 5-5.5 × 2 cm, elliptic, with gaps between, wavymargined, long-pointed, tip acute. Sepaloid staminodes 5 cm long, purple, innermost staminodes pale purple-white, with fine purplegrey indumentum along edge, narrowly elliptic, overlapping, wavy-margined, long-pointed, tip acute; stamens creamy green; seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m; stems yellow-green when young maturing to mid-green. Lvs divided with 3-5 lflets, and further divided to appear semi-bipinnate, green when young maturing to mid-green; margins irregularly toothed; petiole green. FL: Late April to May (outdoors) through to August on previous season's growth. Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020.
'Rainbow' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: 'Will Goodwin' (s) × 'Misayo'
H: T. Sano (2009), G: T. Sano (2017), N: T. Sano (2020), REG: T. Sano (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 10.2-13.2 cm across, upward- or outwardfacing, slightly scented. Sepals 6-8; inside of sepals purple-blue with a wide light reddish purple bar, both the sepals and bar become light purple with age and the bar becomes narrower; outside of sepals purple-blue with a pale yellow bar. Sepals 5.1-6.6 × 2.4-3.5 cm, elliptic to broadly elliptic, overlapping (in very mature flowers sepals with gaps between and touching at base only), with slightly wavy margins, long-pointed to occasionally blunt, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens numerous, filaments light greenish yellow (4B); connectives and anthers dark red (187B), pollen pale creamy yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 0.9 m, moderate yellowish pink (N170C) when young maturing to bluish white (N155A), with pale yellow-green (4D) hairs. Lvs ternate, lanceolate, with pale yellow-green (4D) hairs on underside, moderate olive-green (137B) when young, maturing to greyish olive-green (NN137A); margins entire. FL: April-May, (outdoors) on previous year's then current year's growth. Hardy to USDA zones 9a-9b. When this clematis first flowers the centre is a greenish yellow colour, and the bars are bold and approximately blue. The bars and sepals change slowly from purple to light purple. As a result of these processes, the sepals present almost seven colours of “the rainbow”. The cultivar produces many flowers.
'Ronkaalan Helmi' Late Large-flowered Group
Parentage: 'Hagley Hybrid' (s) × 'Venosa Violacea'
S: J. Räsänen (2011), G: J. Räsänen (2016), N: J. Räsänen (2018), REG: J. Räsänen (2020)
Fls single, flat or flattish, 15-16cm across, upward- or outward-facing, not scented. Sepals (5)-6-(7); pale pink over a paler ground, with a broad vivid reddish purple bar becoming slightly paler towards tip, margins finely edged in reddish purple (N74B), outside of sepals minutely hairy, 7.5 × 3.5cm, elliptic, overlapping, long-pointed, tip acute and slightly recurved. Filaments white or slightly yellowish white; connectives dark violet; anthers violet; pollen white; stigmas creamy white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, minutely hairy stems up to 3m. Lvs simple or divided with 1-3 lflets, green maturing to midgreen; margins entire. FL: July-October on current year's growth.
Royal Cascade' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: unknown; chance seedling
R: F. Wein Sr (2000), G: F. Wein Sr (2003), N: R. Wein (2019), I: Clearview
Horticultural Products Inc. (2020), REG: Clearview Horticultural Products Inc. (2019)
Fls single flat or flattish, 15-22 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly in axils, not scented. Sepals 8; vibrant purple with red tones, maturing to a lighter bar with dark edges, 7.5-11 × 3-6 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, overlapping to halfway, margins slightly wavy, long-pointed. Staminodes absent; filaments light redpink; anthers darker red-purple. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous woody climber, with stems up to 2 m; light reddish green when young, maturing to brown. Leaves ternate, margins entire, mid-green when young, maturing green. Stems, underside of leaves and outside of sepals all downy, indumentum white. FL: May – October; produced on both previous season's growth and on current year's growth. Hardy to USDA Zone 4.
'Sal' Late Large-flowered Group
Parentage: 'Utopia' (s) × 'Mikelite'
H: G.W. Vann (2015), N: G.W. Vann (2020), REG: G.W. Vann (2020)
Fls Hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 11.5-12.5 cm across, outward facing, with bi-axillary and terminal flowers, not scented. Sepals 6; star-shaped, blue over a pale ground, base of tepals very pale blue to white centrally, shading to blue towards margins and tips; back of tepals light blue centrally becoming darker towards margin, with dark ribs. Tepal dimensions 6 × 3.5 cm. Sepals narrowly elliptic, touching, long pointed. Staminodes dark purple; Stamen filaments dark purple; anthers purple-black. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2 m. Both young and mature stems green in colour. Lvs divided into 3 leaflets; margins entire; young leaves green maturing to mid-green. FL: May-June, outdoors. Hardy, 6-9 USDA.
'Snow Storm' Late Large-flowered Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.
H: S. Marczyński (2013), G: S. Marczyński (2016), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 13-18 cm across, upward- or outwardfacing, borne singly in axils, not scented, flowers very profusely; pedicels red-green to green. Sepals 6; white, 5-6 × 3.5-4 cm, elliptic, overlapping, wavy-margined, tip acute with cuspidate apex, long pointed. Staminodes absent. Stamens numerous; filaments white; connectives and anthers pale yellow. Styles and stigmas white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m, stems purple when young. Lvs simple and divided into 3-5 leaflets, green when young maturing to mid-green; margins entire, petiole reddish purple. FL: Late June-July (outdoors) on current year's growth. Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020.
'The Heroes of Warsaw' Early Large-flowered Group
Parentage: Tetraploid of 'Warszawska Nike'
S: S. Marczyński, A. Majewska-Sawka, A. Kunicka (2010), G: S. Marczyński (2012), N: S. Marczyński (2019), I: Clematis Zródło Dobrych Pnāczy (2020), REG: S. Marczyński (2019)
Fls single, flat or flattish, 10-14 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly in axils, not scented. Sepals 5-6; red-violet to dark purple-violet with reddish shading on bar, outside silvery, 5-7 × 3-4.5cm, ribbed, broadly elliptic, overlapping, wavymargined to occasionally jagged at rounded apex margin. Staminodes absent. Filaments white; connectives yellow; anthers yellow. Seed-heads not persistent. Woody deciduous climber, with stems to 2.5-3m, stems light green when young, maturing to dark green. Lvs simple or ternate, irregularly toothed, with wavy margins, tip acute, green, maturing dark green. FL: June to midAugust, on previous season's and on current year's growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 18/11/2019
The name refers to the original parent Clematis 'Warszawska Nike'. The monument in Warsaw, “Warszawska Nike”, commemorates The Heroes of Warsaw 1939-1945: civillians and soldiers who fought the German invasion of September 1939 and the subsequent German occupation. This new variety is tetraploid Clematis 'Warszawska Nike'.
'Tutti Frutti' Viorna Group
Parentage: 'Sophie' (s)
S: R. Hodson (2017), G: R. Hodson (2018), N: R. Hodson (2019), I: Hawthornes Nursery (2020), REG: R. Hodson (2019)
Fls single, broadly bell-shaped, deeply ridged, nodding or drooping. Sepals 4; purple with distinct creamy white margins, margins slightly and irregularly wavy in distal parts, sepals triangular, fused in basal half, tip recurved, 4 × 2cm. Filaments creamy white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2m. Lvs simple, margins entire, green maturing to mid-green. FL: June to September on current year's growth.
'Violet Surprise' Atragene Group
Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.
H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2017), N: S. Marczyński (2020), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2021), REG: S. Marczyński (2020)
Fls hermaphrodite, double, broadly bellshaped, open, 8-10 cm across, borne singly in axils, not scented; pedicels purple-green to green. Sepals 4, staminodes 33; dark violet with a pale grey indumentum on the outside of the sepals; 5.5-6 × 2-2.2 cm, sepals elliptic, with gaps between, wavymargined, long-pointed, tip acute with apiculate apex, edges of sepals curling back at tip. Sepaloid staminodes 5 cm long, dark violet with a pale grey indumentum on the outside, narrowly elliptic, overlapping, wavy-margined, long-pointed with acute tip. Stamens few, creamy green. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m, stems light green when young maturing to green. Lvs divided with 3-5 lflets, and further divided to appear semi-bipinnate, green when young maturing to mid-green; margins irregularly toothed. FL: Late April to May through to July and August (outdoors) on previous season's growth. Hardy: USDA Zones 4-9.
Published refs: Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnāczy Oferta 2021 – 12/11/2020.
