The British Clematis Society Journal 2024

The Clematis

The Journal of the British Clematis Society

Jean Caldwell Strawberry Splash

Clematis crispa

Section 1 Your Society

Welcome to The Clematis, 2024–25 edition

Ron Kirkman Chair of the BCS

2024 has been quite a year for The Society with a Special General Meeting called in January and the Annual General Meeting in April when all the, then, committee members stood down. These events have been reported elsewhere, so I shall not dwell on them here.

In April we elected a new committee of 9 members but still have one vacancy. We are committed to ensuring that The Society will survive and continue to provide the best available information to its members and the general gardening community.

However, we appreciate that we need to move forward, so within The Committee we set up a forum of 5 members to work out how we are going to move forward including:

• Revising the website and making more use of it.

• Revising our membership structure with the possibility of a tiered membership.

• Making more use of the internet.

• Looking into how other societies successfully work.

• etc etc

We have produced the Journal, as promised and, because of the time it will take to implement the changes we will need to make, we will also produce one next year. However, that may well be the last paper issue, though we do have a suggestion that members who are happy to receive an online version would pay a lower membership fee.

If you have any comment to make about these and any other BCS matters please let us know.

We will continue to publish regular newsletters/bulletins; however, these will be online only. So, members without an email address should endeavour to find a friend or family member to receive them on their behalf.

Now for something completely different! Since moving to ‘Moorfield Hamlet’, 3 years ago, I have started a collection of Clematis koreana. I attach photographs of my latest 2 additions C. koreana ‘Sir Edward Elgar’ and C. koreana ‘Purple Rain’. Also, I am still searching for C. koreana lutea and C. koreana ‘Stephanie’. If any member could help me source either or both of these elusive clematis it would be greatly appreciated.

So, for now, I hope that you enjoy this edition of the Journal and let me wish you a Happy Christmas and a very good gardening year in 2025.

C. koreana ‘Sir Edward Elgar’

C. koreana ‘Purple Rain’

The BCS during 2024: review of the year

Aidan Armitage, Hon. Secretary

It seems an understatement to say that this has been a difficult year for The Society, but the good news is that we have weathered the storm and have emerged stronger than we have been for a long time.

Since the AGM in April, we now have a fully functioning committee with officers and trustees, and we have met regularly via on-line Zoom meetings every month since April.

Against a background of falling membership numbers and lack of volunteers for The Executive Committee, the previous committee members put forward a motion to dissolve The Society at a special annual general meeting in January. The motion, however, failed to achieve the necessary two thirds majority required. The previous committee members had done sterling work in loyally keeping The Society going for many years under adverse conditions, with a committee consisting of members who had served long tenures in post because of a lack of new volunteers coming forward. They now felt that they could no longer continue to do this indefinitely and felt they had no choice but to dissolve The Society.

The proposal to dissolve The Society in turn prompted a number of members into action because they felt passionately that the role played by The BCS in promoting and encouraging the cultivation of clematis and disseminating knowledge of clematis was too valuable to lose. Nominations for a full committee, including officers and members followed, and this was in due course confirmed by members attending the on-line held AGM. The new committee in turn want to thank the previous committee for all the hard work and time that they had invested to keep The Society running for many years.

The BCS is not alone in facing a falling membership. According to the Royal Horticultural Society this is a common problem amongst many plant societies. The new committee realises that The Society must embrace new ideas and ways of organising and working in order to survive and progress. We have been looking at our membership model to see if this can be improved to attract and engage members. We recognise that our website is now quite old and a bit tired and so we have been looking at different plant society websites to see how we can improve it.

We are in regular contact with the RHS and hope, in the future, that The Society will be able to resume attendance and participation in RHS events and workshops as well as other flower shows. This will probably be on a small scale at first.

Our Newsletters produced in Spring, Summer and Autumn continue to be the way we regularly communicate with members. These are now sent out to members only by email so it is important that you give us an email address to receive information. Please continue

to use the newsletter to communicate with fellow members and send in any items of interest, clematis wise, including photos etc and how things have been doing in your garden. The newsletter contact details are in the journal. The next newsletter will be produced in March 2025.

The BCS Midlands Group continues to be active with garden visits and thanks as always to Laurie Jones for his hard work. Please see their report in the journal. It is hoped that we can get the other regional groups up and running before too long.

Please do let us know of any changes to your contact details or bank details as it makes life much easier.

If you have any ideas about how to improve The Society, please do let us know. As always, we can only grow and go forward with the support and involvement of you the members.

Date of and arrangements for the AGM 2025

The Annual General Meeting will be held via a zoom link on Saturday 26th of April beginning at 4.30 pm UK time. Richard Hodson of Hawthornes Nursery will also give a presentation on herbaceous clematis. For further details about Richard and Hawthornes Nursery please see the inside front cover of this Journal. Full details and papers for the AGM will be sent out in the March newsletter.

Renewing your membership for 2025

Annual memberships are due for renewal on the 1st of January each year.

Ways to do this

ų By cheque addressed to the British Clematis Society and sent to the Membership Secretary at the address below.

ų By PayPal via the British Clematis Society Website www.britishclematis.org.uk

ų 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.

For more information

Go to our website at www.britishclematis.org.uk

Or contact

BCS Membership

Adswood, Townfield Lane, Mollington, Cheshire CH1 6LB

Telephone: 01244 851327

Email: keneblack4@gmail.com.

Who does what in the BCS 2024–25

Chair

Ron Kirkman

Email: kron648@gmail.com

Hon. Treasurer

Peter Culliney

Email: prculliney@gmail.com

Hon. Secretary

Aidan Armitage

Email: secretary@britishclematis.org.uk

Membership Secretary

Ken Black

Adswood, Townfield Lane, Mollington, Cheshire CH1 6LB

Telephone: 01244 851327

Email: keneblack4@gmail.com

Newsletter Editor

Ken Black

Adswood, Townfield Lane, Mollington, Cheshire CH1 6LB

Telephone: 01244 851327

Email: keneblack4@gmail.com

Website and Internet

Help Desk

Steve Christmas

Telephone: 01264 889735

Email: stevechristmas1@gmail.com

Speakers' Panel

Everett Leeds

Telephone: 01737 247399

Email: everettleeds@gmail.com

Slide librarian

Ken Woolfenden

Telephone: 01992 636524

Email: ken@woolfenden.org

Midlands Group contact:

Laurie Jones

Telephone: 01527 892650 or 07551 910861

Email: lcj5243@yahoo.co.uk

Other Committee Members

Alison Smith

Clive Tolley

Emma Coyle

Bethan Charles

BCS financial report for 2024

Peter Culliney, Honorary Treasurer

Changing personnel

Following the election of the new officers at the AGM, I shared a brief handover of available finance documents with Peter Hargreaves the outgoing Treasurer. Since being appointed my first and major task was to formally update all the Society associated accounts for the new appointees/signatories and advise those standing down who were previously in authority.

The current account (Lloyds Bank) changes were completed using its on-line process. The second is our investment account, which is with the United Trust Bank. The Charity Commission registration had to be updated for the new officers and Trustees before the HMRC tax account could be brought up to date.

Gift Aid

The Tax account changes were recognised in late October, and now enables the Gift Aid claim to go ahead. In preparation for the Gift Aid submission the members declarations on file were reviewed and missing records identified. Working with the Membership Secretary, we have secured confirmation from members to complete our records as required by HMRC.

Gift Aid is a valuable additional source of income to a small society, and we expect to claim over £500 this year. I would encourage any eligible tax paying members who have not lodged a declaration with the Society to make the effort to do so. This can now be done painlessly via email contact the Membership Secretary.

PayPal

There is an ongoing frustrating issue associated with the handover of the Society PayPal account. Creative solutions are being worked on to resolve this before subscriptions are due.

Current finances

The Society finances for 2023 were reported in April 2024 by the previous Treasurer, Peter Hargreaves, and approved at the Annual General Meeting. They showed a deficit of £1,741 for the year driven by one-off decisions made by the previous Executive Committee. The underlying position for the year was break even.

My forecast for the 2024 end of year accounts is for a neutral to small negative position, depending on the size of the final Gift Aid claim and the production and mailing costs of the Journal. The actual financial results for 2024 will be reported in the first quarter of 2025 ahead of the AGM.

Membership Report 2024

Ken Black, Membership Secretary

Membership Numbers October 2024

Despite 2024 being a difficult and uncertain year for the Society, and members having been advised by the previous committee not to renew their memberships in case the Society folded, I am pleased to report that we still have 203 members. For the last few years, we appear to have lost about 30 members per year, some through ill health. This year the loss was around 60 people, which although regrettable, is fewer than I had feared, and something for us to build on.

This year’s journal, acknowledgements and newsletters

Ken Black, Editor

The Journal

Since Brian Collingwood retired from producing the Annual Journal, Julian Noble and I have taken it in turns to do so, and this year it is my turn again. One of the fears of agreeing to the role of editor is the thought of not being able to source enough interesting articles to include. As you will see, however, any such fears have been unfounded this year. In addition to ”the regulars” whom I always rely upon, many new contributors have put pen to paper. The result, I think, is a fascinating collection of clematis related articles which I hope that you will all find both interesting and informative. Have a lovely Christmas and New Year and enjoy your annual Winter reading. The image at the end of the Membership Report is of Clematis ‘Aotearoa’ which is the Māori name for New Zealand. It translates as ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’.

Acknowledgements

My thanks to all our authors for such an interesting range of information and views. The Journal could not be produced without a great deal of help from many people especially our proofreaders: Pat Tolley, Pauline Jones, Bethan Charles, Alison Smith, Emma Coyle, Peter Culliney and Julian Noble.

Designed by The Graphic Design House (www.tgdh.co.uk)

Printed by Bishops Printers (www.bishops.co.uk)

The Newsletters

This year newsletters were distributed in March, June and September, and will be again during the same months next year. They will be by email only, so if you don’t have access to email, please nominate someone to whom we can send them on your behalf. Although newsletters are a useful way for the Executive Committee to keep you informed about developments, they are not solely for such communications and should also include items/issues/news that you wish to share with other members. The odd photo would not come amiss either.

So, if any of you have items that you would like to include, please let me have them. Unless it is liable to create offence, it will be printed as written. There will be no censorship. Go on, get your pens out!

The front cover Clematis ‘Sylvia Denny’

A painting by Margaret Parker

Ron Kirkman

Vince Denny was a remarkable man, he served in WW2, he was the Stationmaster at Castleton Railway Station near Rochdale, and with his wife, Sylvia, he ran ‘Denny’s Clematis Nursery’ on land at the rear their house in Broughton, near Preston. He was a self-taught botanist, doing lots of research and writing many articles. He was particularly interested in the viticellas, texensis and koreanas, he raised many wonderful clematis, including C. ‘Sylvia Denny’, C. montana ‘Broughton Star’, C. koreana ‘Broughton Bride’, C. ‘Sandra Denny’, C. ‘Helen Cropper’, C. ‘Vanessa’ and many more.

I first met Vince in 1992, when, having recently joined the BCS, I was on a quest to visit all the nurseries on Society’s Specialist Nursery List. I initially bought two plants of C. montana ‘Broughton Star’, but whilst showing me round the nursery he gave me at least half a dozen other cuttings and seedlings, some of which I still have today. Vince and I got on very well and that visit was the start of a great friendship that was to last until he, sadly, died in 2001.

Vince was a founder member of the BCS and was a committee member from the start. When he stood down in 1996 he recommended to the committee that I should take his place. This I did and ended up as Chairman from 2001 to 2004.

Broughton Bride

In the late nineteen nineties, botanical artist, Margaret Parker joined The Society and I was very impressed with some of her work. This was several months before Vince’s 80th Birthday in June 1998. One day, it occurred to me that it would be a wonderful idea if we could commission Margaret to paint two of the Denny’s most famous clematis, C. ‘Sylvia Denny’ and C. montana ‘Broughton Star’, to be presented to Vince on his birthday. However, when I put it to The Committee it was rejected on the grounds of the cost and not wanting to create a precedent that we would have to do something similar for every 80-year-old in the BCS.

Mike Brown and I were dismayed. We came up with a plan to invite Vince’s many friends within the society to make donations so that we could commission the paintings. We needn’t have worried because the money raised was far more than needed to commission the paintings, so we were able to return all amounts over £5 and also buy Vince an illuminated slide viewer.

Unfortunately, because of the delay, the paintings were not ready for Vince’s birthday.

Shortly afterwards, however, Vince and Sylvia were very surprised and shocked when a party of about 20 people, including artist Margaret Parker arrived, unannounced, at their nursery.

After I made a short speech Margaret Parker presented Vince with the painting of ‘Broughton Star’ and I’m not sure if it was Margaret or Mike Brown who presented ‘Sylvia Denny’ to Sylvia. At this point Vince became quite emotional and couldn’t stop the tears rolling down his cheeks. Vanessa Hulbert then presented Vince with the slide viewer. I’m sure Mike will agree that this was one of the best things we did in the BCS.

So here we are now, many years later, after Sylvia celebrated her 101st birthday, with ‘Sylvia Denny’ on the front cover of this year’s Journal.

Broughton Star

C. ‘Denny’s Double’

Ron and Everett’s birthday bash

Peter Culliney and Emma Coyle

On the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of June 2024 the opportunity was taken to celebrate some big birthdays and to visit RHS Bridgewater Garden. Both days were blessed with surprising, brilliant sunshine replacing the forecast of gloom. Each day offered a good opportunity for some of the new committee and their partners to meet one another in person for the first time, rather than by Zoom video call, and to meet other longstanding BCS members.

The Birthday Boys celebrating their 85th birthdays were the current Chairman of the British Clematis Society, Ron Kirkman and Clematis Master and former Chairman, Everett Leeds.

Saturday

On the Saturday, Ron and his partner Kath hosted a garden party at their house in High Crompton near Oldham, complete with a clematis birthday cake. Ron and Everett both have a cutting from the original Clematis montana ‘Wilsonii’ which is growing at Hergest Croft Botanical Garden in Herefordshire. Ron’s was still in flower and made a fitting, and extremely fragrant, backdrop to the event. In the evening some of the party continued the celebrations by dining out together at a local hostelry. Those in attendance included Everett and Carol Leeds, Sandra and Dave Cropper, Harry Caddick, Sue Reade, Peter and Katrin McClure. Peter and Anne-Marie Culliney, Emma Coyle

Ron and Everett

Clematis montana ‘Wilsonii’

and her mother Sue, Ron Kirkman and Kath Etherden.

Sunday

On the Sunday we met at RHS Bridgewater, a first visit for many of us to this new and developing garden which is the biggest project undertaken by the RHS. We enjoyed a picnic provided by Kath and her cool bag, including more delicious clematis cake! The party included Everett and Carol Leeds, Harry Caddick, Peter and Katrin McClure, Peter and Anne-Marie Culliney, Emma Coyle, Ken and Helen Black, Clive and Pat Tolley, Ron Kirkman and Kath.

Bridgewater - a Taster

The RHS development of the Bridgewater Garden has been a major undertaking (154acres). Maybe you saw the BBC documentary on its construction and Covid delays but for those of you that haven’t visited yet, you must put it on your list! The garden first opened in May 2021 and the early planting is starting to fill out nicely in many areas. There is a lot to see, and here is a taster.

The most memorable features are the two walled gardens with walls up to 14 feet high offering shelter and fabulous growing space for trained fruit trees and climbers including clematis. In my opinion, the best of these is The Paradise Garden, with its magnificent Fruit and Mediterranean Houses leaning grandly against the high walls and a large lily pond, fed by rills. This large, sheltered space is home to many border plants and shrubs with climbers trained on the walls or on large obelisks.

Cream Teas

Walled Garden

The estate has plenty of walks through pleasant woodland, beside feature lakes. One development starting to shine is the Chinese Streamside Garden. From its source, the Ellesmere Lake, a cascade surrounded by rock features feeds a small stream gently meandering through plantings of marginals past a pagoda. There is much more planned for this feature in conjunction with the Chinese Community in Manchester. As you will see in the photograph there is already a magnificent colourful display of primulas and other complimentary plantings.

The garden benefits from all the visitor facilities expected of an RHS garden. The exit takes you to the terrace café at the visitor centre beside a lake. There we left this beautiful garden, but not before the obligatory group photo. Say “Cheese everyone”.

The Streamside Garden Pagoda

The Sunday Group: from left to right - Ken Black. Pat Tolley, Ron Kirkman, Clive Tolley, Carol Leeds, (unfortunately obscured at the back) Harry Caddick, Everett Leeds, Anne Marie Culliney, Kathrin McClure, Helen Black, Peter Culliney, Kath Etherden, Peter McClure, Emma Coyle

Report from the Midlands Group

Laurie Jones

This year has been overshadowed by the death of Charne Griffiths who, together with Josie Hulbert, had for many years been the life blood of the Group. Charne passed away in June this year following her battle with cancer. For the last few months, I have taken the lead in organising our events and visits, some of which feature in the next article. Tributes to Charne have also been included under a separate heading. Condolences from the whole Midlands Group have been sent to Mike and his family.

The BCS Midlands Group activities 2024

Laurie Jones

In the March Newsletter we listed this year’s planned activities for the Group, and we also invited other members to attend if they so wished. Here is a synopsis of some of those activities.

April

We commenced the year with an indoor meeting in April at Fladbury Village Hall with a talk entitled’ Floyd on Clematis’ given by Marcel Floyd.

Floyd on Clematis

Members brought spare plants for a plant exchange, and they also had the opportunity to purchase plants including clematis.

The talk was wide ranging covering Marcel’s favourite plants which he displayed, with his projector, pruning, including the Chelsea chop, planting clematis, pests, and plant associations. He suggested that by planting three different clematis, that grew to different heights it could completely cover an obelisk with flowers getting over the problem of established clematis having few blooms at low level.

Marcel also suggested that The Society might consider keeping a directory of old clematis that are not available commercially and taking cuttings so they are available for the future. With regards to pest control he suggested using yellow ladybirds that eat mildew, the only problem is they live in Australia. If you have mice damage have a cat or two!

Group Photo 1

Miss Bateman

May

Our group meeting in May was a visit to Stone House Cottage, near Kidderminster plus John Massey’s private garden at Ashwood Nurseries, Kingswinford.

Stone House Cottage

The visit to Stone House Cottage Garden was well attended with over twenty members of the society. The garden consists of only one acre, but it feels much larger because of its design, and it is maintained, along with the nursery, by the owner Louisa Arbuthnott. The garden is divided into separate compartments by walls, hedges and follies. There is a vast selection of rare and unusual plants such as Crinodendron hookerianun and Crinodendron hookerianun ‘Ada Hoffman’, Akebia longeracemosa, Robiana hispida, Abelia floribunda, Deutizia longifola ‘Veitchii’ along with roses and clematis which were flowering. We were delighted to find Clematis ‘Miss Bateman’, ‘Proteus’, ‘Lasurstern’ and ‘Margaret Hunt’ in bloom.

After visiting the nursery and purchasing desirable plants we travelled to Ashwood Nurseries to view John Massey’s private garden.

Ashwood Nurseries

John’s garden is a wonderful three-acre private garden with informal borders, island beds, woodland dells, fern stumpery and a pond with cascading waterfall surrounded by a rockery with alpine plants. John showed us his latest changes to the patio and surrounding area. Although the garden was in full bloom, only a few clematis were flowering.

June

In June we visited Stockton Bury Gardens,

Proteus

Lasursten

Rockery

Leominster and Burford House Garden, Tenbury Wells.

Stockton Bury Gardens

This four-acre garden has so much imagination and is set in the heart of a working farm with medieval farm buildings. The family run garden is praised for its unusual plants, kitchen and secret garden, well planted borders, water garden and a folly grotto. The planting is sublime with large colourful borders, island beds, trees, clematis and views beyond. We had lunch beside the tithe barn.

Burford House

The gardens were designed and laid out by the late John Treasure in the 1950’s and were once home to 300 different varieties of clematis, until a period of neglect led to its decline until 2014 when “The Garden Angels” (volunteers) commenced the restoration of the gardens. When we last visited the gardens in 2018 good progress had been made but the transformation of the garden to its present state, with over 100 clematis, beautiful borders and sweeping lawns, is a real achievement.

Both the fulltime head gardener and the angels should be proud of their achievement. Many clematis were in bloom but unfortunately not labelled. However, the head gardener was on hand and provided us with the names of several plants.

If you intend to visit the garden in the future remember to collect your entrance ticket at the Nursery before entering, to save unnecessary walking.

July

Holland Farm

In July we visited two members’ wonderful gardens, Michael Griffiths, Holland

Pilu

Black Prince

Fireworks

Paul Farges (Summer Snow)

Farm and Peter and Margaret Hargreaves, Grafton Cottage, Barton-Under-Needwood, Staffordshire.

Michael Griffiths lives at Holland Farm, Barton- under- Needwood and the garden is a quarter of an acre with an additional orchard and paddock. The garden has been developed by Michael and Charne over the last seven years. It has deep borders and island beds joined together with grass footpaths. There are arches, pergolas and trellises covered with roses and clematis such as ‘Gravetye Beauty’, ‘Lavender Twirl’, ‘Black Prince’, ‘Peveril Peach (Sonnette)’, and ‘Chatsworth’.

The well-established borders contain further clematis such as ‘Pernille’, ‘Night Veil’, ‘Betty Corning’, ‘Etoile Violette’, and ‘Emilia Plater’. Daylilies, geraniums, hosta, dahlias, and some shrubs play host to clematis ‘Sweet Summer Love’, ‘White Magic’, ‘Little Nell’, and ‘Mary Rose’ providing a kaleidoscope of colour.

A small fishpond is overlooked from a terrace with trellis covered by Clematis ‘Warsaw Nike’,’ Royal Velours’ and ‘Blue Angel’. Along the fence ‘Lambton Park’, ‘John Treasure’ and ‘My Angel’ were flowering.

M Koster

Peveril Peach (Sonnette)

Group photo 2

Chatsworth

Grafton Cottage

In the afternoon we visited nearby Grafton Cottage, which is in the National Garden Scheme and open to visitors. The garden, which is crammed with plants, was created by Peter and Margeret Hargreaves who are both passionate plants – people, to create a stunning cottage garden.

Hollyhocks adorn the front and winding footpaths separate colour themed island beds and borders. There are highly scented flowers, old fashioned roses, clematis, sweet peas, phlox, lilies, salvias, scarlet monardas, heleniums, leucanthemums, chrysanthemums, sanguisorba hakusensis, astrantias, campanulas and unusual perennials.

Rustic arbours, trellises and arches are covered with Clematis ‘Tie Dye’, ‘Mary Rose’, ‘Fascination’ and roses. A stream runs through the garden linked to a small fishpond, where there is a group of Hosta in a shaded area, adjacent to topiary corner. A further water feature is situated along the path which leads to the backdoor of the cottage.

Emilia Plater

Grafton Cottage

Maria Cornelia

Mary Rose Tie Dye

Tributes to Charne Griffiths

6th September 1942 – 24th April 2024

My friendship with Charne started many years ago due to both being members of the British Clematis Society. In the days before the internet most knowledge came either from books or talking to people who had the same interests. Charne and I had a passion for Clematis; we talked a lot.

At this time the BCS did quite a lot of big name shows the Malvern Spring show Gardeners World. Volunteers manned the BCS show stand. Charne, and I tried to be on the stand the same day, we asked to have the same lunch break. Charne was a much more knowledgeable plantswoman than myself so when we were at these shows together, I was happy trailing behind her thinking to myself “oh I think I might buy one of those too” when she purchased plants. This progressed to enjoying some rather nice lunches at the shows and chats about life in general. Charne herself once said we just clicked. It was rather strange as I am an impulsive person who can talk almost nonstop and Charne was a very reserved private person. Well, I don’t know how it worked but we became very good friends.

My husband Cavan and Vanessa enjoyed visiting Charne and Michael’s gardens both in Halaston and later at Barton-underNeedwood. There were always gorgeous displays of clematis whenever we went. The Midlands Group BCS visited the gardens several times there were always a good number of members of the WMBCS wanting to visit. Charne, Michael, Jon and Abi supported and attended almost all of the MGBCS meetings. Charne was a member of the group’s committee and always gave 100% backing to our group. Charne latter became Chairperson of the main BCS society and did an excellent job in both groups.

Charne had been honest with me about the fact she had a terminal illness. We spoke on the phone and text each other regularly. She amazed me with her stoic attitude to her situation. I had hoped to meet up and have a good chat face to face but alas fate never allowed this.

Rest in peace and without pain dear friend it was a pleasure to have known you and be your friend.

Josie Hulbert

Charne Griffiths was a very gracious lady, warm, friendly and a great asset to the Society. I first met Charne as I ventured on to the committee. Many years ago in fact, I think, the first committee meeting I attended was held in her house. It was a little daunting to meet up with the famous names, but Charne and her husband Mike were most welcoming. Their garden was so full of beautiful clematis I was left feeling like a very raw beginner.

As Chair of the Society Charne guided us through, encouraging everyone with their respective roles and took on many jobs in addition to her own. Charne led the Midlands Group in developing and staffing advice stands at the Malvern Spring Show and also helped at the Society stand at the RHS Flower Show at Tatton. Charne is greatly missed by everyone who knew her.

Sue Reade

My memories of Charne are of a joyous person who was never one to complain and came to all the garden visits. When she took over from Denise MacDonald, she asked me to be her side kick. We had good and bad times together and between us we kept the BCS going. Charne worked very hard for The Society, and it was an honour and a pleasure to know her. I will miss her.

Lizzie Gibbison

In 2017 I talked to Sue Reade, The Regional Organiser for the Northern Group, about the possibility of helping within the Society. Sue agreed to talk to Charne who was the then Chair of the Society. Within days I was contacted by Charne who asked me to write some details about myself and what I thought I could bring to the Society. In no time at all I found myself occupying the post of Membership Secretary, a position which I hold to this day. My trepidation about taking on such a role was overtaken by my desire to work for Charne. She was the sort of person who inspired confidence and loyalty, and it soon became clear that she would never ask someone to do something that she was not prepared to do herself. Over the years, even after she had stepped down from the role of Chair, I had many conversations with Charne, seeking her advice about Society matters. I know that she never breached a confidence, and her advice was always worth listening to. Revered by members of the Midlands Group and greatly missed by many, her legacy remains strong. Thank you Charne.

Ken Black

C ‘Dark Eyes’

Clematis in our Gardens

Reflections on Spring

Aivars Irbe

Aivars lives in Latvia and is very knowledgeable about plants and gardens. He is a published writer and author of a large book about gardens and clematis called “Clematis and other plants in the garden”. His style of writing is very expressive and quite different to most garden writers. Editor’s comment

Reflections

Every person’s life is like a book in which each year opens new pages. They separate without noticing and you already feel that you have accumulated more and more of these pages in your life until you want to tell others, even a part of your experience, observations, and feelings. The people we met, the events we experienced and the work we did ourselves live with us. Plants glide past us with their uniqueness and splendour. One is as big as a great tree, another is very small, flat to the ground and humble, but each of them has its own place and importance in our life.

Aivars Irbe

For each of us this world of plants is as wide as we want it to be. The size of the garden does not matter. Each place has its own aura, its own flight of spirit and joy that we get because of our regular care and skill.

Each of us can open the stage curtain on the garden theatre show a little, and see the daily life of the many actors, the plants. The fascination of the small, white snowdrops in springtime as they encouragingly cry “Wake up! It’s time for everyone to show their strength and might!”

Then the graceful flowers of the clematis bloom, which have flown into the branches of the flexible shoots like beautiful butterflies. Fall in love with these plants and try to plant them in all the colours of the rainbow near you, then our earth will become more beautiful. Stressed minds will soften and joy will pour into souls, creating a celebration in the pages of your life through their daily flowers.

Let’s be happy for the theatrical performance of life, in which we ourselves are the directors, actors and gardeners around our house, our garden or the loggia outside the window. Let’s be creative and interested in beauty through the pages of the book of our life.

An old vine

Observations and experience accumulate over the years. What I thought was very necessary in the garden in the past, now seems redundant and unnecessary. It was already beautiful that the entire end of the house and the edge of the roof were overgrown with hanging spirals of wild vine (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) shoots. After the autumn frosts, their leaves burned in purple colours and were so beautiful! However, this wildly growing vine also has its “sins”. It likes to squeeze it’s young shoots into every crevice of the eaves and roof covering and then through all the attics. And so, year after year, I had to collect these shoots as partisans and eliminate them. But still the few that remained on the roof matured every year in fatness and made the gap in the eaves wider and wider. After much hesitation, the verdict was ready. Another plant should be planted in place of the wild vine, which would also be a creeper, but not so wildly vigorous. Many species and varieties of clematis were considered but the choice fell on one more seedling, which had already grown in our garden for several years, had developed a good root system and produced long shoots. A lot of land had to be dug up to clear all the roots of the old forest vine. Brand new soil was brought into the planting site and amended with the goodness of the garden’s compost pile. The planted sapling of C. x jouniana ‘Praecox’ was large enough for well-developed side shoots and a rich root system. Well, let’s see how the new plant will live up to my expectations of seeing it plump and abundantly blooming.

Jouiniana

Spring markets

The many spring tasks in the garden are starting to compete with each other, but the thoughts arise in my head as to what will be new in my garden this year. What will bloom for the first time, and what will the many annual spring markets and nurseries be able to offer?

When I get to them, I often observe how people buy plants, and how merchants know how to recommend and offer them. Each side has its own interests and wishes. Customers want to take home to their garden the best, the most beautiful and the most needed plant, the kind that no other gardener has, while the traders hope to sell during the day and reduce the quantity of plants they bring. Both desires are based on money. Spend less for one, earn more for the other. Some new gardeners buy fruit trees, not just one, two or three apple trees, but even more. And then several more plum and cherry seedlings. I thought to myself, oh horror, where will they put the big harvest of apples in 10-15 years, when the trees are big and the ground is full of fallen rosy apples. But what can I say. Everyone has their own head, thinking and wallet. First, people buy with their eyes. If the flower is in full bloom, it goes well, but next to it some perennials that just want to burst out of the ground but no one needs them yet, even though the colourful pictures convincingly testify to the splendor of these plants during their flowering periods.

Flowering pots of petunias, begonias, salvias, balsams and other different species, varieties and hybrids are arranged in rows. The eyes can tempt you - how beautiful and attractive they are. Just like that, the hand reached into the pocket for the wallet. But no let’s walk some more and look at the goods offered by other merchants.

Of course, there are also clematis ‘scions’ on the market. Often these young plants have a single shoot, grafted to the root of the shrub last winter. Still thin, tall and weak tied to a bamboo stake. They will have to be nurtured for a long time.

Further on, a merchant offers self-rooted cuttings obtained by dividing the parent plant into several parts. There is a small plant with roots and small buds at the base of last year’s shoots. From the outside, it is unattractive planting material for the uninitiated, but for those who understand, it is the best way to quickly produce a strong plant. As I said, you buy with your eyes, not realizing that the root itself, wrapped in sphagnum moss with barely visible buds, is many times more valuable and safer to grow in your garden. It has not been tamed in the winter greenhouse, but is bushy with strong roots of its own and, when planted in the garden, will quickly produce strong new shoots and be full of beautiful flowers in the second half of summer.

Another merchant offers clematis plants already in bloom. These could mostly be varieties that produce flowers on the previous year’s shoots, which are currently relatively short, with buds and some bloomed flowers at the ends of their shoots. It seems that the seedlings have just been brought from some distant foreign nursery, where they have been treated with retardants - some chemical substance that reduces growth in length and prevents the plant from stretching. This reduced height will remain only this year and then everything will continue as nature has programmed for each breed.

The choice was wide enough. For an affordable price, you can buy seedlings of different varieties of sufficiently good quality. They are young, two-year seedlings with a rich root system and 2–3 shoots tied to bamboo stakes. Easy-to-understand information about each plant was provided by a bright label with a picture and name of the variety. I have also often bought some of the colours I am interested in there and have always been satisfied with the purchase. If there is no planting place prepared in the garden at that time, I transplant it from the purchased pot into a 10-litre flower pot, attach three long bamboo stakes, or some more decorative support, and grow it for a year or two. There are several advantages to this type of cultivation:

• at any moment, the flowering plant with the entire pot can be placed in a desired and more visible place (on the terrace, near the resting place, at the entrance to the house, etc.),

• one can make sure of the correctness of the variety, the peculiarities of pruning or preservation of flowering and shoots,

• the seedling with all the shoots can be easily overwintered in the basement or under a special cover in the garden.

Well let’s buy a new variety and plant it safely in our garden. If there are doubts about the frost resistance, plant it some 10 cm deeper and cover it with coniferous branches to stop the snow and wait for the next spring. The life of the plant will continue and you will be satisfied with your purchase.

Creating new plants

In Latvia, early spring makes you wait. The air temperature is about 5–8° C, but today the weather is humid, gloomy and rainy. A few days ago I had cut off and dug up a half of my C. ‘Alionushka’. It had been growing in my garden for many years and had developed a large crown. All the numerous shoots had been tightly compressed for several years. This interfered with the normal development, flowering and overall appearance of the plant.

I filled the excavated area with good compost soil. New roots from the remaining plant will quickly grow there. You can divide the stemmed cutting to plant in the same or in a new place or you can give it to a good friend. Of course, each part of the divided plant will have visible buds on the bases of the previous year’s shoots. After planting, the damaged root system will soon begin to form new lateral roots and grow, continuing its now independent development.

In the first year it will regrow roots and by the next summer the plant will be fully prepared, be growing strongly and ready to bloom. It should be taken into account that in the spring, the underground buds develop rapidly. They stretch quickly and are very fragile, care must be taken not to break them.

It’s good that this year it’s early spring and the earth has completely let go of the freezing breath of winter frost already in March. Transplanting and dividing work should be done as early as possible, while the new underground shoots are still short. Soon they begin to rapidly stretch in length. It must be remembered that for a plant to bloom, it must grow

new shoots as long as nature has determined for each species or variety. The growth rate is often quite fast, up to 10 cm per day. If everything is in order with the support or trellis, then there is nothing to worry about the arrangement of all the shoots of the mezvytena plant next to it. The plant itself will take care of it.

Such a division of stems cannot be applied to the atragene group, because they have a completely different type of root system and structure, and they form flowers every spring on last year’s growth.

It is still early April and the warmth of the month of March is compensated by longlasting cool weather, when the thermometer readings are close to 0° C. Some mornings it freezes and light snowflakes hovering over the mesquite garden remind us of the whiteness of winter and the former winters all around us. Be that as it may, the year has inevitably turned towards spring.

Every summer, the wonderful variety C. texensis ‘Princess Diana’ grows and blooms anew in my garden. I look at her tulip-like flowers and delight in the uniqueness of their flower colours and shapes. The plant blooms on the new shoots of the current year. Flowering then continues until late autumn and then it can be pruned to ground level before winter. It entered my garden some 30 years ago as a very humble seedling with the original name ‘The Princess of Wales’ (B. Fretwell 1984). The seedling, planted on a suitable trellis, has grown well and bloomed profusely throughout the years. I wanted to update it and divide it to plant in another place and share it with other garden friends.

As soon as the earth had thawed, I dug it out of the ground with the whole ball of roots and washed all possible earth from it with a jet of water. There were many young roots in the upper part of the roots, and old ones below them, which could be done without.

Princess Diana

After turning the root ball on its side, I retained the entire lower part, but cut the remaining piece into four parts with a garden knife. Of course, it would be good if, when dividing the material it could be done by hand, but the root network was so dense that it could not be done physically without cutting. I rinsed the divided parts until I could clearly see all the bases of last year’s shoots with the new buds that want to grow.

Division of this type of plant should be done as early as possible, because in the spring all the dormant buds ripen early and stretch in length every day. They are very fragile and need to be protected. The separated parts of the plant can be immediately planted in a new place, but, in my opinion, it is better to divide them by hand into even smaller parts, each of which with a well-rooted bud plus roots. A sufficient number of new plants will be obtained, which, continuing to grow, will grow with a new root system, forming beautiful flowers on the new shoots. After dividing the plant like this, the vigor of growth will be delayed, but after a year it will grow as an unusually strong plant, which will have several shoots and a new root system on all sides. Of course, by propagating the plant in this way, there will also be many new cuttings with poorer roots, which will strengthen after a year. When cutting the old root ball with a knife, a lot of roots will be lost, but you can’t do without it. If necessary, to obtain a separate young plant, the material can be divided into 2 or 3 parts by hand without the help of a knife.

Good luck to each of you in caring for your beloved plants. The joy of flowers is like a reward for every moment you spend in the garden!

Stage 1

Helmsley Walled Garden

June Tainsh, June 2024

Recovery

Looking back now at six years this August I can see steady progress at Helmsley Walled Garden, not only in recovery from COVID during 2021/2022 but also a growing understanding, development and acceptance of what we do and how we do it.

The garden is inextricably linked with the individuals involved and, although our focus is not just about the appearance of the garden, this certainly reflects the state of the organisation. Now in 2024 we see a cohesive, gently managed and restorative space that both delights and engages our visitors in so many ways.

Grant funding has become an important part of our revenue, much more so than it has been in the past, and parts of the garden have been transformed by funding throughout 2022 and 2023. Ryedale District Council were instrumental in awarding us funding to create some more ‘family friendly’ areas of the garden. These specifically were designed to better engage those that might accompany our more horticulturally minded visitors. We welcome children under the age of 16 to the garden for free and one of the most popular areas with this group is our family of chickens and ducks. This area has been transformed by opening up the yew hedge boundary with fencing to enable much more visibility, and consequently interaction, with our feathered friends.

The Labyrinth

Another addition is our walk-in fruit cage in the centre of the picnic lawn, where we can grow a range of berries, including blackberries, blueberries, red and white currants, without having to share them with the birds. However, our large, overgrown white currant bushes on the north facing wall remain to be stripped annually by our ever-increasing bird population.

Perhaps the most enjoyed new area of the garden is our labyrinth, designed and created, with the help of our volunteers, by Peter Clark, who has created many beautiful labyrinths all over the country. We planted 4000 crocus bulbs around its edge in the autumn of 2022, only to discover a substantial number of them destroyed by both pheasants and squirrels. This spring however they had recovered enough to give an outstanding display just as we opened to visitors in March.

Development

Many of the areas of the garden were extremely poor when I joined in August 2018 and it has taken some time to plan and rebuild. We have a healthy range of weeds and as we all know they are successful opportunists. We have progressed from areas full of couch grass, Elymus repens, rosebay willow-herb, Chamaenerion angustifolium, bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis, mares tail, Hippuris and, more recently a deceptively beautiful plant called ‘Enchanter’s nightshade’ Circaea lutetiana. This beautiful native flower was relatively limited to a far corner of our long border, but has more recently appeared in many places, taking advantage as we remove patches of couch grass and the ubiquitous bind weed. Helmsley Walled Garden is a complex site and we rely entirely on our volunteers to maintain all areas. This is not because we don’t want to pay gardeners but because the whole focus and ethos of what we do is to engage individuals in horticulture for their health and well-being. One of the most important aspects of restoring, rejuvenating and developing the garden to be of a very high standard of presentation was to consider how this would be done by volunteers.

The garden has three long borders that edge the original 18th century walls. The fourth, which is a south facing border, is where all the glasshouses were originally sited and today is part of our café, community room and salad house.

A focus has been to create ‘self-sustaining’ plantings that would enable our staff and volunteers to concentrate on the more complex gardens within the walls. There is, of course, no such thing as a ‘self-sustaining’ border, however the plan was to better enable both volunteers and staff to recognise what should, and what shouldn’t be, growing in these areas. We all know that sense of getting to know our gardens, ‘this is where this grows and where these have put themselves and I might just leave them….’ It is very difficult to give volunteers that experience when they may have limited knowledge, don’t manage to come to the garden regularly, have cognitive or physical challenges, or have just joined us.

Our Long Border on the east facing wall has been given some rhythm and structure with a focus on spring colour and pastels. We have planted peonies along its length and added blocks of Iris sibirica and Phlomis russeliana to give muted touches of colour throughout the year.

The north facing border at the far end of the garden, the only area that does get a little shade at certain times of year, is divided into two areas. To the right, facing south, is our shaded border, packed with hostas, astilbe, primula and slowly increasing clumps of Solomon’s Seal, Polygonatum. One thing we don’t seem to be troubled with at Helmsley, at least not until this year, are slugs and our visitors constantly ask how we keep our hostas so intact.

The other side of this border is our wild garden, planted up just over two years ago with native perennials. This can be quite challenging for our volunteers to maintain and chiefly we just remove self-seeded garden plants from this area in way of maintenance.

The Iris Border, that faces west, was one of the first areas of the garden to be re-developed in 2019. This of course now means that it needs some attention, with our Iris germanica making a far less impressive display than last year when the border was featured on Gardener’s World which was filmed in May 2023 and broadcast in March 2024. This long border is fronted by a range of colourful alpines and ground cover, providing contrast and texture against the iris.

The Internal Gardens

Creating these ‘solutions’ to the three long borders of the garden, we have turned our attention over the last two years to the smaller garden rooms set within the walls and pathways. Our labyrinth has created a new, interactive space, giving us no more maintenance than mowing the path throughout the summer months.

Our Physic Garden and, close by, the Garden of Contemplation have both seen some extensive re-planting. The Physic Garden has, in the past, contained a mix of plants with tentative medicinal links and a range of applications. One of the problems with physic gardens is that many medicinal plants are highly invasive and often not at all garden

The Shaded Border

worthy! The garden has a disjointed structure, with oddly shaped beds and a lot of hard landscaping. To link the areas together, we have created a new ‘parterre’ hedging of Santolina chamaecyparissus, Satureja montana (winter savoury) and Teuchrium chamaedrys, now beginning to give the area some new structure. There is still a requirement for plants in the Physic Garden to have relevance within the world of medicine – but they have to look great too!

In 2023, and again this year, we sowed annuals in the beds however the plan is to create a ‘time-line’ of plants in medicine in the future. This echoes the design of the Edinburgh College of Physicians Garden in Queen Street in Edinburgh. Not open to the public, I was lucky enough to have a look at the garden late last year and we will be bringing some of the themes of heritage and education to Helmsley in 2025.

Alison’s Garden is becoming a much easier garden to care for, with lots of interesting ground cover and some lovely trees and shrubs. We removed many of the asters from here – too vigorous and full of weeds, leaving the ground open around many of the ornamental trees and planting new ground cover around the edges of the garden. This beautiful woodland garden with lots of autumnal colour is named after the late Alison Ticehurst who discovered and began the restoration of the neglected and overgrown Helmsley Walled Garden in 1994. Sadly Alison passed away in 1999, just as the garden became a charity, however her legacy of the importance of gardening for well-being remains. The White Garden has now returned to a focus on white plants however, just as with the Physic Garden, it is not good enough to be white alone! We have removed the ox-eye daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare, from here and a lot of the white centaurea, Centaurea montana Alba, whilst encouraging graceful Verbascum chaixii and planting more white roses. A huge success in here last year were our Agrostemma githago Bianca and we’ve planted these again this year. The flowers are much bigger than the common corncockle and a luminous clear white.

The White Garden

The Hot Border

This beautiful double border, stretching the entire length of the garden, is a real show stopper and a very popular part of the garden for our visitors. In many ways a classic herbaceous border, the Hot Border really doesn’t come into its own until late June. This does mean that, for much of the year, this area is much less colourful, only emerging from green clumps in the late summer. We do leave the Hot Border untouched right through into February, only cutting it back as the new shoots emerge, which does keep a lot of structure and interest in the beds.

This summer we have managed to tackle three congested areas of Persicaria amplexicaulis that have been full of couch grass for many years. The clumps have been dug up in their entirety, weeded, potted up and small amounts of this lovely, but vigorous perennial replanted. Other additions from our own propagated plants include Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’, Lythrum salicaria and Anthemis tinctoria. These, along with blocks of bright red Lychnis chalcedonica are all beginning to fill in areas where we’ve had to remove weedy patches of golden rod, Solidago and Echinops ritro as well as the persicaria.

The Clematis Garden

Closed for 18 months from the middle of 2020, the clematis garden has been one of our most challenging areas to restore and develop. Full of bind weed, even before lock down. The garden is very angular with narrow, zig-zag paths. Many of the clematis in the garden had suffered from long term neglect and those that were still growing had been overwhelmed by weeds. One of the first tasks to bring this interesting garden back to life was the rejuvenation of three Clematis montana ‘Grandiflora’ on the central arch. In a tight and unproductive clump, these montana had been cut back severely every year for quite some time. I can only imagine that this was a lack of understanding as to

The Hot Border

The Hot Border

the type of clematis they are. There are a number of herbaceous clematis in the garden, and these do respond to this sort of pruning, but the last thing in the world a montana needs!

I singled out good strong stems on each of them and moved them to be in better positions around the arch. Removing then much of the growth, these stems began to wrap themselves around the structure and, in the spring of 2023, for the first time they all flowered magnificently across the central archway.

Unfortunately, one of them perished last winter however, as anyone who grows Clematis knows, two montanas is still one too many! Again, they flowered wonderfully this spring and, in the centre of the garden, we really notice their strong vanilla scent. A very enthusiastic Clematis tangutica was given a severe haircut and encouraged to more gracefully drape itself over a purple Physocarpus opulifolius and frames placed around healthy emerging groups of blue integrifolias. We have created a colour theme for the Clematis Garden, to give it a bit more cohesion and to display the many lovely clematis we now have discovered and revealed by progressively removing bind weed and cultivating the ground.

As a cool contrast to the hot border, the Clematis Garden has a blue theme with touches of lemon and yellow. We now have blue asters in here, along with Iris sibirica, Veronicas, Geranium magnificum and lots of Nepeta Six hill’s giant. Sisyirinchium striatum edge the path at the north end of the garden, backed by great swathes of Rosa American Pillar. In the autumn, there are blocks of Rudbeckia Goldsturm to provide lovely contrast to the vigorous clumps of Clematis heracleifolia, the more unusual

The Clematis Garden

Clematis integrifolia

Clematis ‘Vince Denny’

The future

herbaceous clematis with pale purple and blue upright flowers.

A very vigorous Clematis ‘Summer Snow’ (Paul Farges) occupies one far corner, vying for attention with equally enthusiastic Clematis ‘Vince Denny’. This delicate looking plant is anything but, however we have allowed it to ramble through the purple beech hedge and are constantly being asked for seedlings. The opposite corner is home to another montana –Clematis montana ‘Rubens’, slightly less vigorous than the grandifloras with purple foliage and deep pink flowers.

In addition to interesting and colourful clematis emerging in the Clematis Garden itself, we are discovering plants dotted around the garden, such as a beautiful Clematis ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’ in the physic garden and a fine specimen of Clematis ‘Nelly Moser’ climbing through one of our espaliered apple trees. Two lovely montanas (not sure what varieties these were?) gifted to the garden by Ken Black were planted in 2021 and are now growing beautifully, one across the far south gate and the other rambling through the cherry trees on our Iris Border. [Unfortunately, I can’t remember the varieties either – Editor]

As our volunteers gain confidence and really get to know what is thriving where and how to care for it, the garden goes from strength to strength. One thing we can certainly add over time is more clematis – beautiful, delicate and forgiving we can position these in pretty much every part of the garden and are beginning to do so as our borders become more weed free.

What our volunteers are experiencing is that plants will thrive where they feel comfortable, just like people and that they don’t really need much more to survive. Our montanas in the centre of the Clematis Garden have illustrated just that – often if we leave plants alone and clear away the weeds, they know what to do and get on with it! Clematis are particularly good at this, and we are enjoying discovering more and more of these lovely plants throughout the garden.

Clematis ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’

And the winner is…

Annette Ward

I’m a member of the Hardy Plant Society which runs competitions for articles sponsored by various nurseries and companies. For last year’s Christmas competition members were asked to write a maximum of 150 words on the theme of:

The Christmas Gardening Gift - Money No Object -That you’d Most Like to Receive this year.

To my surprise and delight I won first prize, a voucher for Ashwood Nurseries in the West Midlands. I will be attending a garden visit in May with the BCS Midlands Group where I hope I can obtain my Christmas desire. This is the article I submitted.

“I would like to source an extra wide obelisk to have as a centrepiece in a large herbaceous border as a support for a repeat flowering rose in the middle and three Group 3 clematis around the edge.

I remember seeing a large, probably home-made, obelisk in the lovely garden of Eric and Glenis Dyer in Bidford-on-Avon before they died. From experience, Group 3 clematis are easier to grow because they can be pruned to the ground in spring.

I am a member of the British Clematis Society and have about 100 varieties planted around the garden from Groups 1, 2, and 3, plus herbaceous and species grown from seed. Hence the need for another obelisk. I find Group 1 (Macropetala and Alpina) and large Group 2 are best displayed on an obelisk, but spring-flowering shrubs are good support for Group 3.”

This and that

Everett Leeds

Here I am, putting pen to paper, it’s actually sunny outside today (29th April) but the wind is pretty cold. At least it isn’t raining! The last 6 months seems to have been continuous rain although of course that can’t be true – almost! It’s strange that when you look back in times of your youth it seemed to be sunshine every day.

Right, get to the point(s) Leeds! I’ll try… Many plants have entered the horticultural horizon when they have been spotted whilst on a walk or journey in the car. G R Jackman, the last of that famous family of the nursery in Woking, introduced many different variations of plants and trees that he saw whilst travelling in his car. Call them oddities or something different from the norm, I suppose to him, being a businessman, he thought they would make money for his Nursery.

For us, as amateurs, I suppose money is not the end game. However, to make by hybridisation or to find from observation does tickle one’s taste buds every now and again. Unlike a nurseryman whose living depends on sales, amateurs are generally quite happy to share what plants went with what to make X.

I had a dabble at hybridising and a couple of times I spied a clematis that might be worth a go or produced an interesting seedling. A seedling of ‘Kaiu’ comes to mind (age is catching up - it took me a long time to remember the name of the cultivar!!) Strangely I have never found seed on my plant until I spied just two. I registered the resultant plant ‘Buckland Pixie’ for the nodding flowers were only about 4cms wide. ‘Kaiu’ is extremely vigorous having viorna and possibly species viticella in its parentage and ‘Buckland Pixie’ is a smaller version of the viticella, and very vigorous too. When writing the clematis

Kaiu

encyclopedia of 2001 I contacted Erich Pranno of Kaiu, Estonia and he confirmed his thoughts about who the parents might be. Maybe it was C. viticella ‘Alba Luxurians’, although I think Erich would have mentioned it. Richard Hodson of Hawthornes Nursery has my plant amongst his viticella national collection.

Another seedling I was fortunate to grow was from a packet labelled texensis. However, when they emerged it was clear that it was possibly texensis ‘x’ with a night out. The seedling I chose became C. ‘Buckland Beauty’. I found it an absolute pig to root cuttings so eventually I dug the whole plant up and, with a carving knife, made four plants with roots and shoots, three of which I gave away. To whom I cannot now remember but generally to save a plant it is best to give some away. Whether it is still in production anywhere I’m not sure. Here in Buckland, Surrey, it still flourishes in some gardens. Manfred Westphal in Germany did sell it, but another hindrance has befallen sales from Europe - Brexit. The last time I enquired, if you wanted any plants from Europe, it would not be worthwhile to send over a few at a time. The advice was to try and find a nursery having a big order and hitch a lift with theirs.

When living at Buckland I grew a seedling heracleifolia (grown from BCS donated seed) on the righthand side of the kitchen door. Consequentially it was always referred to ‘right of the kitchen door’. This name almost stuck as it was used when talking to enquirers. The plant differed from the norm as the flowers were not close to the stems but they had flower stalks up to about10cms long. As a consequence, it was named C. heracleifolia ‘Buckland Longshanks’. This all happened in 1994 and it has behaved itself in a container since that time. However, last year, 2023, it flowered like a normal heracleifolia without long flower stems. I have been talking to it quite severely this year and I expect it to perform as registered. It doesn’t make much seed but I’m wondering whether a seedling is usurping its parent.

While we are on the subject of heracleifolias, a natural seedling has grown in the garden here and it has smaller, tubular, darker blue flowers. I have unofficially called it C. ‘Buckland Magic’. Growing to just under a metre and when in growth approximately

Buckland Pixie

Buckland Beauty

90cms wide, it produces a phenomenal amount of seed-almost 4 ounces I collected this year. With all the heracleifolias I take hardwood, double-noded cuttings when I prune off the top growth in Nov-Dec. Potted up in neat perlite with an inch of compost at the bottom and left outside by the side of the building through all weathers, they root by May-June for potting on.

One year the International Clematis Society organised an event in the USA and we visited Dan Hinckley’s Heronswood Nursery near Seattle. There we saw seedlings of seed collected by Dan on the slopes of Emei Shan, Sichuan, China. They were a species but not yet identified. I ordered ten and one day a few weeks later they were delivered to our house at Buckland and the delivery man asked for a great deal of money, so the deal was done. With the help of friend Brian Mathew, VMH, a retired botanist from Kew Herbarium, we found the specimen that had been discovered by Wilson in 1910, C. repens. However, there were some very slight differences, and our plants finally became C. ‘Bells of Emei Shan’. The full saga is recorded in the Clematis Register and Checklist 2002, First Supplement, page 15.

So, one day I had nothing better to do and I crossed repens/Bells of Emai Shan with C. songarica. The resulting plant became C. ‘Buckland Cascade’. The almond scent of songarica was transferred to the seedling and because of its compact habit it made a good hanging basket. Over time, however, this cultivar is no more. It could, however, be reproduced by anyone so inclined. Shame really as it came good with cuttings. So, to sum up, it is great that there is plenty of scope to play with our favourite genus and let us hope that there are youngsters out there who like a challenge and will produce wonderful long-lasting plants. Thank you, BCS, for putting Carol & I in touch with some great friends. Let’s hope the mobile phone does not prevent humans from actually talking to one another!

Everett

Buckland Magic

Buckland Cascade

Clematis battles

Charlie Pridham

Iam not sure at what point in my gardening “youth” that I realised that the people writing all the clematis books I have on my shelf had far better growing conditions than me. I suppose it just slowly dawned on me why all the Large Flowered Clematis struggled to flower and normally faded after just a year or two. I mean I read the advice and attempted to follow it “Plant deeply”- well it makes sense. Deeper down will stay moist longer in dry weather and, probably more importantly, burying nodes helps to quickly establish a multi-stem plant. As we all know more stems equals more flowers (and no stems probably means its died!).

But what to do when excavating your hole and you discover, like me, that large parts of the garden have very shallow soil, as little as 4 inches (10cm) in places. I started off with a lump hammer and crowbar quarrying a deep hole then discovered results would be just as good if I planted the clematis lying on their sides. Also, instead of cutting back the new plants as you are advised to do, I found layering those stems gave me a head start. I have also had some success with using nice ceramic pots and cutting the bottoms out with an angle grinder. This makes a nice neat “raised bed” and is also useful when the poor clematis has to compete with thugs nearby.

The next major issue we have had to contend with here is wind. With the shallow soil we don’t really have a lot of tree shelter and gales often rip through the garden in summer. Vince and Sylvia Denny once visited on a breezy day and subsequently suggested we apply to hold a Clematis collection commenting “If they will grow here they will grow anywhere”! The solution was found by default. As we had a lot of clematis to fit in, but only limited structures and walls, we started growing them up through shrubs and

Angle grinder

Bottomless pots in situ.

immediately noticed these plants always did better than clematis without a plant to grow through. Nothing illustrates this more than C. ‘Vanessa’, planted to grow through a large Camellia japonica. She decided she much preferred the nearby Phyllostachys nigra, and now grows 15 feet up this every year.

When you watch the Bamboo thrashing about in the wind then realise that the clematis is completely undamaged you can see the benefits of companion planting straight away. So far, we have found only one shrub that doesn’t like to share. It is a variegated rhamnus, but other than that all the shrubs have not noticed. I do tend to prune out the clematis growing on the evergreen shrubs before December, mainly so the shrubs look clean for the winter. But of course, there is another benefit to growing clematis through other plants and that is the extension of the flowering period you create, or perhaps a fortuitous colour combination you discover. Philadelphus coronarius flowers in June and is always out during Wimbledon Fortnight. When flowering is finished it plays host to C. ‘Södertälje’. So, if like us, you have ended up with a garden that is way too small to accommodate your clematis habit, seriously consider companion planting!

C. ‘Vanessa’

C. ‘Vanessa’

Although living in a high rainfall area probably has as many advantages as disadvantages it can nevertheless prove a challenge with some clematis types. The atragenes in particular really don’t seem to like being wet in winter, but it’s really the mild and wet combined that give our slug and snail population a year - long opportunity to destroy clematis as they try and get going each year, which is the major issue. Here we found using nematodes very effective in helping young plants to get established by drenching the problem area. Once they can grow faster than the slugs can eat them you are home free!

Reading all that might have left you wondering why an earth we bother?! As there are many other climbers we grow that do very well here and are no trouble at all. But it’s the reaction you get when giving clematis talks to garden groups and clubs about the sheer amount of summer colour that says it all. They simply bowl people over and, truthfully, once you have clematis growing well they require no more work than any other plant.

One last tip before I sign off, if you are having problems getting a clematis going, consider growing it on for a season in a larger pot. The increase in root ball size often makes all the difference.

Charlie and Liz Pridham live at Roseland House Garden and Nursery in Cornwall and hold the National Collection of viticellas and lapageria roses.

‘PROSPERITY’ – seed parent of ‘Dianna Jazwinski’, ‘Maureen’ & possibly ‘TamLyn’ – a magnificent plant in every way, producing a blanket of pure white flowers across a 12m fence, with six stems, each six metres long.

‘Prosperity’ – close up – showing the beautifully ruffled, outward facing flowers with gold central boss which stand well proud of the distinctive little greygreen leaves.

Country Life visit to my Garden

Val Le May Neville-Parry

As most of you know I live in Hampshire and my Garden is called ‘By The Way’ which houses the national Collection of clematis montana. I have been trying to hand over the Montana National Collection for some years now. Three gardens have received rooted cuttings over the years, but most have been lost. Plant Heritage, Julian Noble and I decided that the best way forward would be to apply for a dispersed collection, with Julian collecting details of people with named varieties and cultivars growing in their gardens. Despite several requests to BCS members I believe Julian has yet to receive any details. PLEASE COULD YOU SEND TO JULIAN NOBLE DETAILS OF ANY MONTANA CLEMATIS GROWING IN YOUR GARDEN. THANK YOU.

In 2022 Julian and I gave a number of well rooted cuttings to Lady Emma, Chatelaine and Andrew Humphris, Head Gardener at Parham House. I gather from Andrew that they are planted in the ground and flourishing. Parham House has a history of growing clematis dating back to the mid-twentieth century and Lady Emma, the owner, is keen to continue adding to their collection with Andrew, a fellow BCS member and expert in growing clematis, leading the way.

Gillian Groombridge, Business Manager at Plant Heritage, contacted Tiffany Daneff, Gardens Editor of Country Life, about the difficulty in handing The Collection on to a named garden. This resulted in a decision to feature The Collection in The Magazine in spring 2025.

Charles Quest-Ritson was engaged to write the article and Jonathan Buckley appointed to take photographs. Charles and his wife, Brigid, visited By The Way on 14th April to see some of the early flowering cultivars and again on 12th May when the later ones were popping open. They are a delightful couple who I later discovered are old friends of Karen Spencer-Phillips, whose father raised and supplied the wonderful montana ‘Veitch’ to Dr John Howells and Wim Snoeijer to propagate. You might remember that ‘Veitch’ won the inaugural ‘Threatened Plant of 2020’. Karen recently sent me pictures of her ‘Veitch’ rooted cutting, which was one of several grown and distributed by Alan Postill two years ago. Karen is bringing her plant here in mid-August for me to take a few more cuttings to root and distribute. It’s a small and friendly world.

I contracted Covid for the first time the week prior to Jonathan’s visit on the 7th of May so was unable to give him decent hospitality during the eight hours he spent taking pictures. I was well enough to be outside and gently working in the garden so able to talk to him about the readily available cultivars plus some superb, well-established seedlings. Some montanas were already past their best display as freezing wind and hot sun had alternated for several weeks. But he captured the superb ‘Prosperity’ and ‘The Jewell’ just opening, so I hope they will be featured in the article.

I told Jonathan about visiting Great Dixter to take cuttings of their montanas and showed him the plant they called ‘the chocolate scented one’. This turned out to be an excellent seedling which we named ‘Kathleen’ in honour of the recently retired lady who managed the Great Dixter garden nursery for thirty years. “I know Kathleen” said Jonathan. It transpired he had taken the pictures contained in two books on the garden. Some years ago I arranged for my late friend, Eileen, to meet Head Gardener, Fergus Garrett, when her family took her to the garden on her 80th birthday. Fergus had met her at the gate with a bunch of flowers from the garden. I had given Eileen money to buy two books which she bequeathed to me when she died. Jonathan kindly signed the books.

‘THE JEWELL’ 2004006 – sold by my local garden centre labelled chrysocoma ‘Continuity’ in 2004. Raymond Evison told me it wasn’t the correct plant. Re-named ‘The Jewell’ for David Jewell at Hilliers. A stunning plant sending out ‘bunches’ of pink and white flowers on long stems which stand proud of the leaves. Main flowering is mid-late May with intermittent flowering through until October.

Jonathan signing the Great Dixter books

Now 82, I am keen to get some of the best seedlings onto the market and the article would be the ideal launch pad. I hope that pictures of some well-established plants will be included in the article. The immediate concern is to get them propagated ready for sale. Richard Hodson has kindly agreed to propagate but there is only the one plant of each growing currently. The hydropod is ready to accommodate cuttings by the end of August. But first to decide which seedlings to include! Once rooted, Richard can grow them on to sell. I have asked Charles to include an invitation in the article for interested readers to come and take their own cuttings from July and/or ripe seed in July and August. I plan to ask Andrew Humphris if he could take a few cuttings to root and grow on in the Parham House Garden. We are also considering asking the RHS to do trials at Wisley. It would make it easier for interested readers to see the plants for themselves if they are spread around different areas and gardens.

‘Dianna Jazwinski’ 2015008 -stunning seedling of ‘Prosperity’ - later flowering, pure white flowers held on long stalks - picks well for the house.

‘Susie’ 2015009 – 26.04.24 – a very compact, multiflowered pure white seedling self-sown, facing south at the northern edge of the lawn – Sue and I met in 1965 and still talk on the phone several times a week.

‘Maureen’ 2015018 - 30.05.18 – seen here with rosa ‘Buff Beauty’. Named for Maureen, who took me to the hospital on NYE, the night my husband, Chris, died. Seed of ‘Prosperity’ sown by me and planted out in 2013. Maureen is known as ’The Pooh Fairy’ as she volunteered to pick up when my two donkeys arrived in 2002. A very compact Montana seedling 6-8’ tall and ideal for small gardens.

‘Audrey’ is a delightful, compact plant which seeded about 10m due north of ‘The Jewell’ which I suspect to be one of the parents. The leaves indicate that it has chrysocoma in its genes, being similar shape, colour and texture to those of ‘The Jewell’ and ‘Prosperity’ at both early and later stages of growth. It’s an extremely pretty flower, much admired by garden visitors who spend hours taking pictures. It’s named for an MX-5 friend and grows up and through a rare Salisbury Silk apple tree.

‘Bruno’ 2019006 – tiny seedling found in a small pot of roses my ex-neighbour gave me. A strong plant with gorgeous bunches of long- stemmed flowers followed by golden seedheads. Flowers pick well for the house. In 1993 Bruno made the superb wedding feast for 150 guests in our garden. He died in 2023 aged 69.

‘Alan Postill’ 2018003 – a dwarf seedling from ‘The Jewell’ seed-head sown in 2012. 3-4’ tall. Named for Alan Postill, Master Propagator at Hilliers for sixty years who propagated ‘The Jewell’ after I failed several years running. The early foliage is like shiny seersucker, bronze coloured like ‘The Jewell’. The flowers on my plant are white with pink flushes. Alan’s plant has white flowers as has the one he gave to Roy Lancaster. Perhaps it shows the difference the soil makes?

‘Mary Hazel’ 2020005 - Thought to be seedling of ‘Veitch’ the flower of which is the same colour bright pink but several times smaller – picture shows the last ‘Veitch’ flowers behind the larger ‘Mary Hazel’ flower in front. Self-sown in the crack between south facing house wall and stony path below. Squirrels used ‘Veitch’ stems to access to the sunflower seed window feeder without my noticing and gradually killed ‘Veitch’.

‘Mary Hazel’ with wisteria ‘Caroline’ last year

An early ‘Mary Hazel’ flower and bud in late April 2024 – facing east.

Montana seedlings from left to right: ‘Maureen’ (small white in the support;) ‘Maynard’ pink on top of the telegraph pole; ‘Carol Ann’ pink mid-right front; ‘Kathrine’ pink behind ‘Carol Ann’ and over the black arch; ‘Moira Sarah’ top right corner up telegraph pole and adjacent hawthorn.

‘Carol Ann’ 2020008 – a vigorous plant smothered in gorgeous flowers which last well when cut for the house. CarolAnn and I shared a flat in 1966 and remain close friends.

‘Sophie Camilla’ 2022005 - seedling first flowered in October 2021, growing in the gravel below a low wall round the bed containing ‘Freda’ - Freda taught me to garden in the fifties, sent me £10 when I got my first M.A. I bought Montana ‘Freda’ with the money. Sophie Camilla is one of Freda’s beautiful granddaughters. This is a stunning, vigorous plant which flowers intermittently from the main flowering in May until October.

Beware the contents of some manures

Alison Smith

We garden in Gloucestershire on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment. We are fortunate to have lovely dark soil, but it is hungry soil! For many years our cottage was part of the adjoining farm, and the garden benefited from huge amounts of manure. So, each year for the last 20 plus years I (and latterly we) have gone to great lengths to source and apply manure to the garden. Our van holds 16 trugs and it’s not unusual to make 10 or 15 trips over a few weeks, giving our backs time to recover in between! I have also had it delivered and being so delighted at only having to do half the work I didn’t even mind it being tipped up within 2ft of our front door.

One would think manure is manure but how wrong could I be? One year, after the worms had done their work, we were left with chopped up rubber tyres all over the garden. Evidently all-weather horse arenas use this as a surface. Another year during the summer we had a visit from the farmer whose manure we had used. His tomatoes were not growing well. He said that they were good and healthy but stunted. He offered his apologies if ours were the same. After a conversation with his agronomist, it was decided that the wheat straw he was using had been sprayed to keep it short so that it doesn’t flatten with wind and rain and stands up well to the combine harvester. The straw was then used to bed down the cows, so the chemical was still active. Our tomatoes were not affected but we would not have chosen to spread that chemical all over our garden!

In the Autumn of 2023, we had spotted a pile of manure in the corner of a nearby field, it was dark and well-aged and we were told to help ourselves. Thinking we had found black gold we hauled more than usual. It went all over the garden and around plants as a mulch but also in the mix for repotting big clematis and roses in large pots. I was hoping to add nutrition and to aid water retention, which I am finding is a challenge when using peat free composts.

This spring (2024) I lost a lot of my clematis. Initially I thought it was about 30 clematis and 3 roses but, unfortunately, it is far more than that. I have not been able to bring myself to look at my plant file of

330ish clematis to find the exact toll. Along one wall alone there were 10 clematis planted, but none of them have grown except one which, at the time of typing, has a small shoot. When I started looking for my clematis early in the year, my suspicions arose when the manure was still around the plants in rock solid lumps. After spending 10 minutes Googling I decided perhaps I had been very naive. Why didn’t I know about broad leaf herbicides? Hay treated with Grazon, a herbicide used to treat docks, nettles, thistles and brambles, can remain active in manure for several years. No wonder the worms wanted nothing to do with that manure. Instead of giving my plants a treat I had, unknowingly, been poisoning them. Ideally, I need to find a farmer who has organic principles. So, I am a disillusioned gardener, but at least we have no planned visitors or open to the public days this year.

Looking forward, I am planning a larger compost area with 3 wooden metre square bins so perhaps we shall not be so reliant on manure in the future. And every cloud has a silver lining. I foresee a little retail therapy coming on! Floyds Clematis and Climbers, Thorncroft Clematis and The Walled Garden Nursery are all less than an hour away from home!

Claude Monet, plantsman and lover of clematis

Aidan Armitage

Mention the words “Claude Monet” to people and ask what springs to mind and most people will think impressionist artist. What is less well known is that Monet was an avid plantsman who was passionate about flowers and shrubs and planted and designed his own garden at Giverny in Normandy, France. His library at Giverny was full of gardening books and horticultural journals and his close circle of friends included garden enthusiasts and leading nurserymen of the time.

A constant inspiration throughout Monet’s long life was his love of flowers and gardening. His love of painting and flowers was symbiotic. Monet created his garden at Giverny through an impressionist’s eyes preferring to create a natural look using his imagination and love of atmosphere, dimension, colour and form to creatively design and plant a unique garden where the sky, flowers and water took centre stage.

When Monet made Giverny his home in 1883, the abandoned cider farm was nothing more than a large apple orchard with a small kitchen garden.

Monet recognised that this one-hectare of a garden was exactly what he was looking for, a blank canvas that he could transform using his artist’s understanding of light, atmosphere, form and colour to create an impressionist painter’s garden.

Over the years, Monet constantly transformed his garden. He took out the apple trees and box hedges and brought in tons of topsoil. He created gravel paths and sowed thousands of seeds, planting cherry and apricot trees, bamboo and combinations of flowers to create colour harmonies. He used strong deeper coloured flowers in the foreground with softer colours behind to deceive the eye to make the borders seem longer. Shadows and sunlight, height, volume and dimension were used to create a natural look to the garden rather than the more formal, conceited gardens popular at the time. This even extended to Monet’s

Claude Monet self-portrait

Monet’s Garden photo by B Collingwood

dislike of double flowers which he felt looked hybridised and unnatural.

As well as the countless irises, sunflowers, roses, campanulas, nasturtiums, foxgloves, pansies, peonies and water lilies Monet introduced clematis which he purchased from the plant nurseries that were becoming well established in France in the late 19th century.

The French public was acquiring an appetite for new and exotic plants after seeds and living specimens were discovered and brought back by botanists and explorers from far flung parts of the French empire and beyond. Among these plants were clematis and work had already begun by French plant hybridisers such as Moser to create exciting and beautiful forms by hybridising compatible species.

Not a great deal of information has been documented on the types of clematis Monet planted, but it is recorded that clematis recta was a favourite which he valued as much for its foliage as its flowers. After flowering he methodically deadheaded these and left them in place to provide background contrast.

Monet is also known to have acquired clematis ‘Nelly Moser’ a large-flowered cultivar displaying impressive large mauve and pink tepals with a deep pink central bar, flowering from late spring/early summer to autumn. It was introduced in France in 1897 by Marcel Moser the plant breeder who named it after his wife.

Monet had a great fondness for clematis montana and had a large collection of pale pink and white montanas for which he designed sloping frames over which to grow them, protecting their roots between upright tiles on either side of the plants. They hung in great sweeps of colour and

Sunflowers

Clematis recta

Clematis ‘Nelly Moser’

looked marvellous in spring, capturing the eye of the nurseryman Georges Truffaut, a great friend of Monet’s. He wrote about Monet’s montanas in the magazine Jardinage in 1924, describing “hundreds of small white and pink blooms hung in garlands as delicate and airy as lace hanging over the paths and blowing freely about in the wind”.

Truffaut was a leading nurseryman of the time and supplied many of the plants for Monet’s gardens as did the nurseries of Latour-Marliac, Lemoine, Nonin, Moser & Fils and Godefroy’s nursery in Argenteuil. It is almost certain that Monet obtained his clematis from these nurseries.

It is known that Monet bought plants from as far afield as Britain from the nurseries of Barret & Son and Thomas Ware but it’s not clear whether he bought any clematis from these nurseries.

Monet did at least two paintings of clematis growing at Giverny and he may have painted more. One he painted in 1887 titled “White Clematis”. No information is given on what type they were and, because the flowers are slightly indistinct, it is difficult to hazard a guess. In 1897 he painted clematis again. This time the flowers seem to have a bluey hue, but again there are no clues as to what type it could be.

Monet also did a number of paintings of cut flowers in vases, some of which may contain clematis, but it is not possible to say more without further research.

What is clear is that Monet loved all of the flowers he planted, valuing each for its own merit and the effect and joy they would create throughout the seasons. Clematis were certainly part of that pleasure.

Clematis montana ‘Grandiflora’

1897 painting of clematis

Old and modern clematis –are they just ‘fashion items’?

Julian Noble

Over the last two months, three clematis have been flowering away following on from a wonderful montana. All four are fairly recent introductions.

C. ‘Super Nova’ ‘Zo09088’ has a mediumsized flower that is rich purple with white veins running to a central white bar. It has dark purple stamens. Wim Snoeijar introduced it in 2015. This year it has been scrambling into a bay tree which provides a good backdrop for its stunning flowers. They shine out even when there is no sun. Its flower colour and growth of over two metres show its viticella parentage.

The second is also one of Wim’s, introduced in 2008. I bought it at a BCS AGM from a collection he brought over from the Netherlands. C. ‘East River’ ‘Z0eastri’ is non-clinging coming from integrifolia/diversifolia parentage. It is a pink-purple in my garden although described as purple in the catalogues (my photos were taken in late afternoon sunshine which makes them pinker). I love its star-shaped flowers with their ruffled edges with long yellowish stamens. Another gem to grow.

Growing on an arch, C. ‘Van Gogh’ is glorious in April/May with its rich ruby flowers and later with its deep copper/ purple leaves. Willem Straver of Germany introduced it in 2008. On the shady side of the arch grows a spindly specimen of C. ‘Tie Dye’. It is another clematis I bought at a BCS AGM, this time from Taylor’s C. ‘Super

Nova’

C. ‘Mrs Cholmondley’

C. ‘East River’

Nursery. It is not in the best position but survives. This year it has been growing into a columnar yew tree that is below the arch. It struggles to get enough light but has produced some lovely flowers. It has lovely violet/purple marbled with white and red anthers on pale green filaments. It was raised by J P Van Laeken in the US and introduced in 2000.

These clematis have been introduced since 2000 and it set me thinking. Will they be available from specialist nurseries 20 years hence? Now some varieties seem to come and go pretty fast with very limited selections available in garden centres. That appears to be the trend with plants becoming fashion items, in for one season, out the next, with garden centres (not nurseries) demanding a supply of new varieties whether it is clematis or roses. We now have very few specialist nurseries growing clematis, so this trend is likely to continue, leading to the loss of some wonderful varieties. And the problems of importing stock from Europe and elsewhere have become much harder since Brexit.

In 2021/22 I undertook some research in the gardens at Parham House in West Sussex. The house is Elizabethan and sited to the north of the South Downs. The main garden is in a 4-acre walled garden. In the 1960s Veronica Tritton, who lived at Parham until she passed away in 1993, undertook extensive planning and planting to make use of the lovely brick walls and the very fertile soil. Lady Emma Barnard DL, her great niece, and her family moved to Parham in 1994 and have since created a Charitable Trust to manage the house, garden, and estate. There is on-going work to restore the gardens, including dealing with a serious bindweed problem which they are now getting on top of.

C. ‘Van Gogh’

C. ‘Tie Dye’

The records I looked at include lists of the plants ordered in 1965 and 1966 from nurseries such as Fisk’s, Treasures’ and Sunningdale Nurseries. The orders were for many different clematis varieties together with some of the shrubs. There is also a large plan of the walled garden showing what was planned, and a detailed list for each section of the garden.

Looking at the plan for just one of the sides of the garden, the bed and wall facing due west, at least 9 different clematis are listed. These are interspersed with Prunus cerasus ‘Morello’, Jasminum nudicaule, Forsythia suspensa, Buddleja fallowiana, Ceanothus, Pyracantha and more cherries. It is unclear how much of the plan was planted. None of the clematis are there now but it is fascinating to visualise what it might have looked like.

Starting at the southern end of this long border:

C. ‘Marie Boisselot’. A large white-flowered clematis raised by Auguste Boisselot of Nantes in 1885; it was introduced in 1890. It received the RHS AGM in 1912. On the Treasures order dated August 1965.

C. ‘Jackmanii Superba’. This was raised by Thomas Cripps of Tunbridge Wells in about 1978. A very notable specimen with its single dark velvety mauve flowers. RHS AGM 1984

C. ‘Gravetye Beauty’. A rich-red texensis raised in France by Morel and given to William Robinson at Gravetye Manor who named it, introducing it in 1914.

C. macropetala ‘Maidwell Hall’. Semidouble lavender-blue flowers. It was raised by Oliver Wyatt of Maidwell Hall and introduced by George Jackman & Sons in 1956.

C ‘Jackmanii Superba’

C. ‘Maidwell Hall’

C. ‘Huldine’. A late large-flowering clematis with single pearly-white flowers. Another clematis raised by Morel before 1914.

C. ‘Mrs Cholmondley’. AGM 1993. Charles Noble of Sunningdale introduced this variety in 1873; it has lavender/mauve-blue flowers flowering from May and is a cross between C. ‘Fortunei’ and C. ‘Jackmanii’.

Then there are two species clematis:

C. flammula. This very floriferous clematis came into cultivation in the UK from southern Europe in 1590. It can grow up to 4m and has single white flowers with a strong scent.

C. tangutica. AGM 1984. Small mainly yellow from June onwards followed by feathery silver seedheads. Native in north-west India, west and north-west China.

And finally, a number of C. montana. The varieties are not specified on the plan and only a white-flowered variety, C. montana var. wilsonii, is listed on any of the orders in 1965.

If all these clematis, plus the shrubs and small trees, were planted it would have looked magnificent by the late 1960s. All the Parham clematis are listed in Fisks’ catalogue for 1967 and all except flammula and ‘Maidwell Hall’ are in the 2024 Thorncroft list, but I doubt if you can find them in your local garden centre.

So back to my question: are clematis, along with many other plants, just fashion items with garden centres demanding something new every year? I think the answer is yes. It is a treat to have these new varieties to tempt us to buy and then hunt to find somewhere to plant them! The sad part is that we are losing lots of the wonderful older varieties even with the hard work of National Collection holders and Plant Heritage. Perhaps, as British Clematis Society members we have a responsibility to grow, and thus to preserve, some of these older, wonderful, cultivars.

C. ‘Mrs Cholmondley’ C. flammula

Section 3

Propagating, breeding and growing clematis

A never-ending path…

Richard Hodson

In 1985 my wife and I bought a plot of land on reclaimed marshland at Hesketh Bank on the West coast of Lancashire. After building a block of heated commercial greenhouses we were given planning permission to build a dwelling, which we moved into in 1986. The gardens developed slowly but surely, and I was keen to grow a few clematis as we had done at our previous house in the village.

We started with the old favourites, “Nelly Moser”, “Lawsoniana” and other Large Flowered Hybrids. Then my attention swung to the smaller flowered forms, and I became obsessed with the viticellas. They seemed to like it on the wet marshland and performed superbly, as they still do. So absorbed was I with this wonderful family, that I applied to National Plant Heritage for National Collection status and was approved in August 2005, a position that I cherish and still hold.

Then my mind drifted to the texensis and viorna groups with their absolutely unbelievable colours and shapes. Thanks to the internet and lots of friends, I acquired enough of both of these families to be also approved as a National Collection holder of clematis texensis and clematis viorna a few years ago. I am absolutely besotted with these groups of clematis, they are so fascinating and I have now raised and registered several new forms.

Nelly Moser

So why (as I rapidly approach middleage) am I now so knocked out by the ‘herbaceous‘ clematis integrifolia group? They appear to have taken over my life. Although I still care for all the other forms of clematis, these non-vining clematis are ‘the tops’. They are very low maintenance, grow well in a pot or in the border, produce lots of seedheads and, of course, seeds! Some varieties are less than 2 ft. tall, whilst some can reach 8 ft. Several can be divided and planted in other areas of the garden.

I have registered a couple with the RHS, the first of which was clematis “Carol Klein”, which I was trialling in the garden here when Carol spotted it whilst filming for BBC Gardeners World and allowed me to name it for her. Another is “Lilac Wine”, a really different colour, named by me after the song by Elkie Brooks.

In the pipeline is “Everton Bob”, a stunning cultivar, not yet registered, which I am propagating at present. It is named after a very colourful character who everyone in the Wholesale Fruit and Veg Market in Liverpool, where I worked for many years, knew by that name.

I am now also very hooked on the smaller, more compact, forms of the integrifolia group, such as “Hanajima” and “Hakuree” which are probably top of the list, closely followed by “Baby Blue”, “Baby White” and “Pastel Blue” which are all excellent plants.

Plant Heritage describes National Collections as follows:

“Put simply, a National Plant Collection is a registered and documented collection of a group of plants. These can be linked botanically by plant group, or perhaps have a shared history or geography.

Carol Klein

Lilac Wine

Everton Bob

National Plant Collections are also made available for people to view, either by appointment, on special open days or as part of a garden open to the public.

They contain about 95,000 plants, held across over 700 collections. Together this represents a huge resource for gardeners, nurserymen, garden designers, researchers, plant breeders and those interested in historical gardens and landscapes. Having these plants part of a registered conservation scheme ensures that they will be a resource for generations to come.”

Richard Hodson’s collection is listed as:

“National Collections of Clematis viticella, Texensis and Viorna Groups displayed in 1 acre garden with over 150 shrub roses, 200 clematis and many perennials.”’

Mr R Hodson

The Hawthornes

Marsh Road Hesketh Bank

Nr Preston

Lancashire

PR4 6XT

Website www.hawthornes-nursery.co.uk

Statistics

3 species

118 cultivars

121 taxa

Hanajima Hakuree

Pastel Blue

Baby Blue

Clematis in containers: the root of the matter

Peer Sorensen

Many clematis cultivars and species can be grown in containers but for a successful and thriving culture it’s important to bear in mind how best to manage the roots over time. After all, the flowering display of the plant is always completely dependent on the health and continued well-being of these roots.

Well maintained potted clematis plants can provide many years of beautiful flowering and are obviously a valuable additional means of achieving good and portable flowering displays wherever you want them. Usually, a pot is chosen of a sufficient size to allow plenty of space for the roots to develop into. However, depending on the vigour of the plant and the size of the pot originally chosen, it will be necessary, from time to time, as the roots increase in size, to repot a plant into a larger pot or alternatively to maintain the roots within the available space, in the best condition possible. It’s the repotting process and the treatment that is afforded to the roots that I want to focus on in this article.

When dealing with the roots any pruning undertaken must, first and foremost, be based on the needs of the plant and not, I must emphasise, be carried out in an indiscriminate manner, such as chopping away large sections of the root system just because it happens to make the plant fit into the volume of the container that you may prefer, or more likely, happen to have to hand! Rather, you must always take a careful and judicious approach and it’s always very important to avoid unnecessary root loss which can be highly detrimental to the plant.

The roots have several main functions. In the first instance they physically anchor the plant into the medium in which it is growing, fixing it firmly in place so that it remains stable enough to comfortably support aerial growth. In the case of clematis, and some of the climbers, substantial lengths of heavy growth are usually the norm. Second, to employ an animal analogy, the roots are the ‘lungs’ of the plant; the mass of roots emanating downwards and sideways away from the crown ramifies through the medium in search of moisture in which mineral nutrients are dissolved. The plant needs to take in these nutrients to synthesise the tissues of the growing plant.

Above the growing tip of each root the outer layer (epidermis) is covered with many microscopically fine protrusions - The root tips

the root hairs which absorb the moisture that contains the dissolved nutrients. If the root hairs are cut off, or killed, the plant will only be able to absorb water and will not absorb nutrients until the roots regrow the absorptive parts.

Clematis have evolved mechanisms which confer advantages. Their roots are very competitive and can absorb nitrogen (necessary to make proteins) in the form of ammonium compounds whereas grasses, trees, and most other plants, need to take it up as nitrates. This gives them an advantage over many of the plants and trees they naturally grow with. Furthermore, the roots are long, penetrative and remain thickened, except in autumn when they become more swollen as foodstuffs are stored within them for winter and spring growth.

In the nursery, or the garden, the roots will eventually fill the pot and emerge from the edges and the base, and the plant becomes pot bound.

This is not the same as root bound as it does not affect the ability of the clematis to grow where it is to be planted out. The plant will simply grow new roots on the top of the old, as well as extending the older ones. With plants that are purchased in a pot bound condition you can, if you really want to, tease a few roots out before planting into a larger container, but avoid cutting the roots away when it’s not necessary, save to trim any infected or dead parts.

The plants in the photos are large-flowered clematis in their third year grown for almost two years in 4.5 litre planters. If you want to keep a plant in the same pot or pot it up into one only slightly larger, it may be necessary to reduce the roots to some degree. However, never remove more than about 1/4 of the roots and ensure that it is on one side only. This ensures that most of the roots remain intact. If necessary, you can do the same again the following year. Removing more than this amount of root will seriously stunt the growth of the plant and may set it back to the extent of halving the amount of growth in the season. Nurseries started using pots not just because plants are easier to handle that way, but to avoid drastic root reductions on transplanting, with the consequent effect on the growth of the plant.

If you really must alter the volume of roots you can ‘butterfly’ them, as in the picture below, before replanting. This is mainly done when planting out into the ground. Remove any unattached stray pieces of root. This method is better for the plant and the reason is evident when you turn the plant out from the pot and examine the root growth. The main root volume does not occupy the central area but instead, is found at the sides, because this is where most of the moisture and the air is found.

Pot bound roots

Reducing the length of all the roots is like sticking tape over someone’s mouth only leaving just enough of a hole for a drinking straw and a bit of dry bread. In the nursery we grow our stock plants in large 30 to 40 litre containers, and some of the plants remain in the same pot for 10 years or more. The plants are fed annually with the slow-release fertilisers such as Osmocote, in general, aiming to provide high potash and phosphate with lower nitrogen levels. To wet the mix properly we also use a wetting agent, and in spring, and after pruning, a fully watered soluble NPK liquid feed is applied to boost growth rapidly.

To make this regime effective a good potting mix is essential. In our part of New Zealand, we use composted pine bark with added pumice for drainage. We also use Trichoderma products (the ‘friendly’ fungus) in all our mixes to assist with fungal disease management. All in all, plant roots are like people, if they’re fed well in bed they’ll stay there, and when it comes to growing plants in pots, that is just what we want.

This article first appeared in the 2007 Journal of the British Clematis Society.

Peer and Merry Sorensen run Yaku plant nursery in New Zealand. Peer is a regular contributor to the many Facebook Groups dedicated to the growing of clematis.

Butterflying

My experiences with Clematis fremontii

Ron Kirkman

My first encounter with clematis fremontii was at an Alpine Garden Society Show in Macclesfield, back in the late nineteen nineties. It was on display in a section entitled ‘seed of rare clematis collected in the wild’.

After various inquiries I managed to trace the owner to a nurseryman in Bath, sadly I can’t remember his name and the nursery does not appear to exist anymore. However, I was allowed to photograph the plant and to take three cuttings. Unfortunately, these did not survive, but one of my photographs (as shown below) was used in “An illustrated Encyclopedia of Clematis” first published in 2001. The flower is clearly a purple, lilac, blue colour.

My next encounter was when Everett Leeds brought me a plant back after the International Clematis Society visit to America, many years ago. This plant proved to be quite difficult to keep alive and I had to wait for thirteen years for the first flowers. It produced seven flowers, but no seeds, despite my efforts with a paint brush, then it died. These flowers were pure white as the next photo clearly shows.

More recently, I have acquired two plants from Pan Global Plants, however these are seedlings from clematis fremontii. They are both quite robust plants. One has grown to a height of about fifteen inches and is planted out in the garden The other is only about nine inches tall and is still kept in the greenhouse. Both produce flowers of a rosepink colour, as shown in this third photo. It would be interesting to learn of other members experiences with this rare and unusual plant.

Report on Clematis ‘Propertius’

Emma Coyle

Who was Propertius?

Sextus Propertius was a Roman poet born c.48 BCE* in Assisi and died c.15 BCE in Rome. He was initially known for his love poems but as he matured, he expanded his themes to cover Roman history and mythology and discussed the importance of an artist’s creativity and the process of creativity. His use of language and his chosen elegiac form set him apart from the other poets of his age.

*The term BCE means ‘Before the Common Era’ and has been adopted by scholars because of its religious neutrality.

The Clematis named ‘Propertius’ was raised by Magnus Johnson in 1979 at his nursery in Södertälje, located near the Baltic Sea in Sweden. It is one of a series of twenty hybrids of C. koreana var. fragrans that Johnson named after Latin poets, with the pollen parent for C. ‘Propertius’ being C. ‘Rosy O’Grady’. C. ‘Propertius’ is fragranced and unlike other Atragenes it flowers early in the year but continues to flower at intervals through to the end of summer.

The current climatic conditions for Södertälje are characterized by a warm and temperate atmosphere with a considerable volume of precipitation through the year. January sees temperatures at their lowest, averaging -2.4°C and July sees the highest temperatures, averaging 18.3°C, the summer months being July to September.

Sextus Propertius

Clematis ‘Propertius’

Growing in three very different and changing conditions

C. ‘Propertius’ growing in a pot in a Lancaster Garden, by Eleanor Fisher. In 2015 I moved from a well-established cottage garden in Northwest Yorkshire to a very different environment, a town terrace house with a deeply shaded small courtyard bordering the canal. Having grown a good selection of spring flowering clematis in the open ground in the cottage garden it was a new learning curve of growing clematis in pots, and finding varieties which would both thrive in containers, and thrive in cold and windy shade in a high rainfall area. Luckily, my move closely coincided with a Hardy Plant Society lecture by Taylors Clematis Nursery, where I obtained, on their recommendation, Clematis ‘Propertius’. I have no problem in calling it the best advice, and ‘Propertius’ has become a top performing star in these conditions, which my neighbours look forward to as much as I do.

C. ‘Propertius’ was planted in a very large plastic tub, in a mix of John Innes number 3 compost with the addition of horticultural grit. It grows on a large curved wrought iron support, together with Clematis ‘Broughton Bride’ bought at the same time. ‘Propertius’ comes into flower about 7-10 days earlier than ‘Broughton Bride’, and after about 8 years growth, is beginning to overwhelm it. ‘Propertius’ flowers for a good 3 weeks and is remarkably weatherproof. For a double flower, it retains grace and lightness, with the heads dancing in the constant canal-side breeze.

The only downside is that large snails relish a shady courtyard with stone walls, and particularly relish early green growth. Sadly, they negotiate climbing the wrought iron frame and woody stems with ease. After nearly eight years, it is time to renew the soil in the tub, as the roots have choked the drainage holes, and to separate ‘Propertius’ from his ‘Bride’ to give her a chance of survival.

C. ‘Propertius’ growing in Linda Guest’s Garden, Southwest Hungary.

Linda’s garden has only ever been pastureland so the soil is very fertile sandy loam which seems to make everything grow well and, in many cases, bigger than it should. She lives in the middle of agricultural countryside where there is no pollution whatsoever and Linda is sure that this contributes to healthy growth and ideal conditions for bees, butterflies and hoverflies.

Linda cites C. ‘Propertius’ as being the absolute favourite in her collection of 331 clematis because it is always the first to flower and repeats flowering during the year. It begins flowering on the 28/29th April each year and is so precise that she literally waits for the flowers to open.

“Clematis on the Web” states that C. ‘Propertius’ should be grown in a sunny aspect and, like other websites, states that the fragrance is stronger when grown this way. Linda planted her C. ‘Propertius’ to grow through a magnolia tree in the sunniest part of the garden. Growing through the Magnolia tree she says she can see the beauty of each flower and that the way they hang and dance in the breeze makes them look like little ballerina skirts. Her garden has full sun for a minimum of 4/5months each year and she advised me to plant mine in full sun as we have fewer sunny months in the UK.

Linda has noticed a change in the weather patterns and temperatures over recent years. January 2024 was unseasonably warm, March 2024 had up and down temperatures with a few days in the 70s and then days in the 40s and down to -3°C at night. Her garden has Maritime Mediterranean and Oceanic weather, which explains why it can change so quickly. It can be in the late 20s during the day but fall overnight to 10°C. When they first moved to Southwest Hungary, they had heavy snow that didn’t move for a couple of months or more and now they don’t get enough snow to cover the ground. Instead, they get winds in January, freezing the ground until it’s like concrete.

Because of the quality of the soil, her clematis grow incredibly quickly and the high winds which the garden now experiences means that more of her time has to be spent tying them in. She has experienced winds that have blown over her clematis and their supports, whether they are manmade or other plants and trees.

C. ‘Propertius’ growing in the Pennines. West Yorkshire UK.

Our garden is located about one third of the way up a Pennine hill with fields above the garden and moorland at the top. Over

the last 10 years the area has experienced unprecedented volumes of rain and consequently run off water from moorland, whilst the nearby rivers and the canal have flooded. The last two years have seen gusting winds throughout the year, coming from all directions which has been hard to plan for when new plants arrive. The soil is fertile and sits on clay which means my roses are very happy, but that drainage isn’t always good depending on which part of the garden you’re in.

On Linda’s recommendation, I bought C. ‘Propertius’ in March 2024 and had to wait two weeks for a break in the rain to plant it. I dug in plenty of grit at the bottom of the planting hole to aid drainage. The foliage is such a fresh green that I decided to plant it next to a drimys (Winter Bark), with the idea that the clematis would grow through the drimys and the contrast between the spring green of ‘Propertius’ and the very dark green foliage of the drimys would be visible across the garden, and that the pink clematis flowers would complement the red stems of the drimys. Their different flowering times should also mean that there will be a continuation of flowers in the spring. I am very much hoping that C. ‘Propertius’ won’t become waterlogged, as the drimys should take up any excess moisture. This has worked well further along the same flower bed with C. ‘Blue Dancer’ growing through a witch hazel.

‘Blue Dancer’

So far, I have had a few flowers from C. ‘Propertius’ and a lot of new growth travelling upwards through the drimys towards the sun. I’ve not detected any fragrance yet, but I remain hopeful.

Linda’s reaction when I told her I had finally got my own C. ‘Propertius’ was “Good, I’ll be curious to see how the two different climates affect the plants. I’m hot and dry most of the time with cold winters, I think the UK is soggy most of the time with wet winters.’’ It will, indeed, be very interesting.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it appears that C. ‘Propertius’ can adapt to varying climates and can thrive in various conditions. These words of Sextus Propertius from The Elegies: Book IV are his most well-known and often quoted “I am climbing a difficult road, but the glory gives me strength.’’ It seems that Magnus Johnson chose his clematis name wisely.

Growing clematis from seed

Lawrence Jones

Introduction

I have grown clematis plants from seed for many years. Initially I obtained seed from the British Clematis Society seed exchange, and grew an alpina, large flowered varieties, and viticellas for their strong growth. Although I was successful in raising many plants, the large flowering ones have been short lived, lasting for only for a few years, the alpina became leggy and the viticella plants have become large with some climbing through apple and pear trees.

Raising Species clematis

I progressed onto raising species plants. Whilst species plants are not well known, many produce smaller individual flowers, but on larger specimens and mature plants the flowers can be extremely numerous, and it is wonderful to see a mature plant in full flower.

Species clematis successfully grown include rehderiana, napaulensis, integrifolia and fusca. Rehderiana produces strong vigorous new shoots in late spring. The new vines gradually grow over a suitable support which in my case is a trellis. They can cover an entire panel of two metres in height and width as well as running along the top of the pergola for several metres. Towards the latter part of the year the main mass of the plant comes into flower. The flowers are magnolia in colour and cover the complete structure.

Rehderiana

Napaulensis, on the other hand, flowers in the winter, coming into growth in autumn. It has an unusual creamy yellow bell-shaped flower with purple filaments and anthers borne on short stemmed clusters. In the summer it dies back and can be unsightly. I have grown a climbing rose and montana ‘Marjorie’ adjacent to cover the unsightliness and to provide flowers in the same space.

Clematis fusca flowers from early summer to autumn with single dark purplish brown flowers, urn shaped and deeply ribbed, with curving tips covered in short brown hairs. The plants have matured well over several years and are now multi-stemmed and growing to 3 metres in height.

Clematis integrifolia is a very old species which is a hardy, deciduous, non-clinging, clump forming, herbaceous perennial, flowering all summer. It has single pink to deep blue solitary bell shaped flowers with recurving invariably twisted tepals borne on long stems. These plants spread out through the garden and have also formed multi-stemmed clumps.

Rehderiana, napaulensis and fusca seedlings have produced identical flower to their parents along with similar growth and foliage. All the plants I have retained have flowered for many years and are still thriving in my garden. I even have a couple of napaulensis in pots. I collected seed from my favourite clematis ‘Bill Mackenzie’ and *chiisanensis from the seed exchange and successfully raised plants. Bill Mackenzie is a deciduous climber that can be treated as group 2 or 3. It is an extremely floriferous cultivar with a long flowering period from early summer to the first frost. Unfortunately, the seedlings were tangutica reverting back to the species plant. The chiisanensis seedlings flowers varied from pale yellow to brownish/orange. The flowers are pendulous and slightly flared, borne on solitary or groups of three. They flower early on old wood from the previous season and then later on new wood. The plant needs to be on well-drained soil and in a sheltered position. Last year’s very wet season resulted in the loss of several plants, however, I would still recommend this plant.

Bill Mackenzie

Once you have raised a number of plants successfully you will acquire confidence to grow these more unusual and hybrid clematis.

Editors note: chiisanensis is now called koreana var carunculosa

Growing from Seed

I have sown clematis seed in small pots, and have experimented with various mediums, depths sown and have used locations in shade, both inside and outside the greenhouse. Generally, I use a free draining compost of 2 parts John Innes No2, with one part grit and one part vermiculite. This provides a light, airy compost which retains sufficient moisture for rapid root growth. After sowing I stand pots in water to ensure they are sufficiently moist and then I allow them to drain. I have enclosed pots in sealed bags and covered with grit or vermiculite to ensure they do not dry out completely. This also reduces and retards moss growth. The pots placed outside have the benefit of stratification which can be helpful for some seed and doesn’t seem to be harmful to any seed. If you use sealed bags, they should be removed when seedlings appear, to prevent damping off.

I have had mixed success with the various methods but have come to the conclusion that the most important aspect is to have fresh and viable seed.

In 2019 I decided to sow some of my own clematis seed. I chose ‘Guernsey Cream’ and ‘Prinsesse Alexandra’, both early large flowering group two clematis. These were well developed plants that had grown well that year and had well developed seed heads. To my surprise and pleasure the clematis ‘Guernsey Cream’ seedlings appeared in February and were pricked out into individual pots. ‘Princess Alexandra’

Guernsey Cream and Prinsesse Alexandra

Guernsey Cream seedlings

Guernsey Cream seedlings

germinated spasmodically. The majority of the ‘Guernsey Cream’ seedlings have taken two to three years to flower whilst ‘Prinsesse Alexandra’ seedlings took longer and had fewer flowers.

The ‘Guernsey Cream’ seedlings have provided plants similar to their parent with white and red/brown bosses and one individual plant with petals edged red. The ‘Prinsesse Alexandra’ seedlings that flowered were a surprise, more like ones from a texensis or viorna group with single pink-mauve solitary pitcher shaped flowers, deeply ribbed with recurving tips. The red edged ‘Guernsey Cream’ seedling has inspired me to take cuttings.

Conclusion

In conclusion, however much effort you put into raising new plants there is the satisfaction of observing each of your new seedlings developing from germination to flowering.

Acknowledgements:

‘A Pocket Guide to Clematis’ by Mary Toomey with Everett Leeds and Charles Chesshire.

‘From the Amateur Perspective’ by Brian Collingwood

Guernsey Cream seedlings

Prinsesse Alexandra seedling in flower

Clematis classification for gardeners – a challenge

Bethan Charles

When I came across Dr. John Howells’ Gardener’s Classification for Clematis, created some years ago, I felt it was an excellent and useful resource for learning about clematis groups. Over time, I have come to feel that it could be improved upon to a certain degree, not least because of the new Evison Hybrids and all the new herbaceous varieties that have been introduced after he created his classification system.

I have now created a system that I feel is more helpful and wonder whether this updated system might also be useful to other members and perhaps they might have suggestions for improving upon it further.

John Howells’ classification had twelve groups, whereas mine has fifteen, some of these being further divided into sub-groups.

Dr. John Howells’ Classification

1. Evergreen Group

2. Alpina Group

3. Macropetala Group

4. Montana Group

5. Rockery Group

6. Early Large-Flowered Group

7. Late Large-Flowered Group

8. Herbaceous Group

9. Viticella Group

10. Texensis Group

11. Orientalis Group

12. Late Mixed Group

To members of the British Clematis Society, most of my suggested new groupings will be self-explanatory but I have also explained my reasoning behind the changes. There is, of course, the addition of a new group, Early Large Flowered Hybrids that flower on new wood - that is (so far), the Evison Hybrids. Even if it were ever entirely true, this group negates the saying “ If it flowers before June, don’t prune”, since they are hard pruned in February but start to flower in May.

I felt that Howells’ Herbaceous Group contained too wide a variety of types of plants and have therefore divided the non-clinging types into two groups - heracleifolias and herbaceous. Within my Herbaceous Group I include four sub-groups, the first three according to their poise and the fourth according to types of flowers and plant species. My ‘Erect’ sub-group are plants that can hold themselves up by just leaning on a support. It is likely that they are mostly hybrids between integrifolia and viticella (traditionally referred to as ‘x diversifolia’). They have mostly bell-shaped, nodding flowers. The ‘SemiErect’ sub-group can require tying in or growing through a shrub. It is likely that they are mostly hybrids of integrifolia and large flowered hybrids. They have flowers that usually face upwards. Some can have good poise but others can be ungainly, having stiff stems but weak joints. This latter type can be very difficult to train for a good display. I have got rid of several of these, even if individual flowers are attractive.

In future, it may be that more hybrids will emerge that are crosses involving all of the integrifolia, viticella and large-flowered hybrids. The ‘Lax’ sub-group cover the integrifolias, which have nodding, bell-shaped flowers. The ‘Recta’ sub-group is the only non-clinging species within the botanical group of flammula but for garden purposes, I have included it within the Herbaceous group. These are erect shrubs bearing panicles of white, starry flowers.

The nodding, urn and pitcher-shaped viorna group includes crosses with large flowered hybrids producing a range of tulip and trumpet shaped varieties.

Clematis flammula

Section 3

GARDENER’S CLASSIFICATION OF CLEMATIS IN APPROXIMATE ORDER OF FLOWERING (suggested by Bethan Charles)

GROUP

SUB-GROUP PRUNING

1. Armandii –

2. Cirrhosa

Cirrhosa

Napaulensis

3. New Zealand Group e.g. x cartmanni hybrids

Alpina

Macropetala

4. Atragene

Koreana

Chisanensis

5. Montana –

6. Early Large Flowered on old wood, e.g. ‘Dr. Ruppel’ –

7. Early Large Flowered on new wood, e.g. Evison hybrids –

8. Herbaceous Erect

Semi-erect

Lax

Recta

9. Sub-shrubs

e.g. Heracleifolia

10. Florida –

e.g. Viorna

11. Viorna

Texensis

Crispa

12. Late Large Flowered –

13. Viticella –

14. Flammula –

Orientalis

Tangutica

15. Orientalis

Lightly if needed after flowering

Lightly if needed after flowering

Lightly in late summer

Lightly if needed after flowering

Lightly if needed after flowering

Lightly after flowering or if variety and climate allows, hard pruning in February.

Hard pruning in February. Hard pruning after flowering.

Hard pruning in February. Can be given ‘Chelsea Chop’ or hard prune in May for later flowering.

Hard pruning in April.

Hard pruning in February.

Normally die back to the ground in winter.

Either prune hard in February or only back to live growth, depending on effect desired.

Either prune hard in February or only back to live growth, depending on effect desired.

Hard prune in February.

Hard prune in February.

Tibetana

Serratifolia

I would appreciate feedback from members as to whether this classification list is helpful and any suggestions for improvements.

The possibility of commercial success

Mariko Nakanishi

As many of you will know, Mariko is a prolific breeder of clematis and has, over the years, written many articles for The Journal and shared with us her new creations. As you will see below, this year Mariko is in the process of obtaining patents to sell her clematis. She is understandably wary of sharing her new clematis with us until this process has been completed. Here is what Mariko had to say when I approached her about writing for the Journal this year. (Editor)

“I am well, thank you. I apologize for the inconvenience regarding the journal article. This year, I planned to write about my new clematis in the journal. After many years of growing clematis, I am finally seeing flowers that I am truly satisfied with.

The president of the Japan Clematis Society visited my field this year, and the Kansai Clematis Society also came for an inspection. They praised the clematis that bloomed last year and this year. I was deeply moved when they said, “The flowers blooming here are so remarkable that they could make you famous.”

These clematis have also received offers from overseas, and we are aiming to obtain patents in the EU, USA, and Japan. First, we need to start with propagation. Because of this, it is necessary not to publish images of the clematis to secure the patents. My clematis have been exported, on a trial basis, to overseas markets for the past two years. However, since I planned to write about them in the BCS journal, I find myself in a bit of a predicament.

My dream is to create a clematis named after my daughter and to have that clematis bloom in gardens around the world. I have been working hard towards this goal. It may seem like a far-fetched dream for a woman from the Japanese countryside.

In the trials for exporting clematis overseas, I don’t know of anyone else doing it on their own. I believed that if I couldn’t export them myself, nothing would start, so I worked hard. Thanks to this, I have learned the ropes through several exports.

I don’t know how many more years I will live. No one knows what tomorrow holds. Therefore, even if my efforts seem laughable and inefficient to others, I continue to work steadily.”

We wish her luck and look forward to the possibility of having her hybrids in our gardens.

Reflections on climate and aspect

Bethan Charles

Even though I have been growing clematis for over thirty years, it is only in the last seven that I have become interested in larger flowering types. Through this I began to think far more about regional differences in climate within the British Isles, and also the considerable effect of aspect on the performance of clematis in general.

My garden is in south-west Wales and is on a north facing slope. I had grown examples of most clematis groups, my first being ‘Perle d’Azur’, but mainly viticellas and some herbaceous varieties, after coming across them in the 1990s, both in gardening literature and at Burford House, which at that time, held the National Viticella Collection. In 2017, I joined an international Facebook clematis group, which enticed me into trying new varieties, especially larger flowered ones.

From that time onwards, I also regularly came across the excellent colour-coded weather maps in the Telegraph newspaper, which led me to notice that spring and summer temperatures in the South of England and the Midlands are more or less always up to 10C higher than in my region of the country. I mentioned to an American Facebook member that I felt the performance of my early large flowered clematis was adversely affected by my cooler temperatures and higher rainfall compared to these English regions. He asked me why this was the case, so I had to educate myself on the geography that I had missed out on at school. The map shows four different weather patterns within the British Isles, although the boundaries of each region are most certainly more blurred than they appear here. According to The Met Office, there are eleven climate regions within the UK.

Weather has been very much on my mind ever since, as has aspect. I acquired an allotment five years ago, that in contrast to my garden, is on a south facing slope, and this is where I also grow my clematis.

I have found that early large flowered varieties do not thrive in my climate and garden aspect.

BBC Bitesize Geography

However, it is fortunate that Raymond Evison has bred such a wide variety of cultivars for patio pots, that flower early on new wood, many of them being vigorous, healthy and floriferous. My favourite is C. ‘Ooh La La’, but there are many other handsome plants to choose from. I have come to believe that even with these varieties, it is best to shelter them from rain in winter, if only under a garden table. I believe that the very high levels of rainfall I get in winter, combined with relatively mild temperatures, causes a lot of the finer roots to rot, due to waterlogging leading to a lack of air. I believe that roots are less likely to rot in frozen soil and the process of freezing and melting creates a less compacted, more aerated soil. Those plants kept out of the wet come into growth much more vigorously in the Spring than those kept in the open, and particularly so if kept in a garage or shed. I move them out before greenfly arrive.

Having two growing areas of different aspects has been very thought provoking and informative. For example, C. ‘John Huxtable’ did not flower facing north but flowered profusely facing south until it collapsed and disappeared. C. ‘Princess Diana’ struggled facing north but grows into a floriferous monster facing south. I have come to believe that all the hybrids involving American viornas (viorna and texensis) need full sun and a lot of heat, as do integrifolias. Viticellas and diversifolias are more accommodating, as long as they get plenty of spring rainfall. C. ‘Prince George’ flowers at both sites but bears far more flowers in full sun. The herbaceous diversifolia C. ‘Hendryetta’ flowers equally well for months at both sites but grows taller in the damper, cooler soil of the north facing slope. C. ‘Alionushka’, on the other hand, needs the heat of the south facing slope. C. ‘Sunset’ also grows well at the allotment.

I have developed an interest in trying to cross with each other some of the summer flowering varieties that do well in this region, to create new varieties, that can thrive both in pots and in the ground. Hopefully, some will also make for good cut flowers. So far, I have about one hundred plants which I am trialling, and I hope to provide more choice for those of us who are more exposed to cooling Atlantic winds and rain than to Continental heat and dryness.

I like to see clematis grown in combination with other plants, and these are the photos I like to see from other people. The combinations are endless.

Princess Diana Hendryetta with Prince George

Clematis fusca var. flabellata

Aidan Armitage

If you’re looking for a clematis that’s striking and very different, you’d be hard put to find one that fulfils this wish better than Clematis fusca var. flabellata. With it’s dark brown almost black woolly urn shaped flowers with yellow-green interiors and large primeval looking three lobed heart shaped leaves, this plant looks like it could have come from another planet.

C. fusca var. flabellata is a non-climbing herbaceous perennial from Eastern Korea where it grows in the Seoraksan National Park on wooded mountainsides such as Daecheongbong peak at up to 1,708 metres elevation among rocks and low bushes. The plants sold in the UK as clematis flabellata, as far as I’m aware, come from Crûg Farm in North Wales. It is run by Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones who have collected plants from all over the world. Their catalogue includes plants of Clematis flabellata BSWJ8431 which were grown from wild seed collected on an expedition to Seoraksan, Korea in 2001.

The Crûg Farm web site says C. fusca var. flabellata grows to 80cms in height which matches my own experience of growing the plant, although Deborah Hardwick’s experience, who has grown it outside in North America, is that it grows slightly shorter than 80cms. Although Deborah Hardwick’s plant did set seed, the resultant seedlings grew slowly but did not survive.

The plant has tall straight almost woody stems and although it does not possess twining leaf petioles it is not floppy when planted outside. In its natural woodland environment, it would be a large bushy plant, although in a garden it would benefit from some support. The stems die down to the ground in winter and any that don’t should be cut down as the new stems start to emerge around February. These grow fast and produce buds that flower in March through to July and even possibly August in a greenhouse.

An unusual but charming characteristic of this plant is that the flowers hang on short

flabellata

flabellata

flabellata growing in Seoraksan National Park

thick peduncles about 3.5 cm in length, usually solitary, but can produce cymes with the central flower terminating at the main axis and opening first followed by flowers developing from lateral buds. The flowers are about 3.5 cm long, very dark brown and woolly with thick textured sepals and produce a lot of nectar to attract pollinators. In the Seoraksan National Park its natural pollinators are bees including the Asiatic honeybee, leaf cutting bees, sweat bees as well as hoverflies and butterflies.

Hardiness

Regarding hardiness, the jury is still out. Both Brian Collingwood and I have grown the plant in pots in the north of England. Brian grew his plant in his unheated greenhouse where it quickly came into flower in March. That mirrors my own experience in the past but last year I left the plant outside in a pot over winter and it resulted in a delay in new stems emerging though it did eventually produce lush foliage but no flowers. On the other hand, Deborah Hardwick’s experience of growing the plant for several years outside in North America in USDA hardiness zone 6, was that the plant was hardy. Interestingly, Brian found that by cutting down the stems after flowering the plant produced new stems and a second flush of flowers.

Growing Conditions

Concerning growing conditions, Crûg Farm advises that the plant should ideally be grown in lightly shaded woodland type conditions in a well-drained soil that can retain some moisture.

It should be explained that there is some confusion around the name of this clematis, and it is sometimes erroneously referred to as Clematis fusca var. coreana. That is in fact a different variant of fusca; the flowers are not as dark or hairy though they do share some common fusca traits with flabellata. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew recognises C. fusca var. flabellata as a distinct separate variety. The World Flora Online* also lists the two varieties separately.

If you are tempted to grow this remarkable clematis, you will certainly have a plant that will generate interest and discussion! *World Flora Online provides a global overview of the diversity of plant species.

flabellata

flabellata

Turku, the old capital of Finland, looking towards cathedral

‘Clematis’ in Finnish: a window onto another language

Dr Clive Tolley

As a student of Finnish, with a passable fluency in the language, I have been intrigued by the native word for ‘clematis’. It is possible to use a loan-word, and say klematis, but the normal word used nowadays is kärhö. Where, I wondered, does this come from? I have two very detailed etymological dictionaries of Finnish – but neither of them includes the word (it is, however, now to be found in the more recent online etymological dictionary of Finnish). It is not even found in the Nykysuomen Sanakirja, Finland’s equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary, dating from around the 1950s. I turned to some contacts in Finland to see if we could get to the bottom of the mystery; I extend particular thanks to Daniel Falck and his colleagues at Turku University for their help (much of the following information comes from Daniel).

Finnish is unrelated, even distantly, to English, and it is a language that likes to use its own words for things – so ‘telescope’, for example, is kaukoputki (‘distance tube’, more or less). It also tends to go in for long words – like kärsivällisyydestään (‘because of their patience’, among other meanings), yet there are also many short words for native (or long-adopted) plants and natural objects (such as vehnä ‘wheat’, kaisla ‘reed’, vuokko ‘anemone’, käpy ‘cone’). The term kärhö looks, on the face of it, like one of these simple

words for something that sits comfortably as part of a long native tradition, rather than being alien. But of course clematis is scarcely native to this northern land, in particular the cultivars that form the bulk of commonly grown varieties – though Clematis alpina ssp. sibirica occurs, but was found and identified only as recently as 1947 (since then two other populations have been discovered).

The word kärhö is, in fact, a very recent invention. A non-exhaustive search reveals the earliest usages occurring around 1976, possibly spreading from an updated lexicon of garden plant names issued a year or so before this. This is probably about when clematis saw an upsurge in popularity as a garden plant in Finland (but I have not been able to confirm this). Before this, at least during the first half of the twentieth century, in scientific circles clematis was termed elämänlanka ‘thread of life’ (or ‘lifeline’, a term used for various decorative climbers, such as ipomoea); we are not certain of the origin of this term, but believe it may derive from some confusion of Latin vitis ‘vine’ (derived from a term for ‘twine’) with vita ‘life’. In a publication from 1906, however, the atragene type of clematis was considered a different genus with its own name, siperianhumala ‘Siberian hop’.

In horticultural circles, clematis was termed metsäköynnös ‘forest climber’ up until the 1960s, and is so called in the first edition of the lexicon of cultivated plant names, issued in 1951. Metsäköynnös displaced elämänlanka as the term used in scientific literature from 1955, up to around 1980, after which metsäköynnös is relegated to being a synonym of kärhö

In Estonian, which is fairly closely related to Finnish (but not close enough for speakers to understand each other much), clematis continues to be called elulõnga ‘thread of life’.

We have not been able to determine who actually invented the term kärhö, presumably some time in the early 1970s, but it clearly derives from kärhi, the term for ‘tendril’. It might, of course, be objected that this is not very appropriate, in that many clematis aren’t climbers that rely on tendrils (only the naravelia group have true tendrils), but it is comparable with the word clematis itself, which is a diminutive of klema, derived from the verb klao in Greek, meaning ‘to break’: a klema is a bit broken off, i.e. a cutting, and referred in particular to vines: a clematis is something that looks like a vine cutting. The inventor of kärhö probably had this in mind.

Clematis sibirica in the Botanic garden of Turku University

Yet the word kärhi ‘tendril’ itself seems to be an invention – it appears first in Elias Lönnrot’s guide to plant terms, Kasvikon oppisanoja, from 1858. He apparently appropriated a dialect word meaning ‘pine whorl’ (the new growth at the end of a pine sprig), whose origin probably lies in karhea/kärheä ‘rough, bristling, shaggy, snagging’ (Suomen etymologinen sanakirja, s.v. kärhi), which has the additional specific meaning, in Kasvikon oppisanoja, of ‘sticky’ in the way that plants like cleavers or burdock are sticky (with tiny hooks that allow adhesion). As an aside, we might note that this same word is the basis for the term karhu ‘bear’ (i.e. ‘shaggy one’), a sacred animal that is the focus of some fascinating Finnish and Siberian bear-hunting rites, involving the descent of the son of God in the form of a bear in a cradle down to the earth, and his return thither in the bear wake (visualised as a wedding feast).

Elias Lönnrot was a doctor, who, in the course of his rural practice, wandered over much of eastern Finland and Karelia in the earlier nineteenth century; he is best known for gathering innumerable traditional mythological and legendary folk poems, which he gathered and edited into what was to become Finland’s national epic, the Kalevala, first issued in 1835. Yet he was also keenly interested in plants, and apart from Kasvikon oppisanoja he published, in 1860, a comprehensive (for the time) Flora Fennica, commending, in the introduction, the discoveries to be made about previously unknown aspects of plants, the remembrance of such discoveries having many a time greatly comforted his mind (see the interesting article on Lönnrot’s botanical interests at https://kielikello.fi/sepiva-ja-silposuoninen-elias-lonnrotin-kasvisanoja/).

Until Lönnrot’s time, the language of the cultural elite in Finland was Swedish: Finnish was spoken largely only by the almost illiterate peasantry, though it had had a firm role

Statue commemorating Elias Lönnrot, with figures from the epic Kalevala, in Helsinki

in preaching since the Reformation. Indeed, there had been a certain amount of writing in Finnish since the written language was established by Mikael Agricola, the Protestant reformer bishop of the capital, Turku, in the mid-sixteenth century, but it was only in the nineteenth century that Lönnrot and others sought to endow Finnish with a full status as a literary, scholarly and administrative language (he was, however, following in the footsteps of the learned Gabriel Porthan in the late eighteenth century). Many words needed for this purpose were lacking: for example, there was no word for ‘literature’, so a term (kirjallisuus) was invented on the basis for the word for book (kirja) – which itself seems originally to have meant a multi-coloured (kirjo) object, such as a Gospel book seen by the common people in church (perhaps the same scenario gave rise to the Estonian word for book, raamat, derived from Greek grammata ‘writings’ – in Finnish raamattu means specifically the Scriptures; our word book, however, has a botanical origin, being etymologically related to beech).

Lönnrot’s endeavours – culminating in the compilation of a new, comprehensive dictionary of Finnish – thus involved the invention of many new words, formed on the basis of already existing ones: and this included botanical terms. Many other examples might be cited, such as hede ‘stamen’ (related to hedelmä ‘fruit’), which existed in a vaguer sense in dialect but was botanically repurposed by Lönnrot; indeed, Lönnrot gave almost 1300 botanical terms in his Kasvikon oppisanoja, and most botanical terms in current usage come from Lönnrot. The type of word-formation espoused by Lönnrot marks a different course from that taken by English centuries earlier (and ever since), when it turned to French and Latin rather than using its own resources to make new words (though there was a movement in the nineteenth century, ultimately unsuccessful, to turn to native word-formation, replacing e.g. impermeability with unthroughfaresomeness). Resorting to loanwords from other languages was something that Lönnrot explicitly rejected in Flora Fennica, not least because the use of Latin terms renders them difficult to understand for ordinary folk. The recent invention of the term kärhö is therefore fully in keeping with Lönnrot’s objectives and ways of working.

Lönnrot’s approach had a wider background. Finland had been part of the Swedish realm since the Middle Ages, but from 1809 had been under increasingly oppressive Russian control. The elevation of the Finnish language and folk traditions formed part of a growing sense of Finnish nationhood, which became a reality in 1917 when the Red Army was defeated and independence was declared. The desire to use native words, rather than borrowing from other languages, was part and parcel of this sense of burgeoning nationhood among Finns. It set a trend that continues to this day, as words like kaukoputki or karhö demonstrate.

The Finnish term for clematis, then, opens up a vista of how a new nation forged an identity for itself by following a particular path of native word-formation, and continues to do so to this day – a story in which botany takes a surprisingly leading role. Onnellista kärhönviljelyä kaikille!

Dr Clive Tolley is affiliated to the Department of Folkloristics, University of Turku, Finland (Editor)

Section 4 International Clematis Society

International Clematis Society Report 2024

Ken Woolfenden, Editor and Web person

Meetings

The Society meeting in France, which when I wrote my 2023 report was in the planning stage, took place in early June 2024. The meeting was of special significance to the Society as this year celebrates 40 years since it was founded by Raymond Evison.

The meeting took place in the Loire Valley, France, starting in Tours, finishing in Orléans with an intermediate two nights in Loches. Of course, being in the Loire, one must see the châteaux, and we visited six during our one-week itinerary. My favourite is Château Villandry, where the formal gardens are planted almost solely with vegetables and fruit. Another star visit was to Château Chenonceau. Nick Tomlan, a former head gardener here, lead us on a tour of the gardens. After lunch we had a special demonstration of floral arranging from the head floral designer at the château, Jean-Francois Boucher. With his team of 16 florists, they provide the constantly changing floral arrangements for the rooms in the Château.

Jeff Jabco and Linda Beutler (I.Cl.S. Loire Meeting Organisers) with Marie-Laure Rauline and Benoit Javoy – and a 40th Anniversary Cake to celebrate their nursery and our Society

Floral arranging demonstration by Château Chenonceau head floral designer, Jean-Francois Bouche (left), with ex. head gardener, Nick Tomlan (right)

Benoit Javoy and Marie-Laure Rauline in front of some of their clematis

There were a few clematis to be seen in some of the private gardens that we visited, but the main concentration was on the final day when we went to Javoy Plantes, a nursery specialising in vines and offering more than 200 clematis. It is now run by Marie-Laure Rauline and her brother, Benoit Javoy. Javoy Plantes was also celebrating their 40th anniversary, being started by the parents of Marie-Laure and Benoit. That evening we were invited to the private garden of Marie-Laure to wander through her clematis. We celebrated the two 40th anniversaries with wonderful French food and drink. It was a fitting end to a most enjoyable meeting.

Webinars

The Society continues to hold webinars, some open to the public, others restricted to members only. Since my last report we have held 3 member-only sessions and one open to the public, the latter recording a record of more than 140 attendees. As usual, the webinar schedule goes quiet during the summer, when we’re all far to busy with our gardens, but will start again a little later this year.

Seed Exchange

This continues to be a popular benefit to our members and the distribution process is getting smoother.

Clematis on the Web

Having taken over responsibility for this valuable service, the initial platform used had proven quite unreliable. The only remedy was to move the service to a different software platform. This has now been done and whilst there are still a few minor anomalies to resolve, the service is proving to be much more reliable.

Sowing

New Clematis: registrations

Clematis Registrations 2023

Sarah Holme

(Previously appeared in Clematis International, 2024)

RHS International Cultivated Plant Registrar (Clematis and Lily)

2023 was a wonderfully successful year for clematis registration, with forty-nine new cultivars being registered (usually it’s between 20-30): thirty-four came from China (twenty-eight of which were from Guo Li Tian’s beautiful collection of Viorna-group clematis), eight from Poland, four from the UK and three from the USA.

Thank you to all my Registrants who have taken the time to carefully fill out their forms and reply to my many emails, I really appreciate your co-operation! For anyone wishing to register new cultivar epithets I would strongly encourage you to contact me in the first instance so that I can check whether the name choices are (a) acceptable (according to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants) and (b) that they are available to use (i.e., have not been used already).

The most recent clematis registration application form can be downloaded from: https://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).

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: RHS Clematis Registrar, Horticultural Taxonomy, Hilltop Building, RHS Garden Wisley, Woking, Surrey, UK, GU23 6QB.

With thirty-two clematis cultivars already registered (by end of May 2024), this year is set to be yet another exciting one for new and interesting cultivars, and I look forward to seeing many more!

Sarah Holme

International Clematis Registrar

2023 Clematis Registrations

(previously appeared in Clematis International, 2024)

‘Anna Mae’ Viticella Group

Parentage: ‘Madame Julia Correvon’ × ‘Leoni’

H: G. Sykes (2021), G: G. Sykes (2023), N: G. Sykes (2023), REG: G. Sykes (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 12.5 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, not scented; pedicels yellow-green. Buds long pointed. Sepals 4-6; rich velvety deep purple to dark purple (approximately N81A or 83A) turning to deep reddish purple (77A), outside of sepals slightly paler; 6 × 2.5-3 cm, elliptic to slightly obovate, touching at base when newly opened then with gaps between, slightly rounded at apex but with a short apiculate tip. After first opening the sepals twist and fold nearly in half down the middle along the length of the sepal. Staminodes absent. Filaments white; anthers creamy yellow. Pistils yellow. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m. Lvs divided with 3-5 leaflets, green when young maturing to mid-green, tip acute. FL: June-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy.

Named for the Registrant’s Granddaughter. Due to the twisting and folding of the sepals, mature flowers can resemble a child’s windmill toy.

‘Baijiling’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2013), G: G.L. Tian (2014), N: G.L. Tian (2014), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 2.2 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels yellow-green with a delicate reddish purple flush at flower. Buds conical. Sepals 4; inside and outside of sepals white with white wavy margins, ribs distinct; 2.1 × 1.7 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along three-quarters sepal length with distal margins free, minutely wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tip recurved. Staminodes absent.

Stamens: filaments and connectives pale greenish yellow; anthers light yellow; filaments and anthers with fine dark brown indumentum; nectary present. Pistils creamy white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber with stems up to 1.8 m; stems green maturing to light brownish orange. Lvs simple and divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to midgreen; base cordate; margins entire; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10. Filaments and nectary not very plumose.

Original script: 白鹡鸰. The name is derived from the White Wagtail bird, Motacilla alba.

‘Baltic Waves’ Early Large-flowered Group

Parentage: ‘Mrs Cholmondeley’ (s) × ‘Julka’

H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2017), N: S. Marczyński (2023), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2024), REG: S. Marczyński (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 20-28 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Sepals 6-8; light purple-blue with slightly darker purple-blue delicate venation just visible (young flowers occasionally flushed purplish red at very base of sepal), with a lighter purple-blue stripe developing along the centre of sepal as the flowers fade; 10-14 × 4-5 cm; elliptic (to broadly elliptic), overlapping basally, wavy-margined, longpointed. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments creamy white; connectives violet-brown; anthers creamy violet. Pistils light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 1.6-1.8 m, stems light green maturing to brown. Lvs simple to ternate, green maturing to mid-green, base cordate; margins entire; tip acute. FL: Mid-May through to the end of July (outdoors) on previous season’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

Published refs: Oferta Wiosna 2024 Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnączy: 12/11/23

‘Button’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2012), G: G.L. Tian (2013), N: G.L. Tian (2013), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.8 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly and bi-axillary, not scented; pedicels reddish green. Buds ovoid. Sepals 4; outside of sepals reddish pink, free distal margins creamy white, outside of sepals with golden hairs; inside of sepals white; 2 × 1.8 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along three-quarters sepal length with distal margins free, free margins slightly wavy, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments and connectives light yellow; anthers creamy yellow; nectary present; filaments and anthers with golden hairs. Pistils pale yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber with stems up to 1.5 m; stems light brownish green maturing to dark brown. Lvs simple and divided into 2-6 lflets; green maturing to mid-green; base cordate; margins entire; tip rounded to acute. FL: MaySeptember (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10. Filaments, nectary and seed-tail plumose.

Original script: 纽扣.

‘Chan Po Chan’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed. H: G.L. Tian (2015), G: G.L. Tian (2016), N: G.L. Tian (2016), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped, 1.6 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, not scented; pedicels purple. Sepals 4; outside of sepals uniformly dark reddish purple with fine, downy white hairs, free distal margins yellowish white, texture of sepals somewhat rough and granular; inside of sepals light green becoming white to pinkish white once bloomed. Sepals 2-3 × 1.5 cm; thick and fleshy, touching along margins to halfway then free distally, minutely wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments creamy white; connectives yellow; anthers yellow; filaments and anthers with fine white hairs. Pistils: stigma and styles light yellow-green maturing to creamy white, with downy white hairs. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 1-1.5 m; stems green when young maturing to dark purple. Lvs divided into two leaflets, further divided into 3-5 leaflets; young lvs green maturing to mid-green; margins entire, occasionally slightly wavy. FL: May-Sept (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 产婆蟾, which translates to “midwife toad”. The outside of the sepals is textured like a toad’s back. The Registrant noted that the cultivar produced significant quantities of nectar and could be considered important for honey production.

‘Duo Er’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2017), G: G.L. Tian (2018), N: G.L. Tian (2018), REG: D.D. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped, 1.8 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, not scented. Sepals 4; outside of sepals very pale purple at base becoming progressively pale purple towards tip (purple colour somewhat patchy over a white ground), furrowed at base, free distal margins white; inside of sepals creamy white with pale purple outline around recurved tips, with minutely wavy or ruffled white margins. Sepals 2 × 1.8 cm; thick and fleshy; touching along three-quarters sepal length with distal tips free; minutely wavy-margined along free edges; tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments greenish yellow with fine light yellow hairs; connectives greenish yellow; anthers pale yellow. Pistils: stigma and styles greenish white. Seed-heads not persistent. Deciduous climber, with green stems up to 2.5-3 m. Lvs divided into two leaflets, further divided into 3-5 leaflets; young lvs green maturing to mid-green; cordate, margins entire and occasionally irregularly lobed. FL: May-Sept (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 多儿. The cultivar is named after the Registrant. The Registrant noted that the cultivar produced significant quantities of nectar and could be considered important for honey production.

‘Flamenco Twirl’ Cirrhosa Group

Parentage: cirrhosa var. balearica (s) × napaulensis

H: A. Armitage (2020), G: A. Armitage (2023), N: A. Armitage (2023), REG: A. Armitage (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, bell-shaped, 3.5-4.5 cm across, nodding or drooping, flowers hang singly, in twos, threes or fours, not scented; pedicels yellow-green. Sepals 4; cream-coloured with a hint of green, maturing to creamy-white and lacking spots, 3.1 × 2 cm, broadly elliptic, slightly overlapping and touching at base, sepals strongly recurved at sides and at tips. Stamens: filaments greenish yellow at base becoming flushed pinkish red towards anthers; connectives purplish or pinkish red; anthers pinkish red; pollen yellowish white. Pistils: styles greenish white; stigmas light greenish yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Evergreen (although enters summer dormancy), woody climber, reddish green when young maturing to brown. Lvs green when young maturing to dark green, ternate, regularly toothed and very narrow, much narrower than C. cirrhosa var. balearica. FL: Jan-Feb (under glass), on previous season’s growth. Hardy: RHS H7.

Published refs: Clem. Int. 2023: 155-159

Cultivar clearly displays certain characteristics from C. napaulensis, such as the cream unspotted colouring of the sepals, red anthers and reddish filaments (which become greenish yellow towards base), and the recurved sides and tips of the sepals. From C. cirrhosa var. balearica it inherits the distinctive fern shaped toothed leaves.

‘Guang Ze’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Chance seedling; parentage unknown

H: G.L. Tian (2015), S: G.L. Tian (2015), G: G.L. Tian (2016), N: G.L. Tian (2016), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped, 2.0 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, not scented. Buds somewhat globose. Sepals 4; outside of sepals purplish red with a smooth and glossy texture, free distal margins and tip greenish white; inside of sepals greenish white with light green tips; 1.8 × 2 cm, thick and fleshy, touching to approximately halfway with distal margins free, slightly wavy-margined, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments pale yellow with light yellow hairs; connectives and anthers yellow. Pistils: styles and stigmas pale greenish yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-2.5 m, stems green when young maturing to reddish purple. Lvs divided into two leaflets, further divided into 3-5 leaflets; young lvs green maturing to mid-green; ovate to cordate, margins entire. FL: May-Sept (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 光泽, or Guang Ze, translates to “luster or gloss”. The name is derived from the fact that the outside of the sepals are glossy and smooth. The Registrant noted that the cultivar produced significant quantities of nectar and could be considered important for honey production.

‘Guo Hai’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Chance seedling; parentage unknown

H: G.L. Tian (2015), S: G.L. Tian (2015), G: G.L. Tian (2016), N: G.L. Tian (2016), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped, 1.9 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, not scented; pedicels purple. Sepals 4; outside of sepals purple shading to reddish purple at tip, free distal margins white, base of sepal flushed a darker bluish purple; inside of sepals white, tip and free distal margins reddish purple with white margin edges, inside of sepals with a few light yellow hairs. Sepals 2 × 1.5 cm, thick and fleshy, just touching to approximately halfway then free distally, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments creamy white; connectives yellow; anthers creamy white, filaments and anthers with light yellow hairs. Pistils: stigmas and styles creamy white. Seed-heads

persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m, stems green when young maturing to brown, with light yellow hairs. Lvs divided into two leaflets, further divided into 3-5 leaflets; young lvs green maturing to mid-green; ovate, margins entire. FL: May-Sept (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 国海. The cultivar is named after the Registrant’s brother. The Registrant noted that the cultivar produced significant quantities of nectar and could be considered important for honey production.

‘HaiTu’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Hybrid seedling F2

H: G.L. Tian (2013), G: G.L. Tian (2014), N: G.L. Tian (2014), I: G.L. Tian (2016), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped,1.8 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels green flushed purplish red at flower. Sepals 4; outside of sepal pink shading to lighter pink then pinkish white towards tips, purplish red at base, tips and distal margins light greenish yellow to light yellowish green; inside of sepal white at base becoming light yellow-green at tip; 2.9 × 2.4 cm, elliptic, particularly thick and fleshy (base of sepal to 6 mm thick), touching along more than three-quarters of sepal length with distal margins free, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments and anthers light yellow both with golden hairs; nectary present; pollen pale yellow. Seed-heads persistent, seed tail with long plumose hairs. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 3 m, stems dark green maturing to light orange-brown. Lvs divided into 2 lflets and further divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to blue-green; broadly ovate, base cordate; margins entire (occasionally irregularly notched); tip rounded to acute to caudate. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 海兔, translates to “sea hare” (Aplysia), with the clematis colour like that of a sea hare. Briefly sold in 2016 through Registrant’s own online platform.

‘Huaxianzi’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2017), G: G.L. Tian (2018), N: G.L. Tian (2018), REG: J. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.9 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels yellow-green flushed reddish purple at flower. Sepals 4; very pale purplish violet at base

shading to white towards tip, distal skirts purplish violet with a very narrow white edge; inside of sepals white, distal margins reddish purple with a very narrow white edge; 2.2 × 2 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along three-quarters sepal length with distal margins free, minutely wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tip recurved, distinctly ridged. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments and anthers light yellow, filaments with orange hairs and nectaries present. Pistils light yellow. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 3 m, stems green. Lvs divided into 2 lflets, occasionally lobed, further divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 花仙子, translates to “flower fairy” and was derived from the shape of the flower.

‘Huodidao’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 2.0 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly and bi-axillary, not scented; pedicels purplish red. Buds ovoid.

Sepals 4; outside of sepals vivid reddish pink at base becoming pink, inside of sepals white becoming yellowish white towards tip; outside colour becoming richer on an overcast/cloudy day; 2.3 × 2.3 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy (sepals very thick at base), touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, longpointed at tip with tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments light yellow, nectary present; anthers yellow, both with golden hairs. Pistils very light greenish yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m, stems green maturing to light orange-brown. Lvs simple and further divided into 2-6 lflets, ovate to cordate, green to blue-green; margins entire; tip rounded to acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 火地岛, translates to “Tierra del Fuego”.

‘Illustrator’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: D.D. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 2.0 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly in axils and in dichasial cymes, not scented; pedicels yellow-green. Sepals 4; outside

of sepals mainly white with a pale purple flush over the ribs, with white indumentum; inside of sepals white with a purple flush across recurved tips, tip edges outlined in dark purple, occasionally with a hint of green; 2.1 × 2.1 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching for three-quarters sepal length (or more) with distal margins free, minutely wavymargined or ruffled along free margin edges, tip strongly recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments white, nectary present; connectives light yellow; anthers light yellow; filaments and anthers with light yellow hairs. Pistils creamy white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 1.2 m, stems green maturing to dark orangebrown. Lvs (occasionally lobed) divided into 2 lflets and further divided into 2-8 lflets, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire; tip rounded to acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 插画师 (‘Cha Hua Shi’). The name was derived from the fact that the flower has so much detail it looked as if someone had illustrated it. The registrant was an illustrator, which inspired the name for this cultivar.

‘Jian’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Hybrid seedling × texensis

H: G.L. Tian (2013), G: G.L. Tian (2014), N: G.L. Tian (2014), REG: J. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped to narrowly bell-shaped, 2.8 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels purplish red. Sepals 4; outside of sepal purplish red (rose-red), free margins light yellow, with no skirts, surface smooth with no raised ribs; inside of sepal white at base becoming pale yellow towards tip; 3.0 × 2.2 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along three-quarters to half sepal length with distal margins free, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments and connectives light yellow; anthers creamy yellow, both with golden hairs; nectary present. Pistils light yellow, long stigma. Seed-heads persistent, seed tail plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 3 m, stems light brown maturing to purplish brown. Lvs simple and also further divided into 2-7 lflets, green maturing to blue-green; margins entire but very slightly wavy; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Named after the hybridiser’s husband.

‘Jifeng’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped (very rounded), 1.5 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels green flushed purplish red. Sepals 4; outside of sepal creamy white with a light reddish pink flush in basal half, tips yellowish white; inside of sepal creamy white; 2.2 × 1.8 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, margins minutely ruffled, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments light yellow; connectives yellow; anthers yellow; with white indumentum. Pistils very light yellow. Seedheads persistent, seed tail plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2 m, stems green maturing to orange-brown. Lvs simple and further divided into 2-6 lflets; green maturing to mid-green; base cordate; margins entire; tip acute. FL: May- September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 姬蜂. Named after the Registrant’s cat. Translates to “female bee/wasp”.

‘Kayleigh’ Viorna Group

Parentage: crispa × ‘Royal Velours’

H: G.W. Vann (2018), G: G.W. Vann, N: G.W. Vann (2023), REG: G.W. Vann (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, broadly bell-shaped, 5.5 cm across, nodding, bi-axillary and terminal flowers, not scented. Buds long conical, reddish purple. Sepals 4; outside of sepals (including ribs) purplish red in central bar with very light purplish red skirts, margin edges narrowly dark purplish red; inside of sepals white centrally (appearing as a white/pale pink cross) becoming pinkish white then purplish red towards tip and margins; the texture of the underside of the sepal giving the appearance of being heavily veined. Sepals 3 × 1 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, narrowly elliptic central bar with prominent ridges, wide ‘skirts’ with crispate margins which overlap at base, underside of sepals have a rugose texture, tips long-pointed and widely reflexed. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments light yellow; anthers yellow. Stigmas creamy white. Seed-heads not persistent, with mildly plumose seed tails. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-2.5 m. Lvs pinnate with divided first set of leaflets, thereafter single with terminal trifoliate prehensile leaflets; margins entire; green when young maturing to dark green. FL: June-July (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 6-9.

“Kayleigh is especially floriferous, having both multiple shoots from the soil and many flowers developing from bi-axils and terminal buds. It blooms over a longer period than

Viticellas (a trait derived from crispa) and unlike most Viticellas, flowers first appear at terminal buds (also a crispa trait)”.

‘Keith Treadaway’ Viticella Group

Parentage: ‘Joan Baker’

H: K. Treadaway (2006), G: R. Hodson, N: R. Hodson (2023), I: Hawthornes Clematis Nursery (2023), REG: R. Hodson (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, broadly bell-shaped to flat (cruciform) with sepals recurved on maturity, outward- to downward-facing; pedicels purple-red. Buds conical, nodding, purplish-red. Sepals 4; underside of sepals reddish purple to purple over a paler ground, with noticeable reddish purple to purple venation in margins, base of sepal and sepal margins pale lilac; outside of sepals light reddish purple with broad pale lilac margins, 3 × 1 cm, elliptic, widely spaced, touching only at base, wavy-margined, long-pointed, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Filaments light greenish yellow; connectives light yellow-green; anthers light greenish yellow. Pistils light yellow. Deciduous climber, stems reddish brown when mature. Lvs ternate (occasionally terminal leaflet lobed), green when young maturing to mid-green, margins entire, tip acute; petiole purplish red. FL: July to September (outdoors, UK) on current year’s growth. Very floriferous.

Published refs: The Clematis 2023

Named in memory of Keith Treadaway.

‘Luna’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: D.D. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped (very rounded), 2.0 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels yellow-green flushed reddish purple towards flower. Sepals 4; outside of sepals reddish purple at base shading to light reddish purple or purplish pink towards tip, with golden yellow indumentum; inside of sepals creamy yellow, tip greenish yellow; 2.1 × 1.8 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching for half to three-quarters sepal length with distal margins free, minutely wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tip strongly recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments creamy white; connectives yellow; anthers yellow, with golden yellow indumentum. Pistils light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2 m, stems light orange when young.

Lvs simple and further divided into 2-6 lflets; green maturing to mid-green; base cordate; margins entire; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 露娜, translates to “graceful”. Named after the Registrant’s cat.

‘Magic Mirror’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: D.D. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped,1.6 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels reddish purple. Sepals 4; outside of sepals blueish reddish purple becoming slightly lighter towards tip, distal margins light greenish yellow, with sparse white indumentum; inside of sepals white becoming light green towards and at tip, light yellow in distal margins; 2.0 × 1.9 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, slightly wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips long pointed and recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments and connectives pale yellowish green; anthers yellow, with white indumentum; nectary present. Pistils yellowish white. Seed-heads persistent, seed tails plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.2 m, stems green maturing to dark orange-brown. Lvs divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to dark green, base cordate; margins entire; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 魔镜, (pinyin ‘Mojing’), translates to “magic mirror”. Name inspired from the colour and shape of the flower. The ratio of the widest to narrowest part of the flower is the maximum recorded by the hybridizer for this hybrid group. The fertility of this hybrid is very low, most of the ovaries are sterile; very few seeds develop.

‘Man Wu Hong Bao Shi’ Texensis Group

Parentage: ‘Hongmadinglingdang’ × ‘Baosezhijun’

H: Y. La, J. Lu, Z. Bu, K. Liu & M. Sun, S: Y. La, J. Lu, Z. Bu, K. Liu & M. Sun, N: Y. La, J. Lu, Z. Bu, K. Liu & M. Sun (2023), REG: Institute of Flowers, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangxi, China (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, narrowly bell-shaped, 1.4 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Sepals 4; outside of sepals purple-red with creamy white margin edges visible along sepal length, outside of sepal with a few white hairs; inside of sepals creamy white; 2.4 × 1.6

cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, sepals touching along length to approximately two-thirds, free distal margins minutely wavy, long-pointed with tip recurved. Staminodes 2 cm, yellow. Filaments yellow; anthers yellow. Pistils light yellow; seed tail plumose. Evergreen herbaceous climber. Lvs simple, green maturing to dark green; margins entire. FL: JuneJuly (outdoors), on current year’s growth. Hardy.

Original script: ‘漫舞红宝石’, translates to “free or unrestrained dancing ruby”.

‘Meng Lu’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed. H: G.L. Tian (2013), G: G.L. Tian (2014), N: G.L. Tian (2014), REG: D.D. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.9 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels green flushed light purplish red at flower. Sepals 4; outside of sepals very pale purplish pink becoming yellow towards tip, occasionally yellowish green at tip, surface smooth and glossy; inside of sepals white, dark reddish purple across recurved tips and into margins; 2.2 × 2.0 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, slightly wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments creamy white; connectives light yellow; anthers yellow; filaments and anthers with yellowish white hairs. Pistils creamy white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m, stems green maturing to light orange-brown. Lvs simple, occasionally lobed and further divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 梦露. The pinyin ‘Meng Lu’ translates to “monroe”. The cultivar name was inspired by the actress Marilyn Monroe. “The textural qualities of the sepal’s outer epidermis is reminiscent of smooth, soft baby’s skin, to which beautiful women’s skin is often compared. The chosen cultivar name was intended to establish the connection between the sepal’s characteristics and tender young skin.”

‘Mystic’ Early Large-flowered Group

Parentage: ‘Tao’ × (‘Lincoln Star’ × ‘Ernest Markham’)

H: G.W. Vann (2018), G: G.W. Vann, N: G.W. Vann (2023), REG: G.W. Vann (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 10 cm across, upwardor outward-facing, bi-axillary and terminal flowers, not scented. Buds conical, with white hairs. Sepals 6-8 (mostly 6); rich

reddish purple with purplish red flush at tip in sepal centre, rolled in tip margins greyish white; back of sepal purple, calyces red-brown with dark ribs; 5 × 3.5 cm, elliptic to broadly ovate (slight C. florida type form with strong bars), touching at base, long-pointed with tip margins rolled in to form a distinct apiculus, slightly cupped and symmetric. Stamens numerous and each year the filaments have been slightly longer at the expense of the anthers; filaments long and purplish pink; anthers slightly short and dark red. Stigmas yellow. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-2.5 m. Lvs trifoliate, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire. FL: June-July (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 6-9.

‘Neonka’ Late Large-flowered Group

Parentage: ‘Skyfall’ (s) × ‘Julka’

H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2018), N: S. Marczyński (2023), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2024), REG: S. Marczyński (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 8-12 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Buds long pointed. Sepals 5-6; strong violet with deep purplish red colouration at tip and at the base and centre of sepal, with grey indumentum on the outside of the sepals; 4-6 × 3.2-3.5 cm, elliptic, touching at base and with gaps between, slightly undulatory or wavy-margined, long-pointed. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments creamy white; anthers yellow. Pistils light yellow-green. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-2.5 m, stems light green maturing to brown. Lvs simple to ternate, pale green maturing to mid-green; margins entire; tip acute. FL: JuneSeptember (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

Published refs: Oferta Wiosna 2024 Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnączy: 12/11/23

‘Nucleus’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: D.D. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped (very rounded), 1.2 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers; pedicels green flushed reddish purple at flower. Buds almost globose. Sepals 4; outside of sepals bluish pink with vivid pink ribs, tips flushed green, free margins narrowly creamy white; inside of sepals light yellow flushed purplish red at tips with very narrow white margin edges; 1.7 × 1.5 cm; broadly elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments yellow with

golden indumentum, nectary present; anthers light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Seed tail plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m. stems pinkish light brown maturing to dark orange. Lvs divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire and slightly wavy. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 细胞核, translates to “cell nucleus”.

‘Once More’ Integrifolia Group

Parentage: ‘Rosea’ (Integrifolia Group) (s) × ‘Julka’

H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2018), N: S. Marczyński (2023), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2024), REG: S. Marczyński (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 10-13 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Buds conical. Sepals 4-6; velvety dark violet with dark purplish red stripe, with grey indumentum on the outside of the sepals; 4.5-6.5 × 2-3 cm, narrowly elliptic to slightly obovate with gaps between the sepals, margins slightly wavy, tips long-pointed and recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments greenish yellow flushed reddish purple at base; anthers yellow. Pistils light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Non-climber with herbaceous stems to 1.5 m; stems purplish green maturing to brown. Lvs simple and divided into 3-5 leaflets, green maturing to dark green; margins entire; tip acute. FL: Start of June through to mid-August on current year’s growth (outdoors). Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

Published refs: Oferta Wiosna 2024 Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnączy: 12/11/23

‘Online’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: J. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.7 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented. Sepals 4; outside of sepals white and distinctly ribbed; inside of sepals white with recurved distal margins and tip edged in green; 2.1 × 1.7 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal threequarters with distal margins free, wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments white, nectary present; connectives pale yellow-green; anthers yellow; filaments and anthers with fine hairs. Pistils greenish white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m. stems green maturing

to orange-brown. Lvs simple and further divided into 2-8 lflets, green to mid-green; margins entire. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 在线 (pinyin ‘Zaixian’). Name was inspired by the flower’s thin green lip line.

‘Peizi’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2013), G: G.L. Tian (2014), N: G.L. Tian (2014), I: G.L. Tian (2016), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.7 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers; not scented; pedicels green flushed dark reddish purple at flower. Sepals 4; outside of sepal pale violet mottled with pale purple in basal half, becoming yellowish white or white at tip, free margins flushed light purple; inside of sepals white, recurved tips and free margins dark purple; 2.1 × 1.8 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, wavymargined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments and connectives pale yellow; anthers yellow; with light brown indumentum, nectary present. Pistils very light yellow. Seed-heads persistent; seed tail plumose.

Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2 m, stems green when young maturing to orangebrown. Lvs simple to lobed, further divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 配子, translates to “gamete”. Briefly sold in 2016 through Registrant’s own online platform. This cultivar is still sold through other online stores in China.

‘Rachel Storer’ Cirrhosa Group

Parentage: ‘Isca’ (s) × cirrhosa var. balearica

H: A. Armitage (2020), G: A. Armitage (2022), N: A. Armitage (2023), REG: A. Armitage (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, broadly bell-shaped, 3.5-4.5 cm across, nodding or drooping, flowers hang singly, in twos, threes or fours, not scented; pedicels yellow-green flushed pinkish red at flower. Sepals 4; cream-coloured flushed faint light yellow-green along centre of sepal, maturing to creamy-white and lacking spots, 3.1 × 2 cm, broadly elliptic, slightly overlapping and touching at base, sepals strongly recurved at sides and at tips. Stamens: filaments greenish white to light yellow-green; connectives

pinkish red; anthers pale pink; pollen creamy yellow. Pistils: styles yellowish or greenish white; stigmas yellowish white. Seed-heads persistent. Evergreen (although enters summer dormancy), woody climber, reddish green when young maturing to brown. Lvs green when young maturing to dark green, ternate, regularly toothed similar to C. cirrhosa var. balearica. FL: Nov-Jan (under glass), on previous season’s growth. Hardy: RHS H7.

Published refs: Clem. Int. 2023: 155-159

Cultivar clearly displays certain characteristics from C. napaulensis such as the cream unspotted colouring of the sepals and the recurved sides and tips of the sepals. It also inherits the pale pink anthers from the C. ‘Isca’/napaulensis genes. From C. cirrhosa var. balearica it inherits the distinctive fern shaped toothed leaves and larger flower size.

‘Raspberry Cream’ Early

Large-flowered Group

Parentage: ‘Hoshi-no-flamenco’ × ‘Duchess of Edinburgh’

H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2017), N: S. Marczyński (2023), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2024), REG: S. Marczyński (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single to semi-double, flat or flattish, 18-20 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Sepals 6-8; vivid reddish pink, underside of sepals pink with a cream stripe; 8-9 × 5-6 cm, elliptic to broadly elliptic, occasionally slightly oval, overlapping, rounded at tip but with a distinct apiculus. Staminodes 2-12 in Spring, same colour as sepals. Stamens: filaments creamy white; anthers yellow. Pistils light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 1.6-1.8 m, light green maturing to brown. Lvs simple to ternate, green maturing to mid-green; broadly elliptic; margins entire; cordate at base, tip acute. FL: Mid-May through to end of June (outdoors) on previous season’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

Published refs: Oferta Wiosna 2024 Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnączy: 12/11/23

‘Red Hat’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Chance seedling; parentage unknown

S: Z. Liu & T.B. Sun (2013), N: Z. Liu (2022), REG: Zhejiang A&F University & Ningbo Ertao Clematis Agriculture Co. Ltd, China (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, narrowly bell-shaped, 1.5-2 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly in axils or terminally, not scented; pedicels flushed purplish red at flower. Sepals 4; outside of sepals purplish red with light purplish red margins, inside of sepals light

purplish red with the margins very narrowly edged in darker purplish red; 3-3.5 × 1-1.5 cm, thick and fleshy with noticeable central rib, touching along basal two-thirds with distal margins free and minutely wavy, long-pointed, tip recurved. Filaments white; anthers light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-3 m. Stems green when young maturing to brown. Lvs divided with 7 lflets, green when young maturing to dark green; margins entire, base somewhat caudate, apex broadly acute. FL: May-October (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

‘Scarlet Windmill’ Viticella Group

Parentage: ‘Skyfall’ × ‘13-02’

H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2018), N: S. Marczyński (2023), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2024), REG: S. Marczyński (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, bell-shaped, 8-12 cm across, upwardor outward-facing, borne singly, not scented; pedicels reddish purple. Sepals 4(-6); inside of sepals intense red, slightly lighter red in base of sepals, with green discolourations on opposite two tips of sepals, as in ‘Alba Luxurians’; outside of sepals with broad central red stripe, pinkish white margins and grey indumentum; 4-6 × 2.5 -3.5 cm, elliptic, touching at base but with gaps between the sepals distally, margins slightly wavy and apex long-pointed. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments creamy white; anthers yellow. Pistils greenish yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-2.5 m; stems purplish brown maturing to brown. Lvs divided into 3, 7, 9, 13 and 17 leaflets; pale green maturing to mid-green; margins entire. FL: June-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9

Published refs: Oferta Wiosna 2024 Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnączy: 12/11/23

‘Shengjing’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.6 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels green flushed reddish purple at flower. Sepals 4; outside of sepals reddish purple and distinctly ridged, free distal margins white; inside of sepals white; 2 × 2.1 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters (or more) with distal margins free, minutely wavymargined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments and anthers light yellow, with light yellow indumentum, nectary present. Pistils

yellowish white. Seed-heads persistent; seed tail plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 3 m, stems green maturing to orange-brown. Lvs simple and further divided, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 生境, translates to “habitat”

‘Strawberry Fields’ Integrifolia Group

Parentage: ‘Rosea’ (Integrifolia Group) (s) × ‘Warszawska Nike’

H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2017), N: S. Marczyński (2023), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2024), REG: S. Marczyński (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, flat or flattish, 7-10 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Sepals 4(5); deep reddish pink with a slightly darker stripe; outside reddish pink with grey indumentum; 3-5 × 1.5-3.5 cm; narrowly elliptic to elliptic, occasionally slightly obovate, with gaps between the sepals (cruciform), margins slightly wavy, tips long-pointed and recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments greenish yellow; anthers yellow. Pistils light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Non-climber with herbaceous stems to 1.6 m; stems purplish green maturing to brown. Lvs divided into 3-5 lflets, green maturing to dark-green; margins entire. FL: June-October (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

Published refs: Oferta Wiosna 2024 Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnączy: 12/11/23

‘Tina Tian’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Hybrid seedling

H: G.L. Tian (2017), G: G.L. Tian (2018), N: G.L. Tian (2018), REG: D.D. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, urn- to narrowly bell-shaped, 2.0 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels reddish purple at flower. Buds conical. Sepals 4; outside of sepals purplish red (rose-red) with distinct central rib, inside of sepals white becoming greenish yellow towards tip; 2.1 × 1.6 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal half to three-quarters with distal margins free, minutely wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips long pointed and recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments light yellow with golden indumentum, nectary present; anthers creamy white. Pistils yellowish white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2 m, stems green maturing to orangebrown. Lvs divided into 2-8 lflets, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire; tip acute.

FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: : 国燕. Named after the Registrant’s sister.

‘Twist and Shout’ Integrifolia Group

Parentage: Chance seedling; parentage unknown

S: Rogerson Clematis Garden (2018), G: Rogerson Clematis Garden (2018), N: Rogerson Clematis Garden (2021), I: Brushwood Nursery (2023), REG: M. Rodgers & Rogerson Clematis Garden (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, very broadly bell-shaped (horizontal when mature), to 10 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly in axils, lightly scented but not as strong as ‘Alba’ forms. Pedicel green shading to purplish green distally, with white hairs. Buds strongly acuminate. Sepals 4; inside very light purple (75C) over a white ground; outside surface central bar and ribs vivid purple (82A) or reddish purple at base of flower (nearest receptacle) shading to light purple (77C) or light reddish purple distally, margins very light purple (75C) over a white ground at base becoming very pale purple distally. Sepals 4.3 × 1.6 cm, narrowly elliptic to slightly obovate, thick and fleshy with prominent ribs, touching at base, wavy-margined, tip recurved. Mature flowers have sepals perpendicular to the stamens; sepals normally with an 180˚ twist, the distal recurve being up to half to a third of sepal length. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments light yellow (10C); anthers moderate brown (200D), both with white hairs. Seed-heads persistent, seed-tail silvery-plumose. Stems herbaceous, non-climbing, erect, 59.2 cm, light green when young maturing to mid-green. Roots fleshy, crown divides easily. Lvs simple, margins entire, green when young maturing to mid-green. FL: June through to August with dead-heading (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Responds well to mid-summer hard prune. Hardy to USDA zones 4-8 (may be hardier than zone 4)

Published refs: The Clematis Garden Autumn 2021

The name is derived from the twisted sepals and the ‘shouty’ pink colour. This chance seedling was first spotted and grown to first flowering by two work experience students at the Rogerson Clematis Garden. ’Twist and Shout’ “shows a good deal of C. integrifolia in its habit and vigour. When compared to other pink C. integrifolia forms (including ‘Hanajima’, ‘Pangbourne Pink’, SAPHYRA DOUBLE ROSE ‘Cleminov 29’) the strong horizontal poise of the open flowers, with their corkscrew length and flipped ends, makes ‘Twist and Shout’ uniquely recognizable” (L. Beutler, 2021).

‘Vanilla Glacier’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2015), G: G.L. Tian (2016), N: G.L. Tian (2016), REG: D.D. Xu (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped, 1.5 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, not scented; pedicels yellow-green flushed reddish purple at flower. Sepals 4; outside of sepals pinkish white in basal half becoming greenish yellow towards tip, free distal margins light greenish yellow; inside of sepals white becoming greenish yellow towards tip but becoming creamy yellow after blooming; 2.5 × 2 cm, thick and fleshy, touching in basal two-thirds with distal margins free, wavy-margined, tip recurved; outside of sepals with a smooth, moist quality. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments yellow, with yellow hairs; connectives yellow, anthers pale yellow. Pistils: styles and stigmas. Seed-heads not persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m. Lvs pinnate, ternate and further divided into 5 leaflets, occasionally with palmately compound leaves; young lvs brownish maturing to mid-green; ovate to cordate, margins entire or occasionally irregularly lobed. FL: May-Sept (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 香草冰川, Xiangcao Bingchuan, translates to “vanilla glacier”. This new cultivar has the same shape as one of the parents but is vanilla in colour. The Registrant noted that the cultivar produced significant quantities of nectar and could be considered important for honey production.

‘Violet Lampion’ Atragene Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: S. Marczyński (2015), G: S. Marczyński (2016), N: S. Marczyński (2023), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2024), REG: S. Marczyński (2023)

Syns: ‘Orion’

Fls hermaphrodite, single, broadly bell-shaped on maturity (in full bloom they open to 80˚, 8-12 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, not scented; pedicels yellow-green occasionally flushed reddish purple at flower. Sepals 4; sepals matte purple (outside of sepals lighter purple), with grey indumentum on both the inside and outside of the sepals, 7-8 × 3.5-4 cm, elliptic, touching at base and with gaps between the sepals distally, margins slightly wavy, longpointed. Staminodes: four staminodes 3 cm long (greenish cream with purple tips) and 12 staminodes 2.5 cm long (greenish cream with a purple flush). Stamens: filaments pale greenish yellow; anthers yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m, stems purple maturing to purplish brown. Lvs simple and divided into 3-5

leaflets, green maturing to dark-green; margins irregularly toothed; tip caudate. FL: MidApril through to the end of May (outdoors) on previous season’s growth, sometimes repeat flowering although less abundantly in July-August. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

Published refs: Oferta Wiosna 2024 Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnączy: 12/11/23 as ‘Orion’. Originally submitted for registration on 14/11/2023 as ‘Orion’. COBORU indicated that the name ‘Orion’ is registered as a trademark in several categories, including plants. The alternative new name of ‘Violet Lampion’ was suggested by Szczepan Marczyńsky and accepted on 07/02/2024.

‘Violet Lipstick’ Texensis Group

Parentage: Selection from texensis ‘Cherry Lip’

S: Z. Liu & T.B. Sun (2013), N: Z. Liu (2022), REG: Zhejiang A&F University & Ningbo Ertao Clematis Agriculture Co. Ltd, China (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, bell-shaped, 2-2.5 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly in leaf axils or terminally, not scented; pedicels dark reddish purple. Buds somewhat globose. Sepals 4; outside of sepals strong reddish purple (N78A) to strong purple (approximately N80A) becoming slightly lighter towards tip; free distal margins edges very light yellow or creamy white; inside of sepals at tip light yellow or creamy white; 3.0-4.5 × 1.0-1.2 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal half with distal margins free, tip recurved but not tightly recurved. Filaments white; anthers light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 1.5-2 m, green when young maturing to reddish brown. Lvs divided with 7 lflets, green when young maturing to dark green; apex rounded or obtuse to acute, base cordate, margins entire. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

‘Wedding Dress’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2012), G: G.L. Tian (2013), N: G.L. Tian (2013), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.7 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels smooth, green flushed very lightly with reddish purple at flower. Buds purplish pink on opening. Sepals 4; outside of sepals bright light purplish pink at base becoming creamy white distally, tip pale green; inside of sepals milky white at base becoming light creamy yellow towards tip; tip pale green maturing to yellowish white in older flowers; 2.1 ×

1.7 cm; sepals with attractively curved and concave surface, with multiple ridges and flat to concave spaces between, surface matte; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens with coppery coloured indumentum and nectaries: filaments very pale yellowish white; connectives light yellow; anthers yellow. Pistils yellowish white. Seed-heads persistent. Seed tail mildly plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5 m; stems green maturing to orange-brown. Lvs simple and divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to dark green; margins entire; tip acute. FL: MaySeptember (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

The name is derived from the bridal shape and colour of the flower.

‘Weixun’ Texensis Group

Parentage: ‘Yanzhi kou’ × ‘Yinzhu’

H: Y. La, C. Su, Z. Bu, M. Sun & K. Liu, S: Y. La, C. Su, Z. Bu, M. Sun & K. Liu, N: Y. La, C. Su, Z. Bu, M. Sun & K. Liu (2023), REG: Institute of Flowers, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangxi, China (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, narrowly bell-shaped, 1.2 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Sepals 4; outside of sepals pink flushed with light purple at the base, broad distal margins white; inside of sepals white to pinkish white shading to very light pink in margins; 2.5 × 1.2 cm; thick and fleshy with prominent ridges, sepals touching to halfway with distal margins free, wavy-margined, long-pointed with tip recurved and somewhat twisted. Staminodes, 1.5 cm, yellow. Stamens: filaments yellow; anthers yellow; with little pollen. Seed-heads persistent. Evergreen herbaceous climber. Lvs simple, yellow-green when young maturing to mid-green; margins entire. FL: May-June (outdoors), on current year’s growth. Hardy. Original script: ‘微醺’ translates to “slightly tipsy”.

‘Wu Mi’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped, 1.6 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne in axils with 1 - 20 flws, pedicels yellowgreen; with a scent like that of C. crispa. Sepals 4; outside of sepals white with fine white hairs, free distal margins pale purple; inside of sepals white with reddish purple recurved tips and pale purple wavy margins; 2.2 × 1.8 cm, thick and fleshy, touching along basal two-thirds with free distal

margins minutely wavy, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments pale yellow at base becoming white; connectives and anthers pale yellow, filaments and anthers with white hairs. Pistils: styles and stigmas light greenish yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-3 m, light orange-brown (‘almond-coloured’) when young maturing to dark orange or reddish brown. Lvs simple, pinnate and further divided into 3-4 leaflets; ovate to cordate, margins entire, tips rounded to somewhat acute, young leaves green maturing to dark green. FL: May-Sept (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 雾迷, translates to “mist”. Registered in China on August 2021 as ‘雾 迷 1 号’ or ‘Wu Mi Yi Hao’. Registered with the ICRA as just ‘雾迷’ or ‘Wu Mi’. The Registrant noted that the cultivar produced significant quantities of nectar and could be considered important for honey production.

‘Xingqing’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Selected from open pollinated seedlings of ‘Angel Dancer’

S: Z. Liu & T.B. Sun (2013), N: Z. Liu (2022), REG: Zhejiang A&F University & Ningbo Ertao Clematis Agriculture Co. Ltd, China (2024)

Syns: ‘Violet Skirt’

Fls hermaphrodite, single, bell-shaped, 1.5-2.0 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly in opposite leaf axils or terminally, not scented; pedicels green flushed reddish purple distally. Sepals 4; outside of sepals strong purple (approximately N80B, N82B to N87B) becoming slightly paler purple at tip; free distal margins white; 3.0-3.5 × 1.0-1.5 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal half with distal margins free, long-pointed, tip recurved. Filaments white; anthers light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-3 m, green when young maturing to reddish brown. Lvs divided with 11 lflets, green when young maturing to dark green; apex rounded or obtuse to acute, base cordate, margins entire. FL: MayOctober (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

Published refs: Acta Horticulturae Sinica, 2022, 49(S1): 161-162

Original script: ‘星晴’, translates to “star or heavenly body; clear or fine (weather)”. Originally registered as ‘Violet Skirt’ on 25/09/2023. This name was rendered invalid (and the registration withdrawn) by the discovery of the earlier published name (with Chinese plant variety rights protection) of ‘Xingqing’. ICNCP 2016, Art 11.1 requires the earliest name to be accepted. The name ‘Xingqing’ was registered on 26/02/24.

‘XueTu’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2015), G: G.L. Tian (2016), N: G.L. Tian (2016), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, urn- to narrowly bell-shaped, 1.8 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels green flushed light purplish pink at flowers. Sepals 4; outside of sepals white flushed light pink at base (becoming paler on maturity), tips and distal margins white; inside of sepals white flushed light yellowish green distally; 2.0 × 1.5 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips long pointed and recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments pale yellow, nectary present; anthers creamy yellow, with golden indumentum. Pistils yellowish white. Seed-heads persistent, seed tail plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2 m, stems green maturing to orange-brown. Lvs simple and divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to dark green; margins entire and slightly wavy; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 雪兔, translates to “snow hare”. The name is derived from the colour of the flower.

‘Yan Hou’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped, 1.8 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly; pedicels reddish purple. Sepals 4; outside of sepals bluish pink; inside of sepals creamy white flushed pink at the tips; 2.5 × 1.7 cm, thick and fleshy, touching to approximately two-thirds with distal margins free, tip recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments yellow; connectives and anthers creamy white, pollen light yellow, filaments and anthers with creamy white hairs. Pistils: styles and stigmas very pale yellow or yellowish white. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-3 m; stem purplish pink when young maturing to dark reddish brown. Lvs simple and divided into 3-5 leaflets, occasionally palmately compound leaves, green when young maturing to mid-green, somewhat cordate; margins entire or occasionally irregularly lobed; tip rounded. FL: May-Sept (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 艳后, translates to “gorgeous queen”. Name derived from the fact that the colour is “gorgeous and different”. The Registrant noted that the cultivar produced significant quantities of nectar and could be considered important for honey production.

‘Yonger’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2016), G: G.L. Tian (2017), N: G.L. Tian (2017), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.7 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels flushed reddish purple at flower. Sepals 4; outside of sepals greyish purple-violet basally, tips and free skirts greenish white, visibly white along touching margin edges; inside of sepals white, recurved tips yellowish white; 2.1 × 1.8 cm, elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, wavy-margined or ruffled along free margin edges, tips recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments yellow, nectary present; anthers light yellow, with golden indumentum. Pistils very light yellow. Seedheads persistent. Seed tail plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.2 m. Lvs simple and divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10. Original script: 涌儿, translates “to bubble up or rush forth”. Named after the Registrant’s pet dog.

‘Yu Wa’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2015), G: G.L. Tian (2016), N: G.L. Tian (2016), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn- to bell-shaped, 1.7 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, bi-axillary and as terminal flowers, not scented; pedicels green with some reddish purple colouration. Sepals 4; outside of sepals mainly light bluish pink becoming pinkish white distally, tip and free margin edges light green; inside of sepals white becoming light green towards tip (light green when flower first opens, becoming pale yellow-green on maturity); 2.2 × 1.7 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy, touching along basal three-quarters with distal margins free, margins smooth to minutely wavy, tips recurved and with white indumentum. Sepals very smooth and puffy; basal end of sepal raised above receptacle creating a ‘heart-shaped’ protrusion with a distinct groove running from base to approximately halfway. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments (with nectary) and anthers light yellow, with golden indumentum. Pistils yellowish white. Seed-heads persistent. Seed tail long-plumose. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2.5-3 m, stems creamy brown when young. Lvs divided into 2-6 lflets, green maturing to mid-green; margins entire and slightly wavy; tip acute. FL: May-September (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 雨蛙, translates to “rainfrog or Hyla”. The name is derived from the smoothness of the sepals, which is reminiscent of the rainfrog.

‘Yue Ye’ Viorna Group

Parentage: Parentage known to breeder but not disclosed.

H: G.L. Tian (2017), G: G.L. Tian (2018), N: G.L. Tian (2018), REG: G.L. Tian (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, urn-shaped, 2.5 cm across, nodding or drooping, borne singly, with a scent somewhat like C. crispa; pedicels yellow-green flushed purple. Sepals 4; outside of sepals light purplish blue shading to yellowish white at approximately halfway, yellowish white to tip; free wavy margins yellowish white; inside of sepals mainly white; 2 × 2.2 cm, thick and fleshy, touching to approximately halfway, free distal margins wide and wavy-margined, tip strongly recurved. Staminodes absent. Stamens: filaments light yellow; connectives yellow; anthers light yellow; filaments and anthers with light yellow hairs. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 2-2.5 m, stems green when young maturing to dark orange. Lvs pinnate and also divided into 3-5 leaflets, green when young maturing to mid-green, narrowly ovate to elliptic; margins; tip acute. FL: May-Sept (outdoors) on current year’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 5-10.

Original script: 月夜, translates to “moonlit night”, the name being derived from the colour, suggesting the sky and moon at night. The Registrant noted that the cultivar produced significant quantities of nectar and could be considered important for honey production.

‘Ziyun’ Texensis Group

Parentage: Unidentified Japanese Texensis cultivar × ‘Yinzhu’

H: Y. La, J. Lu, Z. Bu, K. Liu & M. Sun, S: Y. La, J. Lu, Z. Bu, K. Liu & M. Sun, N: Y. La, J. Lu, Z. Bu, K. Liu & M. Sun (2023), REG: Institute of Flowers, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangxi, China (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single, narrowly bell-shaped, 1.2 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Sepals 4; outside light purplish pink, free margins pale purplish pink (almost pinkish white); inside light purplish pink with slightly darker purple edges; 2.1 × 1.1 cm; elliptic, thick and fleshy with prominent ribs, sepals touching in basal two-thirds, minutely wavy-margined in free distal margins, long pointed, tip recurved. Staminodes 1.6 cm, yellow. Stamens: filaments light yellow; anthers light yellow; with little pollen. Pistils creamy white; seed-heads persistent. Evergreen herbaceous climber. Lvs simple; yellow-green when young maturing to mid-green; margins entire. FL: May-June (outdoors); on current year’s growth. Hardy.

Original script: ‘紫韵’ translates to “purple rhyme/beautiful sound”. Further details are being sought regarding the seed parent, possibly a Japanese cultivar with the epithet ‘グローリ’.

‘Zosia’ Early Large-flowered Group

Parentage: ‘My Darling’ (s) × ‘Pink Beauty’

H: S. Marczyński (2013), G: S. Marczyński (2016), N: S. Marczyński (2023), I: Clematis The Source of Good Climbers (2024), REG: S. Marczyński (2023)

Fls hermaphrodite, single to semi-double, flat or flattish, 1316 cm across, upward- or outward-facing, borne singly, not scented. Sepals 6-8, sometimes with 4-8 additional staminodes in Spring; sepals velvety deep red becoming pinkish red as flowers fade; outside of sepal red with a central green white-edged stripe; 6.5-8 × 4.5-6 cm; elliptic to broadly elliptic, overlapping, sometimes with slightly wavy margins, rounded to obtuse at apex with small apicule. Staminodes 5-8 cm long, dark red. Stamens: filaments greenish yellow; connectives burgundy red; anthers reddish pink; pollen light yellow. Pistils light yellow. Seed-heads persistent. Deciduous climber, with stems up to 0.9-1.6 m, stems light green maturing to brown. Lvs simple to ternate; green to dark green; base cordate, margins entire; tip acute. FL: Mid-May to end of June (outdoors) on previous season’s growth. Hardy to USDA zones 4-9.

Published refs: Oferta Wiosna 2024 Clematis Źródło Dobrych Pnączy: 12/11/23

Vince and Sylvia Denny

Extract of an article by Harry Caddick as it appeared in the 2018 Journal