International
Clematis
Society
welcomes all Clematis lovers.
Clematis International 2010
This year's journal, Clematis International 2010 was posted to all paid-up members of the Society before the end of May. With 192 pages of news, pictures, technical articles and reports from Switzerland 2009 amongst other things, it has something for everyone.Currently we have a slightly higher number than usual of members who have not yet renewed their membership for 2010, so if you have not received your copy, please check first that you have actually paid. If not, please renew now and you will get your copy just as soon as we can post it.
If you have any questions regarding your membership, please contact the Society.
Our garden this month
After a number of wet weeks, the last fortnight or so has been sunny and hot. Most of the early flowered hybrids are past their best, though I must mention C. 'Piilu', which having given us some beautiful early double flowers, is now showing equally lovely singles. But Fiona tends not to plant many of the early large flowered hybrids in our garden as our heavy clay soil doesn't seem to suit them and there is a limit on the number of pots you can place on a small patio.
However the late large flowered hybrids look better day by day, and we've some viticellas already out in flower as well. C. 'Fond Memories', with the purple edge to its sepals, always looks lovely and this year is no exception. Fiona grows it along side C. 'Remembrance' and 'Emilia Plater', and the three different colours make a very good combination.
I mentioned the viticellas and a good example is C. 'Betty Corning'. It loves to scramble in amongst other things, and the pale blue/purple flowers suddenly appear in various other plants, often many metres from where it is planted. It is, of course, one of the few scented clematis, though some specimens are more scented than others.
C. 'Södertälje', another viticella, is also doing very well. Possibly somewhat underrated, ours always has masses of deep pink/red flowers.
There are many more I could mention but I'll save them for another time as I come to my choice for this month, C. 'Valge Daam'. Bred by Uno Kivistik of Estonia, it has blueish-white, flowers with contrasting anthers. We have it planted in a dark corner of our front garden, tucked away from all except the early morning sun, half hidden by a Callistemon - "bottle brush bush". Most other clematis would go totally unnoticed, but the mass of blueish-white flowers of C. 'Valge Daam' stand out as you approach our house, brightening up an otherwise very dull space. Truly a delight to behold!
Portland 2010
Registration for our 2010 Meeting and Conference in Portland, Oregon, USA continues at a steady pace, now with over seventy attendees. There are still places left, but please don't delay, you only have until the end of July, then registration closes. However it has been decided to waive the late registration fee. Also Option 4 - the Historic Gardens visits on Friday September 10th., is now full. Guess you should have registered earlier!Our previous visit to the USA was acclaimed by all as a wonderful meeting and this one promises to be even better, with an enjoyable, fun programme and lots of clematis.
You can register by visiting the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection website, at http://www.rogersonclematiscollection.org/ and clicking on the link on the right hand side of the page.
If you are currently wondering whether or not to attend, why not have a look at the programme, either on our Future Events page or on the FRCC website.
Registration and payment can be made online (payment by PayPal) or if you prefer, you can download a registration form and post it back. There are also details for payment using bank transfer if you prefer.
Re accommodation, whilst you are welcome to stay wherever you wish, FRCC have negotiated a special rate with University Place, accommodation affiliated with Portland State University, and also the centre of our Conference. Please visit the FRCC website or our Future Events page for further details. And the final good news for anyone driving to Portland is that FRCC have also managed to negotiate a special car parking rate with University Place, both for attendees staying on site and for attendees driving each day.
Digital Photography
The Digital Camera has brought photography within the grasp of millions of people, but taking good digital photographs is a different issue. Increasingly presentations are expected in digital format, but this requires a different set of skills to assembling a magazine of 35mm slides. And moving from 35mm photography to the digital world also takes getting used to. So I was very interested when a couple of our members pointed me to a very useful booklet written by Dr John McCormack ARPS and published by the Hardy Plant Society of Great Britain, "From Slides to Digital".
I quote from their website:
"Whether we like it or not, computers and digital photography has taken over from films and slide projectors.
This booklet is aimed at members who make presentations at meetings but probably contains information that will be useful to all photographers - whether you are already into digital photography, thinking about it or just have a large collection of slides."What impressed me about this booklet was that it tackles some fairly complex issues but in a way which even beginners can understand. So it really does contain something for everyone, whatever your level of expertise and experience.
You can download a copy of this booklet for free, visit The Hardy Plant Society website and follow the link on the right hand side.
My thanks to The Hardy Plant Society and John McCormack for permission to link to this booklet, and to Roy Nunn and Mike Brown for bringing this to my attention.
Nursery Membership
The Society offers a second category of membership - Nursery Membership. So far we have been very pleased with the support that many nurseries have given by renewing as Nursery Members. We thank them all.
These Nursery Members can be found on a special Nursery Members page on this website.
The Society hopes you will recognize that, as members of this Society, these Nursery Members have a particular interest, knowledge and love of clematis and can be expected to provide a range and quality of plants, and informed knowledge, not usually available in non-specialist outlets. Please check this page regularly for additions.
Whilst it is now too late for your nursery details to be included in Clematis International 2009, any further Nursery Memberships will be published on this website as they are received and also in the List of Members when it is reissued at the beginning of next year.
Clematis for Beginners List
The revised version of this document was ratified at the Constitutional General Meeting in Japan in June 2008. We thank everyone who has commented and contributed to the debate on its content. This website has now been updated with this version and you can study it at Clematis for Beginners List. You can also download a copy of this document from our Clematis for Beginners Download section, in English, Dutch or German.
For those that do not know this feature, the Society's Clematis for Beginners List gives a list of cultivars that are very suitable for clematis novices around the world. It is available online and in down loadable versions in English, German and Dutch. All the clematis on the list are easy to grow, easy to look after and resistant to common pests and diseases, and whilst there are no absolute guarantees where gardening is concerned, most people should have success with all of these.
The online version of this list now contains more information about each clematis featured within it, along with a simple menu bar to let you see each group and then pick the clematis you're interested in. The downloadable version is very suitable for taking with you when you visit your local nursery or garden centre!
Clematis Cultivar Group Classification with Identifying Key and Diagrams, by Wim Snoeijer
Wim Snoeijer, renown clematis expert, enthusiast and clematis breeder with the dutch clematis nursery of Jan van Zoest, will be known to many members of this Society from articles published in our journal, talks that he has given and the visit to the van Zoest nursery during our trip to the Netherlands in 2003. He has self-published a book about Clematis Classification, detailing his research, thinking and conclusions in this area.
A short description of this book was published in Clematis International 2009. A more comprehensive review will be published in this year's journal, Clematis International 2010.
The book is only available from Wim Snoeijer. For further details, please visit Clematis Cultivar Group Classification book by Wim Snoeijer.
Trialing New Clematis
Clematis International 2008 contained an article about trialing new clematis by well-known clematis breeder, Wim Snoeijer. He referred to a example of a Clematis Trial contract which may be of interest to anyone embarking on such a trial, or commissioning someone else to perform such a trial. You can download a copy of this by visiting the A.O.B. (Any Other Business) page accessible from our Information, Answers and Questions section.
Stop Press - Have you seen this clematis?
We have received an urgent request to try to find someone who has, or knows the whereabouts of, C. 'Hidcote Purple'. It is described in the International Clematis Register and Checklist 2002 as:-
'Hidcote Purple'
Late large flowered group.
Parentage unknown.
Raised by: Hidcote Gardens, Introduced by: Jim Fisk 1974.
Flowers (10)1218 cm across. Sepals 78, pale pinkish purple to purple, suffused with claret, reflexed in mature flowers, pointed. Anthers dark. Deciduous climber with stems 2-2.5 metres. Flowers: June September.
Published ref. Fisk's Clematis Cat. 1974.It is Hidcote Manor garden's centenary in 2007 and they are very keen to locate C. 'Hidcote Purple' which was lost to them some years ago. Glyn Jones, Head Gardener at Hidcote Manor, says that the plant was last listed in The Plant Finder in 1989. If you can help, please email Glyn Jones direct using this link.
The International Clematis Register
I have mentioned a number of times how invaluable I find the The International Clematis Register and Checklist 2002, published by the Royal Horticultural Society. The Third Supplement has now been published and is available, along with the First and Second Supplements, both in paper and electronically from the RHS website. For details on ordering from the RHS, please visit the RHS web site.
There is, of course, still a need for all Clematis breeders, both professionals and amateurs, to register your Clematis varieties with the Registrar to continue to keep the International Clematis Register up to date. We're trying to make it easy by providing down loadable copies in both .rtf and .pdf formats, with the latest form (September 2006). All you then have to do is fill it in, sign it and send it off to Duncan Donald, the International Clematis Registrar. His contact details are now on this page. You can even download the form just to see what information it requires, and that completing it is not such a daunting task.
Clematis on the Web International Survey
If you're already a convert to growing clematis, have you joined the Clematis on the Web International Survey yet? Clematis on the Web, with the assistance of the University of Hull, is undertaking a major international survey of clematis. This survey seeks to gather accurate information about all clematis in cultivation around the world at the beginning of the 21st century. Use the link above and you can read more about the survey, its aims and objectives, register and input your contribution all from this site. This is a long term project, it will take a number of years to complete, but its success starts with the collection of data. So please, take a little time out to visit the site and play your part in this major exercise that will help all of us.
Die deutsche Gruppe
Wenn Sie diese Wörter verstehen können, dann besuchen Sie vielleicht die Seite der deutschen Gruppe bei dieser Web-Site. The International Clematis Society is pleased to publicize the activities of the German Group by providing them with a page on this site. It contains reports on past activities and, on occasions, information about future ones.
And finally ....
The ethos of the Internet is to be an open forum for ideas, views and opinions. Sites should encourage visitors to link to other sites, it's a two-way process. So if you've got a few moments, why not look at our Clematis Links page and follow up one or two. You may find a lot more than you were expecting!
For any non-members visiting this site, have you considered joining the Society? With plans for some very interesting meetings over the next few years there couldn't be a better time. For details, visit our How to Join page.
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