International
Clematis
Society
welcomes all Clematis lovers.
January 2010 Newsletter
The January 2010 Newsletter was posted to all members in the first week of February 2010. It contains an update on Portland 2010, the visit of this Society to Portland, Oregon, USA, this year at the invitation of the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection (FRCC). You will be able to register for this event from early March, see below.In addition, there was advanced news of proposed visits by the Society to Belgium in 2011 and to China in 2012. Information about all three events can also be found on our Future Events page, along with other clematis-related activities taking place this year.
As happens at this time each year, the newsletter was accompanied by a copy of your Membership Record and Status and the Society Membership List, correct as of the end of January. Please read your entry and let us know if there is anything wrong with it.
The Membership Status showed whether or not we believe you have renewed your membership. If you haven't done so already, PLEASE renew your membership now. Each year we spend a lot of time and effort, not to mention money, reminding people to renew. So don't let us be reminding YOU!
Portland 2010
Registration for this event is expected to commence early in March 2010. Online registration will be available through a link on the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection website, at http://www.rogersonclematiscollection.org/. If the link is not yet available when you check, please wait a few days and check again. One good piece of news for anyone driving to Portland is that our hosts, FRCC, have managed to negotiate a special car parking rate with University Place, the suggested accommodation.Our garden this month
This month I've chosen a non-clematis from our garden. Don't get me wrong - our C. cirrhosa var. purpurascens 'Freckles' is still looking very good, but I featured this cultivar a couple of months ago, so it would be cheating to do it again so soon.
Our C. armandii has buds but no flowers as yet - promises for the future but not for today. We've had quite a lot of rain recently, so on the occasional sunny day it's good to spend a little time seeing what's starting to show signs of life. We could still get another cold spell - not as cold as, say, our friends in Canada, Scandinavia, the USA or even mainland Europe, but cold for the UK, so one needs to keep fingers crossed. It's still pleasing to spot the signs of life on the alpinas and macropetalas, a portent of flowers to come.
I listened to a report on the radio this morning debating whether spring starts on the 1st March, the March equinox, or some other date. As far as I'm concerned, a much happier sign, albeit somewhat less scientific, is the first snowdrops and cyclamen.
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.
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 information about future activities and reports on past ones, including the next Rose and Clematis Festival in Unterliezheim in July 2007.
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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