Cost is $8.00 per bag, or 2 for $15.00.

Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection are happy to announce that thanks to Pro-Gro Mixes and Bob Gutmann (for transport), we now have our custom blended clematis container soil available in 1 cubic foot bags. We were going to sell larger bags, but with the sand we add they were too heavy for most folks to move easily, so at Pro-Gro’s suggestion, we are selling the 1 cubic foot size. We can help you load your rig.

Let us tell you why we like our soil so much. Most potting soils are blended for plants that, frankly, aren’t going to live in pots very long, usually annuals, and usually just one growing season. In the fall or early spring, most gardeners, if they’re smart, dump their old soil into their compost bins, and start afresh. But when people plant clematis in containers—or you’re Brewster Rogerson, and grow hundreds in containers—they don’t want to have to re-pot with fresh soil every year. Most commercial potting soil turns to “wet chocolate cake” after less than two years, gloppy, gooey, stinky, and ultimately deadly. For clematis you need a free-draining, well aerated soil that is coarse, and that will re-wet easily if it should get too dry. Our soil does that. We start with a very coarse standard mix from Pro-Gro (#9b), and we add coconut fiber (re-wets MUCH better than peat moss and isn’t so acidic when it does break down), pumice, and washed sand. Clematis roots love it. (And Pro-Gro will mix it for you, too, if you need a lot.)

Stop by and pick up a bag or two any Friday during our drop-in hours (10am to noon), or e-mail info@rogersonclematiscollection.org to set up a pick-up time. Cost is $8.00 per bag, or 2 for $15.00.

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Nothing like planning a party to motivate us to get big projects done! Friday evening August 20 is our annual volunteer appreciation picnic, and we have the International Clematis Society coming on September 11. So today, thanks to Bob Gutmann, Rick Meigs, Bob Candello, Nancy Stanton-Chek, and Larry Beutler, a new surface that will remain weed free was placed over our plant storage terrace on the west side of the greenhouse.

The surface was applied in three phases: spreading quarter-minus gravel over the existing coarse gravel to even out the surface (terrace was watered yesterday to allow the new gravel to seat itself into the old gravel). Then Rick had a tamper rented to pack the new gravel into a solid surface, operated here by Larry Beutler. Then the ground cloth was laid out, folded as needed, and anchored with long nails and washers (missed getting a picture of that!). Then the new surface was swept, and the plants waiting in little clutches around the gardens were returned to the terrace.

Now when visitors arrive, we can show them our lovely bed of Clematis cirrhosa hybrids and New Zealand clematis without being embarrassed that the rest of the terrace looks a mess. And we assume that if the ground upon which the plants are sitting isn’t weedy, it will be much easier to keep the weeds out of the pots.

Thanks also to our intern, Linda Huff, who weeded the few terrace clematis that escaped grooming before their brief move, and watered them once they were back in place.

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It may not seem like a big thing to most of our sister botanic gardens and arboreta, but for the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection, with our limited operating budget, the addition of plumbing to our greenhouse is a very grand thing. Several years ago, Debbie Fischer of Silver Star Vinery in Yacolt, WA, gave us an old farm sink that she had hanging around her place. So the sink went from hanging around her place to hanging around the north end of the FRCC greenhouse. This year, Bob Gutmann—who used to house the Rogerson Clematis Collection at Gutmann Nurseries in North Plains, OR—decided to take on the installation of the sink as a project.

Everything that Bob does for us is done right. As you can see from the picture, the whole end of the greenhouse where the sink now sits has been cleaned up and leveled and covered with ground cloth. The sink, which now looks like new, has a backsplash and drainboard, all made by Bob. He also installed a pipe into the greenhouse on the back of this outdoor sink, so that when we find a sink we like, we can easily plumb the indoor sink.

Bob has also engineered the indoor hose stand so that we have water inside the greenhouse at the south end too, including a rack for storing the new hose.

For those who may not know it, the greenhouse is technically the Bob and Carol Gutmann Greenhouse, so named because of the years of generosity and friendship we have enjoyed (and still enjoy) with Bob and Carol. We have a new saying around the greenhouse when considering how to undertake a new project, “What would Bob Gutmann do?”

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It’s a party!!!!! Join FRCC as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the City of Lake Oswego’s incorporation. There is a HUGE celebration planned at Luscher Farm tomorrow, July 17, from 10 am to 10 pm. There will be kid’s events (come see the new greenhouse in the Children’s Garden!), a history center set up in the barn, food and craft kiosks, and live music, including local jazz favorite Linda Hornbuckle. FRCC will have our own canopy set up at the head of our driveway, with clematis for sale. Numbers of some cultivars are limited so remember our retail motto: Shop early and shop often!

Amongst others, we will have for sale:
‘Alionushka’ (Herbaceous Perennial Group)
‘Brunette’ (Atragene Group)
INSPIRATION tm ‘Zoin’ (Herbaceous Perennial Group)
‘Frankie’ (Atragene Group)
‘Mikelite’ (Viticella Group)
‘Piilu’ (Large-flowered Hybrid)
‘Princess Diana’ (Texensis Group)
‘Walenburg’ (Viticella Group)

and many more! (Look for pictures of these at our link to Clematis on the Web)

FRCC will have many volunteers on hand to show off usually closed areas, like our greenhouse, and we will also tour you around our display gardens. Thanks to our many sturdy volunteers, who have helped get the gardens looking swell!

Parking is restricted at the farm, but shuttles will operate throughout the city, including the downtown Wizer’s Grocery, Foothill Park, Lakeridge H.S., and the West End Building. More information about shuttle pick-up locations is linked to www.luscherfarm.org

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10 am to noon, every Friday, April through October

In order to to offer consistent access to otherwise locked areas of the Rogerson Clematis Collection, FRCC has instituted “drop-in” hours, when you can visit inside the greenhouse or have your clematis questions answered by our curator or knowledgeable volunteers, without having to call first. If you would like to arrange a personal visit at some other time, or to have a large (over 6 persons) group receive a guided tour at any time, contact info@rogersonclematiscollection.org.

If you arrive at the farm at other times, and find the greenhouse open and our curator hard at work, please do not expect to be given a tour, to be shown any plants which might be available for sale, or have clematis ID questions answered. Please make an appointment.

As it says in our right sidebar ? the FRCC display gardens are open from dawn to dusk daily. We encourage you to visit at several times of the year to see what is in bloom!

We would also like to remind folks that the Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection propagate clematis to preserve and enhance the collection, and FRCC is not a retail or mail-order clematis nursery. Extra clematis are for sale during fund-raising special events, and we advertise those events here on the website, and on our facebook page.

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