The FRCC greenhouse is a fabulous place to be just now, with the Montana Group blooming so well this year and the large-flowered hybrids just coming into bloom. Outside, the Front bank is starting to wake up, and the Atragenes in the Historic Garden are all open. The New Zealand Group is waiting for more heat, I guess. They’re covered with buds and I honestly don’t know what they’re waiting for!

Historic Garden:

columbiana var. tenuiloba
koreana (Hinkley collected, magenta)
koreana (Hinkley collected, brownish-purple)
macropetala (Evison source)

Front Bank:

albicoma
fremontii
ochroleuca

Greenhouse:

Montana Group
‘Brewster’
‘Continuity’
‘Elizabeth’
‘Fragrant Spring’
‘Freda’
var. glabrescens
‘Gothenburg’
gracilifolia
montana subsp. montana ‘Grandiflora’
‘Picton’s Variety’
‘Pink Perfection’
‘Pleniflora’
‘Rubens Superba’
‘Tetrarose’
‘Tsunami Child’
‘Vera’
‘Warwickshire Rose’

LFH Group

‘Barbara Dibley’
‘Bees’ Jubilee’
‘Betty Risdon’
BLUE LIGHT
BOURBON
‘Candy Stripe’
CHANTILLY
CLAIRE DE LUNE
‘Corona’
‘C. W. Dowman’
‘Dawn’
‘Gladys Picard’
‘Guernsey Cream’
HYDE HALL
‘John Warren’
JOSEPHINE
‘Kathleen Wheeler’
‘Kjell’
‘Lady Londesborough’
LIBERATION
‘Lincoln Star’
‘Louise Rowe’
‘Moonlight’
‘Mrs. P. B. Truax’
‘Multi Blue’
‘Parasol’
PATRICIA ANN FRETWELL
‘Richard Pennell’
ROYAL VELVET
‘Ruby Glow’
‘Sally Cadge’
‘Saturn’
‘Silver Moon’
SPECIAL OCCASION
SUGAR CANDY
VERSAILLES
‘Vyvyan Pennell’

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At least in the greenhouse the clematis are catching up to their usual schedule, and it is montana time! Our first indoor large-flowered hybrid (LFH) is ‘Guernsey Cream’, followed the very next day by ‘Ruby Glow’. ‘Guernsey Cream’ always wins the award for most aptly named clematis, but poor ‘Ruby Glow’ doesn’t even make it into the competition. It is not ruby, neither does it glow, although it is perfectly pretty. In the ground it isn’t much redder, and there is no sheen or particular luminescence.

The Montana Group greet the nose as soon as you enter the greenhouse, even in the chilly weather with the poli-sides rolled up (to admit the aphid-eating birds). Here’s the list of cultivars in bloom now:

Montana Group:
‘Alexander’
‘Brewster’
‘Fragrant Spring’
‘Freda’
‘Mayleen’
‘Picton’s Variety’
‘Pink Perfection’
‘Pleniflora’
subsp. ‘Grandiflora’
‘Tetrarose’
‘Tsunami Child’ (Thank-you to Dr. Mary Toomey and Murray Rosen for the donation of this charming plant.)
var. rubens ‘Rubens Superba’

In the Historic Garden, Clematis columbiana var. tenuiloba is the first clematis to bloom. On the front bank, Clematis albicoma is blooming facing away from the path, so assuming a strange position will be the only way to photograph it this year! Of course the folks using the public pathway are plenty used to seeing odd behavior from us by now. Several of the New Zealanders along the Terrace Walk are about to pop, and the Atragene Group in containers on the terrace will be the subject of their own post, hopefully this coming Wednesday! Here’s a teaser: ‘Wesselton’ is gorgeous, hope we can capture it for you. Ah, spring at last…

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Visit Six Gardens in the Lake Oswego Area

Ticket Price: $20.00

The Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection present ‘Inviting Vines II’, a tour of five private gardens in the Lake Oswego area and the Rogerson Clematis Collection garden at Luscher Farm, Saturday, May 23, 2009, from 10 am to 4 pm.

See how local gardeners grow these unique and beautiful vines; from a few well-chosen clematis cohabitating in mixed borders and containers to gardens beset by clematis mania.

Explore the lush and colorful borders at Phyllis McCanna and Gary Smith’s garden. Nancy and Ron Gronowski’s verdant woodland garden is framed by two 60-year old dogwoods, firs and hemlocks accented by specimen shrubs and perennials. A red barn is a focal point in the large, country garden of Charlene and Bill Tuttle where large mixed borders consort with vegetables, berries and a small orchard. Nancy Dunis’ eclectic garden invites visitors to have fun amongst themed plantings augmented with colorful object d’art. A 50’ totem pole carved from a recently deceased cedar tree is the hallmark of Judy Dauble’s one acre garden filled with beautifully maintained mature trees and shrubs and vintage structures.

The Rogerson Clematis Collection garden at the City of Lake Oswego’s Luscher Farm is multi-faceted. Clematis scramble among native and allied plants in the beech tree garden, clematis on the sun-baked front bank hail from dry, hot climates, and old-fashioned cultivars mingle with shrubs and perennials in the garden surrounding the historic farmhouse. All of the plants in this part of the garden were available to gardeners prior to World War I. A clematis test plot serves as a trial garden for seedlings and the greenhouse is home to plants waiting to be placed in the ever developing garden.

Clematis are for sale at the Rogerson Clematis Collection garden at Luscher Farm.

‘Inviting Vines II’ is a benefit for the Rogerson Clematis Collection garden at Luscher Farm in Lake Oswego. Tickets are $20.00 and may be purchased on-line (at the right) or at Bethany Nursery, Dennis’ Seven Dees Nursery in Lake Oswego, Farmington Gardens, Garden Fever, Joy Creek Nursery, Portland Nursery on SE Stark Street and 13th Street Nursery in Salem.

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