In spite of the current heat wave, many clematis are re-blooming, and the summer blooming LFHs (that’s large-flowered hybrids) are glorious. The test plot is showing us wonderful things, even though these clematis were just transplanted in March. There have been a couple of losses there, but it is a test plot after all, and part of the plan is to cull out the weak and the aesthetically average.

This is C. ‘Victoria’, looking so smart with her many color phases.

Housed in our greenhouse are the evergreens that have not been planted out; the modern English LFHs, including the Evison introductions; the unplanted montanas; oddities such as C. alternata; plants still in 1-gal. pots too young to plant in the ground; LFHs from countries who have not introduced large numbers of cultivars (USA, France, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, etc).

Blooming in the Greenhouse:
‘Andromeda’
‘Bells of Emei Shan’
‘Blue Florida’
‘Blue Light’
‘Burma Star’
‘Carnival’
CHANTILLY
CLAIRE DE LUNE
‘Corona’
‘Duchess of Waverly’
FLEURI
HYDE HALL
JOSEPHINE
‘Konigskind’
‘Multi Blue’
REBECCA
‘Rhapsody’
SPECIAL OCCASION
VERSAILLE

The Terrace: this area is directly west of the greenhouse, and is a fenced and graveled yard where we harden off the plants coming from the greenhouse which are about to be planted. Also, this is where we have stored the Atragene Group, because I promised them when they left Mountaindale that they’d never have to live in a greenhouse again. Housed here are the Japanese species and cultivars (many have gone into the Beech Tree’s Garden already); the Founder’s Garden plants; the IClS Beginner’s Garden plants; the Polish cultivars, the Tangutica/Orientalis Group; the Vitalba Group (although we cannot let these set seed, as many are highly invasive in Oregon). Also inside the terrace is the “Terrace Walk” along a raised rock wall with trellises, where the Cirrhosa Group and New Zealand species and near hybrids are planted.

Blooming in the terrace:
‘Alionushka’
‘Blekitny Aniol’
‘Broughton Bride’
‘Carmencita’
C. cirrhosa var. balearica
C. cirrhosa var. purpurascens ‘Freckles’
C. cirrhosa var. purpurascens ‘Lansdowne Gem’
‘Comtesse de Bouchaud’
‘Minister’
‘Piilu’
C. pitcheri
‘Prince Charles’
C. reticulata
C. stans

Outside the terrace are clematis with no obvious planting plan in their immediate future as a group. Some will go into the planned “Eastern Europe” area recently begun.

Blooming outside the terrace:
GAZELLE
HARLOW CARR
‘Miranda’
PETIT FAUCON
SAVANNAH

The Beech Tree’s Garden (BTG), is of course the area around our heritage Copper Beach, where we are planting clematis companions that will attract birds. The Japanese cultivars and species are here.

In Bloom in the BTG:
‘Andante’
C. angustifolia
‘Fairy Blue’ (syn. CRYSTAL FOUNTAIN)
C. florida var. normalis ‘Thorncroft’
‘Fudo’
‘Fujimusume’
C. fusca
‘Hanajima’
‘Murasakihime’
‘Odoriba’
‘Roguchi’ (three plants)
‘Sano-no-murasaki’ (two plants)
‘Seryu’
‘The Velvet’

The Historic Garden: this garden wraps around the 100+ year old farmhouse, and includes the original front garden of the house (with its ugly 1950s brick planter). All plants here would have been available to the original farm’s family, pre WWI. The area is divided into beds.

HG Bed A
‘Daniel Deronda’
‘Guiding Star’
C. integrifolia
‘Jackmanii Alba’
‘Nelly Moser’
‘Rosea’ (Integrifolia Group, included to show the range of color in that species)

HG Bed B
C. crispa (white form)
‘Fairy Queen’
‘Jackmanii’

HG Bed C
‘Alba Luxurians’
‘Ascotiensis’
‘Colette DeVille’
C. florida var. florida ‘Seiboldiana’
‘Jackmanii’
‘Jackmanii Superba’
Madame Baron’Veillard’
‘Madame Grange´’
‘Venosa Violacea’
‘Victoria’

Here is a Bed C view of ‘Colette DeVille’, ‘Alla Luxurians’, but mostly ‘Madame Grange´’

Bed D
‘Daniel Deronda’
C. x diversifolia ‘Eriostemon’
C. x diversifolia ‘Hendersonii’
‘Etoile Violette’
C. integrifolia
‘Lady Betty Balfour’
‘Madame Julia Correvon’
C. tubulosa
‘Ville de Lyon’

Bed E
C. integrifolia
‘Mrs. Spencer Castle’
C. tangutica
C. x triternata ‘Rubromarginata’

Bed F
‘Alba Luxurians’
‘Comtesse de Bouchaud’
C. florida var. florida ‘Seiboldiana’
‘Gipsy Queen’
C. integrifolia
C. integrifolia ‘Alba’
‘Mrs. George Jackman’
C. recta
‘Ville de Lyon’

Bed G
C. integrifolia
C. integrifolia ‘Alba’
C. koreana
‘Madame Julia Correvon’
‘Mrs Cholmondeley’
‘Proteus’ (single blooms)
C. recta var. purpurea
‘Sir Trevor Lawrence’
C. viorna

Bed H
C. crispa (two plants)
‘Elsa Spaeth’

BED I
‘Kermesina’
‘Purpurea Plena Elegans’

Front Bank: The Front Bank is a slope created during the installation of the farm’s public pathway. It gets a south exposure, hot and sunny once the sun clears the oaks along the driveway. We have put the heat-seeking clematis here, and the newer integrifolia hybrids have been very happy, too.

Blooming on the Front Bank:
‘Duchess of Albany’
‘Etoile Rose’
GAZELLE
‘Gravetye Beauty’
C. integrifolia var. nana
C. integrifolia MONGLIAN BELLS
‘Jan Fopma’
‘Little Belle’
‘Lord Herschel’
C. pitcheri
‘Princess Diana’
Siskiyou RPN seedling (aff. C. addisonii)
‘Skylark’
C. socialis
C. texensis
C. viorna

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This is Tess Trueheart, curator Linda Beutler’s new Lab/mix puppy. This is as far into the FRCC greenhouse as she ever gets–one wag of a tail could knock down a clematis, so Tess has to abide by the same rules as every other dog: No Dogs in the Greenhouse. We know this is close to boring you with baby pictures, so most of you will not see Tess again unless you come for a visit!

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FRCC cannot thank old friend Roger Lorenzen (contractor from Tukwila WA) enough for leading us in the building of two big arbors and a flat-panel trellis for our display gardens. The Arbor pictured leads from the Historic Garden into the Orchard Garden and Founder’s Garden.
The arbor plan was designed by Nancy Gronowski of our design team, and the metal panels in the hand-rails were rescued from a collapsed garden structure that some one dumped at Luscher Farm a couple of years ago. Linda and Roger scooped 7 panels out of the dumpster, and now these are finding use as decorative detail we will use in several structures. We will post Nancy’s pictures of the building as soon as she sends them along.

Thanks also to our several volunteers who assisted Roger, and who help Linda sort clematis from Brewster’s latest list of favorites.

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This summer we are so pleased to have Jake Tyson with us from the Clackamas Community College horticulture/landscape design program. He has been helping FRCC and Lake Oswego Parks & Rec. with many projects around the farm, including this low wall which helps define the bed where clematis will be planted in a memorial garden for Uno Kivistik (Estonia), and Brother Stefan Francak (Poland), both of whom created brilliant new clematis while their countries were still enmeshed behind the “Iron Curtain”. Amazing men. Brother Stefan passed away on July 6, 2009.

Jake will be working on a second low wall, preparing a bed for the Swedish atragene group hybrids, featuring the introductions of alpina, macropetal, and koreana hybrids of Magnus Johnson, Jan Lindmark, Tage Lundell and others.

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