What's in Bloom?
There are always clematis blooming in the garden! See below for a complete list of this week's blooms, plus a map to help you find each theme garden and bed number.
Spring has sprung! May 1, 2026
To be honest, it’s hard to have time to count the clematis in bloom in the thick of plant sale season. But it’s easy to take pictures, so here are additions with bed-by-bed rundowns included below. The large-flowered hybrids had arrived, and we’re really enjoying watching newly planted containers develop. Do drop by, as sometimes pictures don’t do new plantings justice.
For those of you on Facebook, look for us at Rogerson Clematis Garden. We’re on Instagram at @rogersonclematis as well as Rogerson Clematis Garden.
Visit CLEMATIS SALES: ON-SITE and ONLINE sales are open! Shop with our trained volunteers or pick up online orders Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat from 10am-2pm.
Visit CLEMATIS CARE for information sheets on growing clematis. These are being updated this year, and the Clematis Contained sheet will soon be two pages of information and suggested clematis. If your questions are not answered there, call or text FRCC at 971-777-4394. Also, for a more detailed response, or to send photos for clematis identification, please email info@rogersonclematiscollection.org
It’s important to us to be able to present building block species like Clematis alpina. This widely hybridized species has been in cultivation since 1753, according to Linnaeus. Heirloom Garden, Bed 7.
For the first time, these two lovely clematis, the pink Montana type ‘Warwickshire Rose’, has reached over to it’s neighbor ‘Clochette Pride’ (section Atragene). In the Founder’s Garden, Bed 16.
Clematis alpina ‘Pamela Jackman’ may be counted upon to flower early and often. No wonder it’s on the International Clematis Society’s recommended list. Beginner’s Garden, Bed 21
Clematis ‘Utsusemi’ (pronounced oot-sue-sem-ee) is in flower in the Chicken Coop Border. This is a hybrid created in Japan with North American species!
Our volunteers got special training in planting clematis in containers this spring. Featured here, on the west porch of the farmhouse are matching containers with Raymond Evison’s hybrid, ISSEY.
OTHER PLANTS
Dark lilac Syringa x hyacinthiflora ‘Declaration’ is having a good year.
The Modern Garden
At the end of each row along the center aisle is a modern non-climbing hybrid or very short-growing vining cultivar.
ROW 1, Profuse summer bloomers related to C. viticella and some summer urn/trumpet hybrids related to C. texensis
nothing in boom
ROW 2, Profuse summer bloomers and Pink large-flowered cultivars
nothing in bloom
RAYMOND EVISON HYBRIDS (Rows 3-7)
ROW 3, Evison Hybrids
nothing in bloom
ROW 4, Evison Hybrids
nothing in bloom
ROW 5, Evison Hybrids
nothing in bloom
ROW 6, Evison Hybrid
nothing in bloom
ROW 7, Evison Hybrids
nothing in bloom
ROW 8, Double large-flowered clematis
nothing in bloom
ROW 9, Profuse flowering clematis (C. viticella and C. texensis hybrids)
nothing in bloom
WE WOULD LIKE TO HUMBLY REQUEST THAT, FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE, CLEMATIS BREEDERS HOLD A MORATORIUM ON NAMING C. viticella and C. texensis HYBRIDS WITH CULTIVAR NAMES BEGINNING WITH ‘P’. WE CAN’T FIT ANYMORE IN THE ALLOTTED AREA, AND IT’S PLAYING HAVOC WITH THE ALPHABET. Thanks ;-)
SZCZEPAN MARCZYNSKI HYBRIDS (Rows 10 & 11)
ROW 10, Marczynski Hybrids
nothing in bloom
ROW 11, Marczynski Hybrids and White large-flowered cultivars
nothing in bloom
ROW 12, Red large-flowered cultivars
nothing in bloom
ROW 13, Red large-flowered cultivars and Purple large-flowered cultivars
nothing in bloom
ROW 14, Lavender/Blue large-flowered cultivars
nothing in bloom
ROW 15, Lavender/Blue large-flowered cultivars and Striped/Barred large-flowered cultivars
nothing in bloom
ROW 16, Striped/Barred large-flowered cultivars and Late Adds
nothing in bloom
Beech Tree's Garden
The Beech Tree’s Garden is where the Japanese clematis species and cultivars predominate. This is Bed 4. Lower center, ‘Haru Ichiban’ and lighter pink ‘Asao’.
BED 1
That’s ‘Gekkyuden’ in full bloom in the center pot, and green ‘Midori’ on the far right. This the Bed 1 container trio.
C. japonica ‘Gokanoshu’, ‘Omoshiro’, ‘Midori’, C. patens ‘Yukiokoshi’. In the container trio, ‘Gekkyuden’ and ‘Midori’ are looking great.
BED 2
‘Picton’s Variety’ (Montana type)
BED 3
nothing in bloom
BED 4
Subtle ‘Kasumi-no-kimi’ flowers in three locations in Bed 4.
This is one of our largest beds, starting across the paths from Bed 3 and Heirloom Garden Bed 5, continuing along the west boundary fence of The Antipodes beds, and the gravel path towards the chicken coop. Step down to the greenhouse level and walk back toward the farmhouse, which will end the Bed 4 loop.
‘Fairy Blue’ (a synonym of this clematis is CRYSTAL FOUNTAIN), ‘Asao’, ‘Haru Ichiban’, ‘Hoshi-no-Flamenco’, ‘Omoshiro’, C. patens ‘Yukiokoshi’, C. fusca, ‘Yaichi’, ‘Mrs. Yuki’, ‘Fuyi-no-tabi’, ‘Toltae’ TAE, ‘Kasumi-no-Kimi’, ‘Kimi’idera’,
Coop Border
Clematis ‘Utsusemi’ is the first of the herbaceous perennial clematis to bloom in the Chicken Coop Border.
Along the west side of the chicken coop and run, this bed faces due west, so the clematis planted here are sun-lovers, along with their herbaceous perennial companions.
C. ‘Utsusemi’, ‘Watayuki’
Entry Border
C. ‘Pink Flamingo’ in the midst of its first bloom of the season. It is a willing re-bloomer. C. montana var. rubens ‘Fragrant Spring’ towers over it.
‘Rosy O’Grady’, macropetala ‘Maidwell Hall’, ‘Pink Flamingo’, ‘Zooct’ SPARKY PURPLE, montana var. rubens ‘Fragrant Spring’, ‘Natalie Cotttrell’, ‘Pink Perfection’
This new feature of the Rogerson Clematis Garden is a long perennial border opposite the Coop Border. It begins with an anonymously donated metal arch with waving stems of reeds on which large-flowered hybrids climb, greeting visitors with that which they expect to see. But beyond the arch are the other forms of clematis most people don’t know about. Large flat panel trellises are populated by clematis that get big. They are fronted by clematis that cannot climb, in all of their wonderful colors and flower forms. A series of urns house draping clematis from the Atragene section (this is the section with C. macropetala and C. alpina, among many other species), which start flowering in April and repeat bloom through the summer. We have some woody shrub clematis here, too! Into all of this celebration of the variation within the genus Clematis, we have added an array of herbaceous perennials from groundcovers to tall summer-blooming plants, including lilies and repeated stands of Celtica gigantea (syn. Stipa gigantea, stipa grass). We have carefully selected a few shrubs into which the non-climbing clematis may loll if they choose.
Heirloom Garden
In Bed 9 of the Heirloom Garden, C. ‘Lady Caroline Nevill’ decorates the lower legs of our Magnolia stellata (star magnolia').
BED 5
C. montana var. wilsonii (of hort.), ‘Etoile de Paris’,
BED 6
Many large-flowered hybrids have been bred from the large-flowered species Clematis patens. This specimen of it was grown from seed collected in Manchuria.
C. patens (Manchuria), ‘Fair Rosamond’
BED 7
Clematis alpina
BED 8
nothing in bloom
BED 9
‘Lady Caroline Nevill’
BED 10
‘Miss Bateman’
BED 11
nothing in bloom
BED 12
C. montana var. rubens ‘Brewster’, ‘Miss Cavell’,
BED 13
C. spooneri
The Front Bank
The denizens of the Virginia shale barrens are in their full glory now. This is C. coactilis.
BED 14
C. albicoma, C. fremontii, C. addisonii, C. viticaulis, C. ochrolueca, C. coactilis,
What is a shale barren? Thousands of years ago, Virginia was underwater. As the inland seas retreated, the layers of compressed silt formed these massive walls of quite fertile crevices, if you have roots that know how to exploit the nutrients. The little mounds of green at the upper right and at the bottom of the shale scree are clever Clematis coactilis.
The Baltic Border
BED 15
nothing in bloom
The Founder’s Garden
Clematis ’Barbara Houser’ blooms off and on throughout the growing season in a huge pot. Barbara and David Houser were great friends of our Founder, Brewster Rogerson, and this unusual garden seedling was named for her.
BED 16
‘Clochette Pride’, ‘Warwickshire Rose’, ‘Sharpie’, ‘Barbara Houser’, ‘Vera’, ‘Primrose Star’, C. patens ‘Manshi-ki’ WADA’S PRIMROSE (two locations in this bed),
Clematis patens ‘Manshu-ki’ WADA’S PRIMROSE has begun to climb Pinus ‘Sea Urchin’. In the Founder’s Garden Bed 16.
The Steppe Garden
BED 17
This bed wraps around both sides of the old Gravenstein apple tree and includes the stock plants at the south end of the Mt. Cuba Project.
‘Tsunami Child’ (Montana Group), ‘Tetrarose’, C. montana var. grandiflora,
Old Poland (the Polish Beds)
‘Baltyk’ is a clematis bred by Brother Stefan Franczak of Poland, world renowned clematis breeder. This specimen is climbing “A Friendly Wind”, a sculpture celebrating the Rogerson Clematis Collection’s 50th anniversary in 2021. Created by Joe Henderson, assisted by David Mattern and supported by the Chanticleer Foundation.
BED 18
‘Serafina’
BED 19
‘Baltyk’
BED 20
nothing in bloom
The Beginner’s Garden
This durable and beautiful clematis will repeat bloom in August.
BED 21
C. alpina ‘Pamela Jackman’, ‘Guernsey Cream’, ‘Markham’s Pink’
As is so often the case, ‘Guernsey Cream’ is the first large-flowered hybrid to flower in the entire garden.
BED 22
nothing in bloom
The Hedges
BED 23
C. montana ‘Alexander’ (on the fence under the Styrax japonica at the north end)
BED 24
‘Pauline’ showing its ability to leap tall obelisks in a single bound.
‘Pauline’ (three specimens), ‘Pink Swing’
C. ‘Pauline’ likes shaded feet, but is in full sun most of the day. Bed 24
Winter Bloomers
Inside the Sales Terrace, these clematis are growing on 4’ wide by 10’ tall flat panel trellises. When we have volunteers on hand Monday/Wednesday/Friday from 10-2 through the winter, the gates to the Sales Terrace will be unlocked for easier viewing.
In bloom: Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica
Troughs
Clematis columbiana var. columbiana (Bunkhouse Trough)
Subtropical Shade Porch
All other specimens have been moved inside.
The Antipodes
‘Early Sensation’ flowering as it wanders Brachiglottis monroi and Sophora ‘Golden Baby’
The unique clematis native down under, in Australia and New Zealand, have many unique attributes. Even Australia’s island-state, Tasmania, has a clematis all its own. Here you will find the world’s smallest clematis (C. marmoraria), as well as a clematis with no leaves (C. afoliata). This quadrant of the world is often referred to as The Antipodes, meaning the ‘opposite’.
C. xcartmanii ‘Joe’, ‘Early Sensation’, C. xcartmanii ‘Lunar Lass’, ‘Pixie’
Mt. Cuba Project Area
nothing in bloom
CONTAINER DISPLAY AREA
‘Clochette Pride’ is showcased in this trio of unusual pots. Container display area.
‘Royal Cascade’, ‘Mrs. N. Thompson’, ‘Clochette Pride’
This area, between the Bob and Carol Gutmann Greenhouse and The Antipodes will be increasingly populated by a display/demonstration area for growing clematis in containers. We imagine a continually changing, slowly evolving space where those with small gardens will find suggestions and inspiration. Seating is coming soon, too! The broad pale green bowl in the container area will be used to make floating arrangements of clematis.
Clematis ‘Royal Cascade’ is an outstanding hybrid for containers bred in Canada by Clearview Horticultural Products.
The Egg
nothing in bloom
The Egg has undergone a major replanting to remove Agastache ‘Little Adder’, which ran amok. The more refined cottage garden plants return, along with the hybrids and species selections of the late Ton Hannink of Holland, a past president of the International Clematis Society. What better memorial to the man than his plants?
Artist James Harrison donated a handsome structure he created using the proportions of a Fabergé egg; hence we call it The Egg. It occupies the round foundation of the long-gone Luscher Farm silo. The cottage garden herbaceous perennials and volunteer annuals (the sunflowers are full of American Goldfinches nearly all day, every day) make a mad display at the feet of the clematis climbing The Egg through the spring and summer.
Mr. Western Bluebird is a frequent percher on The Egg, reminding humans that the mealworm feeder is a thing that exists and always needs replenishing.