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Please note that Council Members full addresses are sent to Members every year.
Lyndy Broder, Council Member, USA
To be supplied.
Duncan Donald, Council Member, Great Britain
"It was inevitable that I would become a gardener. My paternal grandfather, the son of an estate head gardener, was a market gardener in north-east Scotland. My maternal grandfather, the son of a head gardener, helped my grandmother run the nursery business in Surrey, England that she had inherited from her father. He had trained at the Jackmans' nursery at Woking and was himself the son of a gardener-cum-nurseryman connected with the plant collector, Robert Fortune.
I took a biology degree at Birmingham University, specializing in botany and in particular, taxonomy. Wanting practical experience and knowledge, I first trained at Slocock's Nursery, then the RHS Garden, Wisley before becoming Conservation Propagator at Cambridge University Botanic Garden working with rare native plants. I returned to Wisley four years later to become the first employee of the then newly formed British garden-plant conservation charity, the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG). There I worked closely, amongst others, with Raymond Evison, one of the Council's founding members and who spearheaded its publicity effort, not least its early Chelsea Show displays (which included lots of clematis!). Raymond was then based at Treasures of Tenbury, so visiting him also gave me a chance to see the marvellous clematis collection at Burford House.
I then spent six years as Curator of Chelsea Physic Garden, eleven years as Head of Gardens for the National Trust for Scotland, and four years as Property Manager at Inverewe Garden.
Currently I am the International Clematis Registrar."
Marianne Fistarol, Council Member, Switzerland
"I was born in 1940, have lived in Zürich for most of my life, specialised in orthodontics, got married, brought up two wonderful daughters, shared a private office with my husband until a short time ago.
My gardening interests at first were rather negative, as I had to weed as a punishment in the big garden of my mother - and for inexplicable reasons this happened very often! I started gardening after we had built our own house outside Zürich. I became a member of different Garden Societies, the RHS, BCS and some years later the I.Cl.S. and I often travelled to England and different other countries for garden tours and shows.
Our garden (half an acre) lies on a slope and the situation is ideal for growing plants vertically. One of my daughters has constructed some magnificent rusty iron supports that can be placed in between trees, bushes, roses. They are surrounded by geraniums, daylilies, hellebores... and many Hostas - and they accommodate Clematis ( mainly viticellas). By now there are around 150 different ones - and I love them!"
Sally Geist, Council Member, USA
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Ute Klatt, Council Member, Germany
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Szczepan Marczyñski, Past President, Poland
"I was born in 1946, in Warsaw. I am married and I have three children: Katarzyna (34), Grzegorz (30) and Julianna (17), and two grandchildren: Anna (5) and Tomasz (3). I graduated from Warsaw Agricultural University in 1969 and received a doctoral degree in 1974, later completed post doctorate studies at Cornell University, N.Y., U.S.A. (1977-78). In 1987 I spent 6 months at the Research Station for Nursery Stock in Boskoop, Holland. I worked as an Assistant Professor at Warsaw Agricultural University in Poland between 1970 and 1998, teaching and researching on plant propagation and ornamental nursery management.
I first grew Clematis in my own garden in 1975. Since 1988, I have been running my own wholesale nursery on 5 ha, growing mainly Clematis, but also other climbing garden plants. I have bred and introduced to the market seven Clematis cultivars: 'Barbara', 'Hania', 'Julka', 'Jerzy Popieluszko', 'Lech Walesa', 'Polonez' and 'Solidarnosc'.
I have published over 50 extension and popular articles about Clematis. Together with my son, Grzegorz, we have developed an interactive encyclopaedia of Clematis and other climbing plants on the Internet. I have been a member of I.P.P.S. since 1978, the International Clematis Society since 1992, the British Clematis Society since 1994 and The Royal Horticultural Society since 2003. I have also been a founding member of the Polish Nurserymen Association since 1992, in which I held the post of chairman in years 1997 - 2000."
Veijo Miettinen, Council Member, Finland
"I was born near Helsinki in 1945. I graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1969 as biologist (animal physiology and botany). Since then I have worked in the Finnish Environment Institute and its predecessors. Since 1995, my tasks have related in the protection of old, traditional plant varieties both ornamental and cultivated and trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES). I have four adult children and four grandchildren.
My hobbies are clematis, some growing also in my garden, photography and fishing. I am member of the Finnish Clematis Club. I became introduced to clematis hobby by late Uno Kivistik, Estonian clematis breeder. He invited me to the annual meeting of I.Cl.S. in Stuttgart in 1995, where I first time met this interesting group of clematis people. One of the three places, where Clematis sibirica grows in the wild in Finland is near to my summer cottage in Nurmes close to the Russian border. Nearly every June I visit the woods to look at it."
Mathias Münster, Council Member, Germany
"I was born on 29th October 1974 in Elmshorn, Germany. From 1991-1994 I was learning the job in a nursery with shrubs and trees. During 1995 and 1996 I working in a nursery with rhododendron, maples and other rare plants.
Since 1996 I have worked in the nursery of my father, Baumschulen Münster, at our home.
During 2001 and 2002 I did a Master Degree in a school in Elmshorn. In 2005 I took over the nursery from my father and I currently run it together with my uncle.
In the nursery we have approximately 250 clematis varieties. We also have many other climbers, for example Aristolochia, Wisteria, Campsis,Vitis,etc., and rarities such as Acer palmatum varieties, Cornus kousa varieties, Viburnum, Pinus, Picea, etc."
Berit Østby, Council Member, Norway
'Born in Trondheim, Norway in 1938 in the middle of the city, and moved to Bærum, a suburb of Oslo, in 1961. My interest in flowering plants must have been in the genes, with a mother who enjoyed gardening when young, and a father with an open mind to everything within science (on an amateur basis), and also a good lecturer. I got my first small garden in 1973, and with enthusiasm I set off, everything was of interest.
The first time I saw any clematis was a C. 'Jackmanii' growing on a white farmer's house, and I instantly fell in love. Luckily, I got acquainted with Magnus Johnson, who became my mentor. I have a file of long, beautifully hand-written letters that I still return to now and then. My first import was from his nursery, though others followed later from different sources, mainly England.
After two smaller gardens, Eivind and I have now finished the seven year construction of our new garden. It contains many different plants, but the main feature is our ~150 clematis. These are all types, except C. montana, which does not flower in our climate. Being only an amateur in the field, I'm keen beyond the ordinary. For the last 20 years I have been giving talks on clematis, mainly in gardening clubs around Norway.'
Murray Rosen, Council Member, USA
I was born in 1948 in Shaker Heights. Ohio, USA. My schooling was in the fine arts at the New York Studio School in New York City. I lived and worked as an artist in New York City for nearly 20 years.
My wife and I settled in California in 1984. My interest in horticulture developed slowly after taking a part time job at a rare plant nursery in Berkeley, California. Gradually horticulture became the focus of my life and a full time occupation.
Since 1993 I have been managing the Chalk Hill Clematis specialty cut flower farm and nursery in Healdsburg, California, USA. Overseen by myself, the farm has pioneered the development of cut flower clematis in the USA. Presently Chalk Hill is the largest producer of cut flower clematis in North America offering over 80 varieties. I also manage the Chalk Hill Clematis Nursery which offers over 230 varieties and ships plants throughout the USA. Each year I speak about clematis to many garden groups and nurseries in the region, hoping to develop more interest in the genus.
Ralf Martin Schreck, Council Member, Germany
"I got interested in Clematis while studying horticulture. That was in 1984. My horticultural diploma was a theoretical text about clematis. There wasn't any German literature about clematis in the 1980's. Every year I planted new cultivars and varieties to also gain practical skills.
So our collection, which now consists of maybe 80 different varieties came to life.
My interest in clematis is purely as a plant lover. I don't own a nursery, nor am I a scientist. I'm merely a collector. Apart from clematis, I collect books, articles, lithographic prints and bone china with clematis motives.
I also do research on our clematis, make photos and write documentations about the flowering period, the correct pruning or something similar.
When I got to a certain standstill the clematis meetings helped me to gain new momentum. Walter Hörsch, who was responsible for the German group from 1990 to 2003 was always a source of inspiration. John Howells M.D. and Raymond Evison also offered advise and gave helpful information when asked.
The communities of both the International and the British Clematis Societies are very dear to me and I enjoy being a member.
My family, consisting of my wife Doris and our sons Lukas and David, have also been infected with the clematis virus. They didn't stand a chance
We live in the south-west of Germany, near Karlsruhe. Our small clematis garden is open for interested visitors."
Kozo Sugimoto, Council Member, Japan
To be supplied.
Bengt Sundström, Council Member, Sweden
Bengt Sundström, born 1942 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Studied at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, finished with a doctors degree in 1974. Appointed Ass. Prof. in Solid Mechanics at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, in 1975. Bengt is married to Magnus Johnson's daughter Karin.
"In Gothenburg we had some 100 clematis in our small garden and we stayed during the summers in the Nursery in Södertälje. We now live in the old Nursery at Bränningestrand, Södertälje where we moved in 1975 and became more involved with clematis. Our daughter Anna and myself helped with the exhibition of Magnus Johnson's gouaches when the International Clematis Society was founded in 1985. For several years I was editing Magnus Johnson's large piles of manuscripts resulting in the book Släktet Klematis in 1997. We joined the International Clematis Society in 1997 and have since participated in most conferences. My work in translating the book into English took several years and The Genus Clematis was published in 2001.
We now try to preserve and use the nursery with its material as our garden where there are some 200 clematis outside and some 400 in the glass-houses. Many visitors come every year to study the clematis we have, some of which are species which are not found everywhere."
Ms Masako Yasutake, Council Member, Japan
Many years have passed since my first encounter with clematis. I was just a little girl then. It was a hot sunny afternoon in May or June. I went out of the house and found a glass with two flowers on the table. One was purple, the other was white. They were so alluring, especially the purple one. I had never seen such a beautiful and noble flower in my life. The sun was bright, but the flowers were so enchanting, as if they were a fairy or queen from the moon.
They were wild C. patens and my father had brought them back from the woodland behind our house. He had much concern about the habitat of Clematis patens so that he kept the place secret to protect them. I have never seen the flower again since them. It is a pity this woodland is now being destroyed by the Kitakyushu city to construct a new, environmentally friendly, research town. It sounds a ridiculous idea to me - they have no regard for this precious plant species.
I have had a great interest in plants and gardening for over 15 years and have many clematis with beautiful flowers in pots. After the flowers, I plant them in the garden, but without success. They have all died! I thought clematis were difficult plants for me.
Ten years ago, while staying in England, I was taught that clematis love alkaline soil. I was puzzled with this idea. We usually have acid soil in Japan, yet we have wild Clematis patens. Do they love alkaline soil? After coming back to Japan, I came across with Mr. and Mrs. Sugimoto. Frau Mikiko taught me the secret of Clematis growing. She advised me to give them plenty of water. They love water!
Now I select the water retentive spots in my garden and also use some lime on the soil. I have now found out that clematis are much easier than roses.
I am enticed by Clematis species because of my childhood memory. I have been led on a journey by the I.Cl.S. with these words. I saw atragenes in Poland, viticellas in Finland and have met many clematis lovers.
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