This is the fourth and final informal illustrated report of the Society visit and meeting to Denmark and Germany in 2022, postponed twice from 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. A full set of articles by members of the group will be published in the next journal, Clematis International 2023. To all attendees, I hope the wait was worth it and this set of personal reports will bring back happy memories. To others, perhaps it will encourage you to join us on a future visit and meeting. In this fourth report I will finish covering our visits on the fourth day of our meeting, Wednesday 13th July 2022, cover our fifth day, Thursday 14th July, when we travelled to Hamburg in Germany, and finish with our sixth and final day, Friday 15th July. This final report is actually written by my wife, Fiona, for several reasons. If you wish to read the first report, please click Denmark/Germany 2022 - Part 1. For the second report, please click Denmark/Germany 2022 - Part 2. The third report can be found at Denmark/Germany 2022 - Part 3.Staudeblomsten - the Perennial Flower Garden
Our final garden visit of day four was to Staudeblomsten, the Perennial Flower Garden, at Hørslev, Harlev, created by Kirsten Kragh and Morten Nielsen. It is in the shape of a flower with yew hedges outlining a number of petals filled with perennials. Each petal contained plants of a single colour or colour shade of the rainbow. From the centre you can see into all the individual gardens but when in one garden, the other gardens are not visible. It is an amazing garden and difficult to appreciate the structure when you are on the ground so an aerial photo is invaluable! Within the Perennial Flower Garden there are a number of clematis which are used for height and to add interest in an unusual way, for example, the pairing of a deep blue clematis with deep blue perennials. In order to see the Perennial Flower Garden, the visitor walks through a shady garden with a number of mature clematis growing under and up trees near the house area. Needless to say, our group was distracted by these lovely plants. I finish with a photo of most of our group taken with Morten Nielsen and Kirsten Kragh (in the centre in green tops). The photo was taken in the centre of the flower petals around a tree with a clematis climbing up it. I think that it was C. 'Błękitny Anioł' BLUE ANGEL. A lovely finish to an interesting garden.
Aerial view across Staudeblomsten, sometimes known as the "Petal Garden"
Path to the Perennial Flower Garden with clematis on the right
A lovely mature late flowering clematis, perhaps C. 'Margaret Hunt'
Different Petals of the Flower (above and below)
Using a pink small-flowered clematis with perennials of similar leaf and flower colour
Using C. × durandii with perennials of similar flower colour shades
Most of our group with Morten Nielsen and Kirsten Kragh
Have-Idyllen
Day Five was our travel day from Aarhus, Denmark to Hamburg, Germany. On the way we stopped at Have-Idyllen, the garden of Hanne and Leon at Vringsted, Stouby. It is about one hour drive to the south of Aarhus. This garden was created by Hanne and Leon using their own ideas, with an emphasis on lines, perspective and balance. Inspiration was taken from many of their visits to Danish gardens and chats with the garden owners. When we visited the areas round the house seemed to attract us. There was a small timber and glass garden room with places to sit providing shelter but with a good view of the garden. Various plants provided shade and colour such as clematis grown on panels of concrete reinforcing wire. Clematis are able to cling to these lightweight but substantial structures. Hanne is artistic so she makes a lot of things for the garden herself with Leon’s help and there are decorative touches in the garden which are delightful. I have picked out a few below. On the other side of the house is a patio area with a garden pond which is a major asset for the garden that birds and insects enjoy. Throughout the garden there are bird houses and other structures to encourage birds and insects. After a brief but enjoyable stop we left to continue on our way to Hamburg.
Garden room to enjoy the view of the garden
The patio and pond area on the other side of the house
C. fusca on low concrete reinforcing wire
C. 'Princess Diana' on a big sheet of concrete reinforcing wire
Hazel twigs decorating pot adding to curve in this part of the garden
An unexpected decorative touch by Hanne
An unusual focal point!
Leon and Hanne send us on our way
Münster Baumschulen
Day six started with a visit to Münster Baumschulen near Elmshorn, north of Hamburg, the clematis nursery of Mathias Münster. He has been a member of this Society for several years, as was his father, Klaus Münster, and the Society has visited several times over the years. The nursery is mainly a wholesale nursery selling plants to garden centres and nurseries and some local events, but visitors are also welcome. The nursery is clean and tidy with clematis plants, growing on to be sold, in long lines secured at the top to stop them falling over. Ideas for convenience and ease of use to reduce the risk of clematis being wrongly labelled have been carefully thought out. Mathias showed us the root ball of one of the clematis which was growing on and explained that most of his clematis are propagated by grafting a cutting of a named plant onto a vitalba root stock. This was new to a number of people in the group and there was a lot of interest and discussion. All to soon it was time to go. The nursery grows not just clematis but a number of trees, shrubs and other climbers. We did not have time to explore the rest of the nursery, but I noticed that Hydrangea macrophylla 'Miss Saori' was looking particularly good on our visit.
Münster Baumschulen with rows of growing clematis
C. 'Arabella' just starting to flower
Very organised with plant labels at the end of rows
C. 'Sunny Side' in flower in small display area
Mathias shows us round the nursery
Mathias shows us a healthy root from the grafting process
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Miss Saori'
Garten der Horizonte (Garden of Horizons)
Our next stop was to visit the nearby Garten der Horizonte or the Garden of Horizons, hidden behind an ordinary looking house in a quiet street. We were met by Eric Luer whose wife, Maria, is the main influence behind the garden. Eric introduced the garden to us and then left us to wander round on our own. There is also a plant nursery in the garden. The garden is very large and filled with flower beds with wide grass paths between them. At one place the paths radiate out from a central point. There are around 1,500 different perennials and grasses of different flower colours flowering at different times of the year to give as much year-round interest as possible. Low hedges break up the garden into different areas. When we visited in July there were a lot of red, orange and yellow perennials which represent sunny days in the summer. The yellow rudbeckia is the trademark of the garden because of the wonderful contrast to the blue of the sky. We felt like children in a candy shop!
Paths radiating out — which way should I go?
[Editor's note: This photo was taken on our visit to research possible gardens in July 2019.]Grasses and Geranium ROZANNE
Red flowers of Heleniums and orange flowers of Hemerocallis (Day Lilies)
Clematiskulturen F.M. Westphal
M. Westphal, Clematiskulturen, Peiner Hof 7 / Peiner Haag 45, 25497 Prisdorf (Manfred Westphal)
Our final visit on our last day was to the Clematis Nursery of Manfred Westphal, another long-time Society member, and Sabine, his wife. They have a nursery at Prisdorf, about 40 minutes to the north west of Hamburg and specialise in clematis. There are a large number of greenhouses which are used to grow clematis and a display garden where many clematis are planted. The clematis in the garden are changed regularly to show new or different varieties so there should always be something different for the returning visitor. This means that some of the clematis in the pictures below have been established over several years, whereas others are only one or two years old. We arrived and began walking around, looking at all the different clematis. For all of us there were some cultivars that had not been seen before. Manfred has bred, raised and introduced a number of clematis and many of these are also on display. In addition he has a large number of clematis bred by Barry Fretwell. After some time, it was mentioned that the group had discussed grafting with Mathias Münster, and Manfred very kindly gave an impromptu demonstration of how grafting is done. This was videoed and will be shared with other members of the Society. When it was time to return to Hamburg we thanked Manfred for hosting our visit and told him how much we had enjoyed his nursery. Those in our group who were able to take plants back home had already acquired a few from Mathias Münster but now bought as many more clematis as they could manage to carry! It was a good place for the last visit of our trip.If you'd like to re-read about our meeting and visit to Denmark, you'll find the first report at Denmark/Germany 2022 - Part 1. For the second report, please click Denmark/Germany 2022 - Part 2. The third report can be found at Denmark/Germany 2022 - Part 3.
The Clematis Display Garden
Growing side by side are C. 'White Prince Charles' and C. 'Prince Charles'
Sabine Westphal discussing the clematis on the perimeter fence
C. 'Bfccsab' SABINE bred by Barry Fretwell and introduced by Manfred
C. 'Consort' bred by Barry Fretwell
C. 'Semu' raised by Uno Kivistik
C. × eriostemon 'Hendersonii'
C. mandschurica and C. 'Liviana' bred by Manfred
Jeff Jabco, President, thanks Manfred Westphal for his hospitality
