International
Clematis
Society
Welcome to all Clematis Lovers.
New Year Wishes
Happy New Year! The Society wishes all our members success with your clematis, in your gardens, balconies, window ledges or where ever you grow them. I suspect many of you have mixed emotions at the start of the New Year. A New Year is always exciting, with hopes about new challenges and new successes, especially with your plants, but the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us. Whilst many of you will have had vaccine jabs and even booster jabs, no one is completely safe. The latest variant appears to be more contagious, though the effects of it may be less severe. We wish all of you a safe and healthy 2022. We also send our condolences to all who have lost someone this past year, whether to COVID or for some other reason. Last year saw our visit and meeting in Denmark postponed yet again. Over the next couple of months or so we will discuss with Brightwater what their view is for 2022. It will be a difficult decision, dependent on the COVID situation in various countries and it's impact on international travel. We are also aware that many attendees will want to book their travel arrangements within the next few months. We will update you just as soon as we have further information.I.Cl.S. Webinars
Our public webinars are videoed and the latest is available for anyone to view. Please click here or on the link to your left to watch. Society members can watch all I.Cl.S. Webinar videos using the link given in the February 2021 newsletter. We are currently working on our 2022 Webinar Programme. The first, for members only, is expected to take place during the second week in January 2022. Members should receive an email with full details within the first few days of this month.C. ranunculoides or C. yuanjiangensis
The Society has revisited one of our Clematis of the Month descriptions, that of C. ranunculoides by Brewster Rogerson, and now believe he was actually looking and describing C. yuanjiangensis. Brewster wrote this description for December 2002, when very few people had even heard of C. yuanjiangensis. We believe Brewster thought the variation of his specimen in certain aspects was due to species variability. It's says much of the documention and records kept by Brewster and others and still available today that we've been able to verify our suspicions. If you're interested, please take a look at our Previous Clematis of the Month, by date, name or author.COVID-19 Pandemic
The Society sends our best wishes to clematis lovers all round the world, to their families and their friends. Please take care and stay safe. We salute all those in the essential services, especially health services, for their dedication to duty, often at risk to their own health. Whilst some countries are beginning to relax some restrictions on socializing, travel, etc., we must not forget that this is not true everywhere. There are still many countries where COVID-19 is still taking many lives. No one should allow themselves to be complacent.2021 Denmark Meeting
As announced a while ago this event, which was originally planned for July 2020, then postponed until 2021, is currently scheduled for July 2022. During the first couple of months or so of the new year we will discuss our options with Brightwater. It is worth noting, though, that current travel restrictions would have to be significantly relaxed or removed for the meeting to be viable. Updates will be published just as soon as we have further information. One upside of this is that booking for this event is open once again, so anyone who now wishes to join should contact our secretary, Fiona Woolfenden.The International Clematis Registrar, and the International Clematis Register and Checklist
The International Clematis Register and Checklist 2002, which went out of print some time ago, is available in electronic format. One benefit of this is that it allows text searching. Details for The Register and all six supplements can be found via the RHS website at https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/plantsmanship/plant-registration/Clematis-registration/Clematis. However because of the file size of the Register itself, approximately 25 Mbytes, it cannot be downloaded from the RHS web site in the same way that the supplements can. To help the RHS and reduce their workload, Society members wanting a copy should email Ken Woolfenden, I.Cl.S. Webperson and Editor, at icls editor, who will return a download link. The Society fully endorses the work of the International Clematis Registrar, The International Clematis Register and Checklist 2002 and the six supplements published so far. We recommend all clematis lovers use the standards they describe. There is, of course, still a need for all Clematis breeders, both professionals and amateurs, to register your Clematis cultivars with the Registrar to continue to keep the International Clematis Register up to date. If you want a copy of the form, information about it is available at the Clematis Registration Form.General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR
This Regulation applies to all organizations, large and small, that store personal data of EU and UK citizens electronically. A draft Privacy Policy was drawn up and discussed at a previous Council Meeting. We are still working on modifications and amendments. Once completed and the resulting document is agreed by your Council, it will be released to all members and posted in this website. The Society is committed to complying with this regulation. Should any member have any questions or concerns regarding it, please contact our designated Data Controller, Ken Woolfenden.International Clematis Society on Facebook
Don't forget to visit our Facebook page for updates on what's happening in our garden, as well as clematis news from other members. All you need do is clickor use the button to your left.
Recommended Clematis
The Society's Clematis for Beginners List is now Recommended Clematis, reflecting the wider usefulness of this set of clematis cultivars for all clematis growers around the world. It was reviewed and revised during our meeting in Devon and Cornwall in 2015. It is available online and also as a downloadable version from our Recommended Clematis section, in Dutch, English, French, German and Swedish All the clematis on the list are easy to grow, easy to look after and resistant to common pests and diseases, and whilst there are no absolute guarantees where gardening is concerned, most people should have success with all of these. Because space is not so much of a problem, the online version of the list now contains more information about each clematis featured within it, along with a simple menu bar to let you see each group and then pick the clematis you're interested in. The downloadable version (no illustrations as yet, I'm afraid) is very suitable for taking with you when you visit your local nursery or garden centre!Journal Index of Clematis References
A reminder of a facility which I'm sure many of you will find most useful - an index of references to all the clematis mentioned in the journals of the Society, both in the text and as pictures. I am indebted to Ton Hannink for all the work he has put into producing the first issue of this index. The index currently covers the years 2005 - 2014 inclusive. Further years will be added as they are completed. Whilst it is quite a large document, some 29 pages, it is not a particularly large file to download should you wish, just under 220 Kbytes. You can find it by visiting the Previous Journals page.RHS Clematis Catalogue Collection
The Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain holds a collection of Nursery Catalogues and have been keen to add to it. A number of years ago the Society was asked to canvas our members for any Clematis Nursery catalogues which they had and would donate to the collection, which we did. Quite a few have been donated so far. Whilst he was the International Clematis Registrar, Duncan Donald extracted a list of catalogues from Clematis Specialists which are currently within the collection and a list of catalogues which feature clematis, but under such headings as "climbing plants" or "climbers". You can find them at RHS Clematis Catalogue Collection and RHS Climbers and Climbing Plant Catalogue Collection. Links to both these files can also be found via the "Information, Answers and Questions" link on the left of this page. The Society has asked where further donated catalogues should be sent. As soon as we have this information it will be publish here.Nursery Membership
The Society offers a second category of membership - Nursery Membership. So far we have been very pleased with the support that many nurseries have given by renewing as Nursery Members. We thank them all. These Nursery Members can be found on a special Nursery Members page on this website. The Society hopes you will recognize that, as members of this Society, these Nursery Members have a particular interest, knowledge and love of clematis and can be expected to provide a range and quality of plants, and informed knowledge, not usually available in non-specialist outlets. Please check this page regularly for additions. Whilst it is now too late for your nursery details to be included in Clematis International 2011, any further Nursery Memberships will be published on this website as they are received and also in the List of Members when it is reissued at the beginning of next year.Trialing New Clematis
An example of a Clematis Trial contract, mentioned in the article in Clematis International 2008 about trialing new clematis by well-known clematis breeder, Wim Snoeijer, can be downloaded by visiting the A.O.B. (Any Other Business) page accessible from our Information, Answers and Questions section.How do you pronounce .....
If you're uncertain how to pronounce some clematis names, why not visit Clematis on the Web. A number of cultivar entries now have a helpful "how to say" feature. A classic example is probably C. 'Mrs Cholmondeley'. How do you pronounce this? Just take a look at Clematis on the Web - Mrs Cholmondeley, click on the loudspeaker icon and find out for yourself. This is an extreme example but I'm sure there are many others that people may be unsure of, but don't like to ask. Now you can find out in the privacy of your own home.And finally ....
The ethos of the Internet is to be an open forum for ideas, views and opinions. Sites should encourage visitors to link to other sites, it's a two-way process. So if you've got a few moments, why not look at our Clematis Links page and follow up one or two. You may find a lot more than you were expecting!For any non-members visiting this site, have you considered joining the Society? With plans for some very interesting meetings over the next few years there couldn't be a better time. For details, visit our How to Join page.
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