Archive 2004
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Change! I've been very lucky to be able to locate and rent a very nice greenhouse! - seems huge compared with my two small home greenhouses - a 10 x 6 feet and an 8 x 6 feet. From next season the expansion of available space means I will be able to house a few more seedlings, and hopefully in even better conditions.
Just a glass clean-up, and tidy, and a bit of work required
Left side of walled area Bottom right corner house Left half of house Right half of house (MY PART)
Looking into right half, from door into left half Looking into right half proper
A glass partition door separates the two halves. The shading-fleece is still up, in the picture.
The Garden Centre (4 miles west of Manchester, right next to the motorway network but in a peaceful and beautiful location) used to raise its own plants in the past, and there was a lot of heated glass; this greenhouse is a relatively new house, about 55 feet x 25 feet, nowadays none of the glass is heated (at present). In the coming season, from January, I will have most of my plants here, so April and May should be the first big bloom-time, for the new large-flowered plants; then the species etc plants following on throughout the season. None of the plants will be for sale! as envisaged just at the moment. There will hopefully be a lot of new seedlings producing their first flowers here. Although the house looks fully onto the open plant-sales area (you can see about 1/3rd of the plant-sales area in the first photo), it's a 'private' thing rather than being part of the general "public display area". The Garden Centre is well known in the area, and comprises a pleasant vista of fields and farms.
Article "Plants in Houses"
Just another article about raising clematis from seed, but with the emphasis on how a collection can soon be established, and maintained in a greenhouse, from the amateur point of view.
The aim of the article is to summarise how anyone, in only a few years, can acquire and enjoy to the full the most fascinating range of wonderful clematis plants, and even if you have zero or only limited experience of raising plants from seed.
The information is broken up into sections which deal with the fundamentals of raising, followed by a snapshot-in-time of notes and observations with regard to the development of the individual plants forming the current inventory.
Text copyright Brian Collingwood.
Article, "The Joy of Growing Your Own Clematis Plants from Seed"
Just a short article covering the basics of raising clematis plants from seed. The aim of the article is to encourage anyone interested to have a go at raising one's own new clematis plants, even if one has little or no previous experience of raising plants from seed.
The information is divided into short sections, each focusing on one particular part of the cycle from germination to flowering. Giving some idea of the potential interest and enjoyment afforded by this hobby is an aim; hopefully the details provided might encourage others to give it a try. Why? The rewards can be very satisfying - clematis mostly produce beautiful flowers, some, exceptionally so. You can raise a beautiful (and unique) clematis yourself.
Text copyright Brian Collingwood.
Published 25/11/04 in the B.C.S. annual Journal, "The Clematis 2004".
A new C. texensis-hybrid seedling struggles determinedly to flower before the end of the season, and although we are currently at freezing temperatures, and though most of the rest of the foliage is already dead and dry, it finally succeeds!
Plant 196
This plant was acquired as a C. texensis seedling, unflowered, in March, as a very small plant, but it has made quick progress. It appears to be a hybrid. In October a late batch of flowers formed, which quite surprisingly have managed to open, despite the freezing temperatures and low light levels in the greenhouse. It'll be interesting to see the flowers next season.
Clematis napaulensis; seed planted 11th July 1998, germinated 22nd September 1998, after about 70 days. In the last few years the plant has produced sporadic flowers in too-cold a garden, but this year the vines have begun to develop flowers earlier than in previous years, and in much greater numbers.
The plant is from sub-genus Cheiropsis, section Cheiropsis, sub-section Cheiropsis, known as the Cirrhosa group, and this particular species is native to parts of Nepal, India and China.
Important articles about raising and overwintering clematis in cold climates.
A sequence of photos of a plant raised as C. patens. From earlier this year.
The seed germinated in 1999. Received as C. patens from Japan. The photos have dates captions - 1st of March to 5th of May 2004.
As an amateur, with all plants one says "raised as" rather than "this is".
(Very) Welcome home! 'Repatriated' seedling "Nina" (germination number G73H), a daughter of King Edward VII, which germinated in October 1999: a cutting of the original plant (what a relief, it struck!), flowering once again in my own greenhouse, in October 2004 (1.) How time flies.
2004
In the greenhouse today. Colours much stronger than anticipated.
The seedling first flowered in 2001 (2,) and the appearance of the blooms, in the greenhouse, was
2001
The original plant then had a spell away from home planted out in an everyday outside garden and the blooms (3.) were as thus
2003
The colour of the blooms was less eye-catching when the plant was growing outside in an exposed position, however the flowers in relative shade were still quite good (3.)
It'll be interesting to see how it performs next year in both garden and greenhouse.
Another important germination, the second batch of seed of a large-flowered patens-type seeedling crossed with C. coactilis:
G66B x Plant 176 C. coactilis
Germinations after 350 days.
C. speciosa: two seedlings, one flowering a little later than the other. Seedling A: Seedling B:
Item 22nd September 2004
Shoulder surgery (#2) will imminently close the season. Back later.
www.shoulderdoc.co.uk Thank goodness for keyhole surgery.
Another terrific germination of hybridised seed. This time a patens-type large-flowered hybrid crossed with a larger-flowered viornae-section plant.
G66b x G76I
Sowed 18.10.03 and Germinated 21.09.2004
This patens-type actually produced both single and some quite double flowers on the same plant. Hybridised 21st June 2003, seed harvested, and sowed, 18th October 2003.
Another exciting germination from seed originating from a hybridisation, this time 'a new large-flowered hybrid' crossed with 'an enormous-flowering viornae-group hybrid'. Seed sowed in November 2003, germination after 310 days. The picture shows the germination at the very earliest stage. Who could guess what flowers this could eventually produce? The seed parent is a plant raised a few years back (germinated October 1999) and is a daughter of the old stalwart King Edward VII; the pollen parent was raised around the same time period (germinated November 1999) and is a viornae-group hybrid. The hybridisation itself took place in July 2003 and the seed was harvested in early November 2003.
Parents: seed parent and pollen parent = ?
Plant G65D Plant G76I = Cross 55/2003
A tiny micropropagated plantlet (cutting taken 20th June 2004) is very quickly sufficiently established to wean into its own pot.
It is a cutting of "The President".
Suzy Mac herself now has offspring...seedlings germinating in the pic below have resulted from a cross between the previous item and a new viticella seedling.
Flashback to May when new seedling Suzy Mac was at her peak.
Germinations of cross 36/2003 = C. patens x C. coactilis - - very exciting!!!!
36 | 22/06/03 | G66B | 176 | 24/06/03 | 27/06/03 | seed form'g | 18/10/03 |
seed parent pollen parent
A very exciting germination indeed, (!) after 293 days.
Item August 2004
You never know who you might bump into next in the garden.
Item 28th July 2004
Germinations....of cross number 51/2003 which is C. florida species x C. viornae-hybrid (raised as C. versicolor, but is a hybrid):
Number Date isolated Seed parent Pollen parent Pollen date De-isolated Progress Harvest
51 | 08/07/03 | G106B | G64H | 10/07/03 | 13/07/03 | seed formed | 18/10/03 |
Sowing date 18th October 2003, germination date 31st July 2004, approximately 280 days. 2 separate seed lots germinating on same day.
click small image to enlarge
Lovely new orientalis-type; seedling G115A - this is one of two; only small seedlings at present and the flowers will be much larger and more numerous next season - foliage is beautiful too; much promise: Seedling G55A C. texensis - second-year flowers - they are darker this year: The excitement continues!Two superb C. florida seedlings producing promisingly-large numbers of flowers: one produced a small number of flowers last year, being a lovely pure-white single' C. florida species, with the most intensely contrasting purple-black anthers; the other has not flowered before and could be double or single: Seedling G106B Seedling G48C Look carefully at the number of flower buds on these two seedlings! |
Development, as...
one of my seedlings (number 10) finally makes it into the catalogue!!!
Item April 19th 2004
Review of my modest tome, by Everett Leeds, in the Clematis International 2004, the Journal of the International Clematis Society.
Click on the small image to load, then click on enlargement icon at bottom right of image.
A few shots from around the houses; large-flowered plants coming toward flowering. In some cases, the foliage itself is also very beautiful. IMAGES NOW ARCHIVED!
closer shots: look at the beautifully-crafted foliage with a dark outer margin
The working-name of this seedling, extremely floriferous indeed, is 'Suzy Mac'.
Flowers now opening.
7th May 9th May 2004 11th May
Picture of bloom from last summer
New atragene, plant number T167:
A C. koreana-derived seedling.
Item 2nd April 2004
Around the houses
Snapshots of a few plants!
C. marmoraria already settling in nicely, after arriving as a cutting, a few days earlier.
C. coactilis and close-up of flowers.
Cuttings forming roots, as it happens.
It's interesting, the way cuttings form roots: here are two cuttings of C. florida species. To observe rooting taking place, in cuttings, you can either (1) make a window in a pot using perspex, so that you can see the changes taking place directly; or, (2) for cuttings placed down the side of the pot of the parent plant, invert the pot and knock out the soil and roots, to check the cutting:
You can directly see roots as they arise from the stem of the cutting. If you look closely you can notice a swelling or nodule, that shortly forms into a second root, immediately above the first. (Note the first picture showing the outer pot, within which the cutting-pot is placed, so as to keep the subject, which is in the window, in the dark.) The further pictures show more roots arising and extending as the days slip by.
The cutting has been slipped down the side of the pot of the parent plant, some months ago. This time, a root has formed directly from the end of the point of severance of the cutting.
Even from tiny cuttings, plants develop rapidly and want to flower as soon as they can.
A lovely atragene, "Jutta"; a plant raised by Finn Rosholm. Further photos to follow when flowers open - see the colour. This plant arrived as a tiny cutting on 25th May 2003. The plant settled in over a period, re-emerged in January, and is set to flower this week or next.
Plants currently in the Greenhouses, at 21/03/2004
House 1
42 new large-flowered hybrids, most due to first-flower this year, (including 20 new C. patens plants as yet unflowered).
***
House 2 – species, seedlings, cuttings and other
Plant number and details * = expecting first flowers this year
192 C. glaucophylla seedling
194 C. texensis species seedling unflowered *
191 C. crispa seedling unflowered *
G83AX1 C. viorna clone unflowered *
176X1 C. coactilis clone 1
196 C. texensis seedling unflowered *
193 C. crispa seedling unflowered *
195 C. texensis seedling unflowered *
G83A C. viorna, main plant, unflowered*
176 C. coactilis main plant
181 C. texensis seedling unflowered *
180A C. texensis seedling clone 1 unflowered *
180B C. texensis seedling clone 2 unflowered *
G55AX1 C. texensis clone 1
G55AX2 C. texensis clone 2
G55AX3 C. texensis clone 3
G55A C. texensis main plant
178 C. texensis new seedling acquired 1 year after first flowers, I’ve not seen them yet.
179 C. texensis seedling unflowered *
G78 C. texensis P. LOOS unflowered, looks like a hybrid *
G107X1 C. (viorna group) hybrid clone 1
G84BX1 C. texensis hybrid clone 1
G84BX2 C. texensis hybrid clone 2
186 C. texensis seedling unflowered *
188 C. freemontii unflowered * possible
190 C. hirsutissima var. scottii unflowered * possible
189 C. hirsutissima unflowered * possible
G56 C. florida species
G56X1 C. florida clone 1
G56X2 C. florida species clone 2
G48 C. C.florida species cuttings x 2 unflowered *
G48C C. florida species unflowered *
106B C. florida species breeding plant
G113A C. speciosa unflowered *
G116 C. grata? unflowered *
185 C. hirsuta cutting unflowered *
G113B C. speciosa unflowered *
183 C. apiifolia unflowered * possible
199 C. hirsuta TH main plant
182 C. tongluensis unflowered *
197 C. tenuiloba – “matted purple virgin’s bower”! Unflowered for me. Received Jan ’04 Forming flowers at March ‘04
168 C. integrifolia var latifolia
187 C. ‘chinese species TH’ id uncertain
G115A C. species=? unflowered *
G115B C. species=? unflowered *
110D C. (Madame Marie Boisselot x C. texensis) unflowered
200 “JUTTA”, (FR), red atragene, cutting
T143 koreana hybrid, cutting
185 unknown atragene, white
177 new meclatis (working name = “YASMIN”)
P25 C. x diversifolia cylindrica clone 1
P25 C. x diversifolia cylindrica clone 2
164 LFH double, working name = “MOIRA” main plant
203 working name = "SUZYMAC" purple seedling clone 1
G101 seedling of ‘Alionushka’
164X1 LFH Double “MOIRA” clone 1
T143 koreana hybrid
T167 new blue KOREANA hybrid
P25 C. x diversifolia cylindrica main plant
Plus
All layers which are now in pots, most cuttings, most new and newer seedlings
You can produce copies of new plants, from cuttings, in time.....this is C. florida species.
C. reticulata germinates after 386 days. Photographed through hand-lens.
Conference approaching... list of attendees. Click on this small image above. When the image loads, place your cursor on it, an enlargement icon will appear at bottom right, click on the icon to enlarge.
C. patens germination, miniscule seedling.
Seedling germinated 315 days after sowing. Seed collected wild in Japan
New seeds, new momentum.
end of Archive 2004