Rogerson Clematis Garden

On our trip to Sebright, Linda and I made our first stop at the Rogerson Clematis Garden in West Linn. Michael and I had visited a few years ago. The timing was perfect this time because a lot of clematis were in bloom. Plus I had a gift certificate that I received from the nursery when we were on their garden tour! 

The garden was the creation of Brewster Rogerson in 1971 and boasts the largest number of clematis varieties in the United States. Since 2004, it has been maintained by Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Garden.

I took a lot of photos, mainly of individual varieties, so apologizes for such a long post. First though is to answer the question "What did you get?" I purchased two clematis (well, one was courtesy of the gift certificate) -

In my quest to find the truest red-colored clematis, I was enticed by 'Charmaine' and Linda Beutler gave me some great advice on growing this one. Any gardener who is serious about clematis needs Linda's book "The Plant Lover's Guide to Clematis" although I'm told it is now out of print but you can probably find copies from second-hand dealers.

Here is 'Charmaine' which was blooming in the garden -

'Charmaine'

I saw another red clematis in flower that I liked even better called 'Burning Love' but they did not have this one on hand for sale in the nursery -

'Burning Love'

My second purchase was 'Venosa Violacea' which is Linda Beutler's favorite and my friend and travel companion Linda Rectanus also loves it. I have to confess that photos of it never pulled me in but after seeing it in person, I could understand what all the fuss was about. It is very beautiful with purple edging and purple veins threading through the white center bars. Apparently I forgot to take a photo. You can see a good photo of it on Brushwood Nurseries website. 

Anyone looking for a living encyclopedia of clematis should visit this nursery. There are also other beautiful plantings to gaze upon -

I got excited when I saw the planting pictured below.  I am almost certain that the white flower is 'Pearly Everlasting'. Amy Campion wrote an article about this for the HPSO Quarterly. We got some at the garden center where I work and I was told that it was very rambunctious. I ended up putting it in a pot but here it is in the ground -

More clematis! -

'Blue Mist'

'Violet Stardust' - I want!

'Gypsy Queen'

'Miniseelik'

'Avant-Garde'

'Moonglow'

'Hanaguruma'

'Swedish Bells'

'Dark Eyes'

'Fairydust'

'Voleceau'

'Gizela'

'Juuli'

'Supernova'

'Jessica'

'Lady Northcliffe and Nelly Moser'

'Special Occasion'

'Little Butterfly'

'Pamiat Serdtsa' ("Memory of the Heart")

'Poldice'

'Rooran'

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy