July 20, 2013 at 8:17 pm (clematisinseattle, International Clematis Conference 2013, Spotlight on Clematis)
Tags: Clematis Alba Plena, Clematis durundii, Clematis Fond Memories, Clematis Hagley Hybrid, Clematis integrifolia Alba, Clematis Minuet, Clematis Omoshiru, Clematis Pamia Serdtsa, Clematis Piluu, Clematis Princess Diana, Clematis Romantika, Clematis Royal Velours, Clematis tanguitica Golden Tiara, Clematis texensis, Clematis The President, Clematis Utopia, Clemtis florida Sieboldii, Erlabrunn, Heidelberg
Clematis in Germany & Holland, Part 1
Recently, in late June and early July, I was privileged to attend the 2013 conference of the International Clematis Society in southern Germany, mostly Bavaria, with about 60 other clematarians from around the world. What a fabulous time! And, oh, my heavens, such a plethora of beautiful clematis we saw — some of which are not yet available in the US.
Just prior to the conference, I took a little jaunt to Heidelberg where eons ago, when I was a sweet young thing, I attended the University of Heidelberg for two years. I didn’t see any clematis there this time around, but I enjoyed seeing the lovely old city again–still looking much the same after all these years (unlike myself).
Old Heidelberg
The Village of Erlabrunn
The International Clematis Conference began in the small and beautiful village of Erlabrunn just north of Wurzburg. Erlabrunn boasts about 200-300 inhabitants and is the home village of one of the organizers of this year’s conference, Klaus Korber. Klaus is a past president of the society and the current director of the nearby Orchard, Trees and Garden Department of the Bavarian State Institution for Wine-Growing and Horticulture (LWG for short). The village of Erlabrunn decked itself out in 800 clematis (planted in 2008) in honor of the 2013 visit of the International Clematis Society! Wunderbar!
Erlabrunn, a village with Clematis fever!
Bear with me as I show you photos of just a few of the 800 clematis on view as we strolled around the village. Please forgive the quality of some of the photos — we were often out and about in the heat of the day, which is definitely not the best time for photography!
Clematis Pamiat Serdtsa
Clematis Royal Velours
Unknown Erlabrunn Clematis
Clematis Alba Plena
Clematis integrifolia Alba
Clematis Piilu
Clematis florida Sieboldii
Unknown pale blue clematis
Another unknown clematis in a pot
Nice Pairing!
Clematis Princess Diana
Lavender clematis gracing a pot
Clematis Romantika
Clematis Utopia? or is it Clematis Omoshiru? or maybe Clematis Fond Memories? Whichever it is, I want all three.
Clematis Hagley Hybrid\
Clematis The President? with a peachy rose
Clematis durundii
LWG Welcome
LWG Display Gardens
We were also privileged to spend a day at the nearby LWG Display Gardens directed by Klaus Korber. We were treated like royalty–the staff readied and served great food and drink for us in the open-air greenhouse, and Klaus acted as MC, providing us with information about the gardens, their history, and his own love for clematis. The gardens are chock full of many carefully grown — and well-labelled — clematis, roses, and other perennials, as well as fruit and wine grapes. Cherries were dripping off the trees, and we were invited to eat as many as we wanted and, omg, were they ever DELICIOUS! I think I personally ate about a hundred.
Wonderful Table of Clematis Blossoms
But one of the best things that LWG did for us was to prepare a long narrow table full of small glass bud vases, each containing one flower from one of the clematis blooming in the garden. Throughout the afternoon at least a few of us were huddled around the table checking out the blooms. We had great fun comparing and contrasting the clematis and, of course, testing each other on clematis identification! Below are a few close-ups. Which ones can YOU identify?
Can YOU identify this one?
Or this one?
You’ve got some help with this one!
I will post Part 2 of my clematis trip to Europe very soon — stay tuned!!
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