Clematis! A wonderful interview with THE Raymond Evison

We can't believe our lucky stars! Raymond Evison, the pre-eminent clematis breeder and grower in the world, more than graciously agreed to chat with us about his passion, the wonderful clematis genus.  We cover SO much in this interview from his amazing horticultural background in England, his plant explorations in China, the clematis breeding process how to grow and prune them as well as all kinds of species and varieties that are suitable for those of us in more northerly zones.   Raymond was so generous in sharing his knowledge and such gracious guest, we are sure you will love this interview as much as we did, we can hardly wait to have him back!   His website also has great tips for growing and pruning Raymond's Webpage - Growing Guides Raymond provided us this list of clematis varieties to try for our Zones (Hardy to Zone 4- but I know I will be testing some of these here in my Zone 2a - in known microclimates), we can hardly wait for more of his new releases! The viticella hybrids,  Abundance Alba Luxurians Etiole    Violette  Kermesina Royal Velours  Polish Spirit There are others ,but these are the most popular ones . C. integrifolia  C. X eriostemon  C. jackmanii  C. jackmanii Superba  C. henryii  C. Marie Boisselot Raymond also suggested that we try the following as they are new ones rated to Zone 4, but may be hardier, he can't guarantee they will be but I know I am going to give them a try!  And we hope the Devon ( U of A) Botanic Garden does too! Bernadine Sally  Samaritan Jo Chevalier Sacha  Zara  Tranquilite Corinne Parisienne Nubia  Olympia Vicki Corinne  Pettit Faucon (also good as a cut) Sally  And lastly the alpina species C. alpina and C. macropetala ( the species ) and their cultivars.  (just an aside- Clara has been growing an alpina in Zone 2a for 5 years!, even through -40 spells) The varieties Raymond recommends as particularly good as cuts are:  Marie Boisselot  ( Mme Le Coulter ) Prinz Hendrik * W E Gladstone  X Durrandii *  Beauty of Richmond And possibly Lord Neville and Lady Caroline Neville  You should also try C .integrifolia and it’s  pink and white forms, and C. tubilosa, these have strong thick stems and work well . Both the * ones were used for many years in the Dutch Flower Markets in Holland,it is likely the only one available now would be X Durrandii. Of the others, only Marie Boisselot is probably available Raymond has won 30 Chelsea Gold Medals at the Chelsea Flower Show in England.  Check out a short video of one of his dsiplays here: Raymond Evison at Chelsea Flower Show .    He provided the following advice for his cutting and conditioning steps for his cut flower arrangements at the show (note he also has alot of potted clematis at the Chelsea show as well): "What I (Raymond)  did with these varieties when we used them as cut flowers for the Chelsea Flower Show Exhibits was as follows: Cut the stems about 45-50cm long in the early morning and then removed all the leaves and put the stems into a bucket of cold water for  24 hrs to condition them . But before putting the stems in water I would dip the base of each stem in boiling hot water for 25 seconds . note: It is always best to cut the flowers just after the flower bud had opened and not when the flower was fully open " And since we know you are heading out to find more clematis to add to your collections, the suppliers of Raymond Evison Clematis in Canada are: BTN Valleybrook Gardens, Ontario Brookdale Treeland (or BTN), Ontario Sheridan Nurseries, Ontario.  We can't thank Raymond enough for so generously sharing all of his knowledge and enthusiasm, we look forward to talking to him again in the future to hear about more of his plant hunting and clematis breeding adventures.   Our theme music was composed and performed by Heather's son Callum and audio editing was completed by the uber talented Laura Eccleston.