WHAT IS THE NEWS IN SEATTLE TIMES ABOUT THE FINE VINES ?”
I was grateful that my turn to speak came before Raymond Evison’s when we were on a Horticulture magazine tour together last winter. This charming British clematis breeder rocked his audience with the kind of ardent enthusiasm you’d expect at a revival meeting. All this excitement for the “queen of vines” comes with a price. These days Evison spends most of his time away from his beloved island of Guernsey. He travels the world convincing gardeners there’s no longer any reason to be intimidated by these classic beauties. That’s in large part because his Guernsey Clematis Nursery Ltd. is producing millions of new, smaller, easy-care clematis. The finest are described in his latest book, “Clematis for Small Spaces: 150 High-Performance Plants for Patio, Decks, Balconies and Borders” (Timber Press, $34.95). The rest of us on the tour were as charmed by Evison as his audiences were. On days we traveled between cities, we wore comfortably rumpled jeans and parkas, but Evison always showed u
