IT IS largely thanks to Jim Fisk that clematis can be found in almost every size, style and type of garden.
Fisk left school aged 14 and that year, 1926, he went to work at Notcutts Nursery in Woodbridge, Suffolk, for ten shillings a week. It was there that he fell in love with clematis although Notcutts was, and still is, a general nursery selling a wide variety of plants.
During the war he joined the Royal Navy and served in the Mediterranean. In 1946 he used his demob money (£80) to set up Fisk’s Clematis Nursery in Westleton, Suffolk. It was one of the first specialist nurseries but it was a modest affair, the only garden building being a small greenhouse. In order to make ends meet he worked as the village postman until 9am, which gave him the rest of the day to work with his beloved plants.
Within a few years he had made a local man, Edward Collett, partner in his business. Together they toured flower shows in a second-hand lorry kitted out with a couple of hammocks and a Primus stove for overnight stays.
Fisk’s expertise was in introducing new plants. A “new” plant in itself was not enough for Fisk, who would test and trial every introduction and put it on sale only if he felt it worthwhile.
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His rigorous search for excellence made Fisk a beacon for clematarians throughout the world. Through this international network of growers he made many superb introductions such as the large, striped, pink ‘Doctor Ruppel’ from Argentina, the violet ‘Haku Ookan’ from Japan, and the vigorous, deep blue C. macropetala ‘Wessleton’, named after his home village of Westleton but using the old spelling.
During the Cold War, Fisk followed in the footsteps of the Empress Josephine, who imported roses from this country during the Napoleonic Wars. He introduced clematis from behind the Iron Curtain. They came from the worldfamous breeder Brother Stephan Franck in Poland and included the silvery-blue ‘Fryderyk Chopin’.
As Fisk’s reputation grew, so too did the demand for his plants. Orders poured in from Australia, America, Japan, Argentina, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
Fisk became editor of the Royal Horticultural Society’s clematis handbook, while his magnificent clematis displays were a regular part of the society’s Chelsea Flower Show for more than 30 years and set a new standard for exhibitors.
His influence went far beyond clematis specialists, thanks to his books including Success With Clematis (1962) and Clematis, The Queen of the Climbers (1975). His style was authoritative, warm and fluent even when dealing with the vexed question of pronunciation: “. . . it will always be called by its proper name, clematis, which comes from the Greek and means ‘a vine branch’. Clematis, should always be pronounced with a short ‘a ’ as in the word ‘America’, all three syllables being equally accented: clem a tis”.
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The foreword to Fisk’s Success with Clematis was written by Rowland Jackman, descendant of the great George Jackman, who produced one of our most popular hybrids, the large purple Jackmanii, in 1862.
The latter half of the 19th century had been a boom time for clematis. Jackman’s nursery list included 343. By the early 20th century clematis wilt, a devastating fungal disease, together with a dearth of interesting varieties, made clematis an unpopular garden plant.
Effective fungicide and Fisk’s introductions put clematis back on the garden map and, in 1997, Fisk’s work was recognised with the MBE for services to horticulture.
The accolade was not enough to prevent the closure of his nursery two years later, due to Fisk’s age (he was 87) and competition from garden centres.
Friends and colleagues, including the former chairman of the British Clematis Society’ Dr John Howells, remember Fisk with great affection as a modest, gentle and generous man who was always willing to share his expertise and help others in the field.
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Fisk was an honorary member of both the British Clematis Society and the International Clematis Society and, for his 80th birthday, the British society dedicated a day’s meeting to a celebration of Fisk’s contribution to the plant. Messages poured in from all over the world, including one from the US which said that, if there were royalty in the world of clematis, Jim Fisk would be king.
Jim Fisk, MBE, clematis expert, was born on March 9, 1912. He died on August 17, 2004, aged 92.