In this first episode of a new series of Our Plant Stories we are searching for Miriam. To be a bit more precise since this is a podcast filled with plant stories, we are searching for Clematis 'Miriam Markham'.

Our search will take us from a graveyard in Sussex to a gardener's cottage on the Gravetye estate where once thousands of clematis were being propagated by Miriam Markham's husband Ernest and the owner of the estate William Robinson.

We piece together this story with thanks to Sam Fry, a gardener at Gravetye and Raymond Evison a multi-award winning clematis grower. They'll also teach us how to grow these plants.

And we're asking you - have you seen Miriam?

Can I share my plant story with you?

YES PLEASE! I called this OUR Plant Stories for a reason and that is that I love to hear from listeners wherever you are in the world!

You can email me Sally@ourplantstories.com and tell me your plant story. That's all you need to do - I'll do the rest. I'll work out who we can talk to. Can we find someone who shares your passion for the plant, they maybe in the same country as you or the other side of the world.

Our Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally Flatman

The music is Fade to Black by Howard Levy

We're at the bottom of, I think, seven tiers of graves in a church in West Hoathly in West Sussex. We're about, I think it's exactly a kilometre and a half away from Gravetye Manor, and we're looking at a curbed grave on a sloping gravesite.

And this is the grave of Ernest Markham and his wife, Miriam Markham.

Welcome to a new series of Our Plant Stories. And starting in a graveyard just shows that we never know where these plant stories are going to take us. Today's story is told by Sam Fry.

He's a gardener at Gravetye Manor and it's about clematis. As well as the story. We'll have a conversation with the wonderful Raymond Evison, now in his 80s his passion for this plant began when he was just 16 and he'll teach us how to grow them. He's won 35 Chelsea gold medals. But why is Sam interested in clematis?

Tom's very good here. Tom Coward, the head gardener, he's very good at encouraging us all to take on passion projects and obsessions.

And he's always recommended that we pick a genus and really study it closely to really develop and learn about that plant. But then anything we learn about it, is then applicable to everything else.

So if we learn how to grow something really well and how to kill it, we'll then be able to apply that to just everything else. So I picked clematis because I don't know much, I didn't know, I still don't know much about them, but I didn't know much about them at the time. And I knew that they were important to Gravetye. I knew there was something there but didn't know too much about it.

So let's go back to that graveyard where the story begins.

This is Markham's or Ernest's side. So you can see it's etched in along the side.

Yeah.

Miriam on the other side.

So if we cross around, she was.

Born 87 and died in 53.

So why is Ernest Markham important to you?

Ernest Markham's one of the head gardeners at Gravetye Manor. He was there for 25 years with William Robinson.

Gravetye is a fascinating place because it's a very important garden through William Robinson in his writing and into broader, you know, horticultural culture, you know, as the inspiration for Daisy Lloyd for laying out Dixter. Vita and Harold got a lot of inspiration from Gravetye and Robinson's writing for Sissinghurst.

But Robinson is largely forgotten and, you know, by a factor of 10, Markham's forgotten. But one of the things they did at Gravetye was work on clematis.

And at the turn of the century, or the 19/20th century, clematis wilt really took hold and practically wiped out clematis from gardens. And through introducing Viticella varieties and doing a lot of just chance breeding, they reinvigorated the genus.

And, yeah, there's a good number of varieties named after them. And it's fascinating following and re-finding them, trying to find the varieties and rediscovering the grave.

How did you find the grave and can you remember the first time you kind of came across it?

I came here a few times before actually finding it.

I dragged a friend round and it was raining and we were looking for it and I remember stomping around in the mud down in the bottom, and she was up here and we had to go for a pint in the end because we couldn't find it and then came back around to find it up here.

It was in one of the obituaries that I'd been sent by Raymond Evison, who's another clematis expert, and they just said that he was buried in West Hoathly and we're only, Gravetye is a kilometre and a half that way over the hill. So Ernest Markham died only two years after Robinson died, and this is all just before World War II really kicked off.

So other things kind of shrouded both of their deaths.

Sam has planted snowdrops around the grave of Ernest and Miriam. But here's the thing with this plant story. The clematis variety, named for Miriam Markham, is missing and Sam is searching for it.

We left the peaceful graveyard and driving to the house where the Markhams lived, Sam filled me in on more of William Robinson and Ernest Markham's story.

That track down there, I think, is the track where Robinson fell and broke his back. But that goes all the way down into the estate and then gets a lovely view looking over the manor and the gardens.

So Robinson spends how long in a wheelchair, and that's key to when Ernest Markham comes as well, isn't it?

I haven't found any of his personal information yet. After he died early, he left it all to his wife Miriam. And then she went on and they never had kids and I think that she left everything to her brother who was a cobbler.

But I haven't started going down that rabbit hole of trying to trace familial links and find if he left anything or if there's anything that still exists.

So, Sam, tell me about this house in front of us.

This is the Moat. It's the old head gardener's cottage at Gravetye Manor.

This is the house that Robinson moved into when he first moved into Gravetye while he was renovating it. But this is where Ernest Markham lived for 25 years while he was at Gravetye. It was left to him and Miriam in perpetuity when Robinson died.

When Markham was here, the garden was a little bit different. You can see some of the trees that would have still been here, like that Taxodium over there. He grew a lot of clematis seedlings here.

So the writing says that it's anywhere between 2 to 3,000 seedlings at any one time. In between here and the garden proper there's a nice old photo, he grew them at 45 degree angles on, I think it was old hazel and chestnut posts and things. And it's there's a lovely photo that's all very laid out in rows of just what looks like a vineyard, but it's for clematis.

And then in the flower garden as well, there's these fantastic old photos of the beds still as they're laid out today, but then with wiring and fences where they're just adorned in clematis. And then there's pergolas that had clematis.

And through interviews that we know that they grew clematis through the azaleas on the bank and through trees and things. And there's some really old roots that I'm going to. I hope are, you know, from their vintage, but not 100% sure, but they were everywhere.

What do we know about Miriam? We're standing here. Obviously she lived here. Do we know anything about Miriam?

Not much they met at Bishopsgate, where Ernest was the head gardener and she was a housemaid. And then the year that they both came here, they married. She was Ernest's second wife. His first wife died when he was, I think, was only 29, he was very young and they never had children. But Miriam was greatly involved and loved in the manor.

Ernest and Miriam were called Little and Big Markham, respectively, or Minnie and Big Markham, which is quite nice. They both have really good reputations from the bits of writing that do exist and the interviews that exist. She was described as very kind.

One of the gardeners, whose responsibility was to stock the wood fires, would always make sure to give Miriam an extra large log just so she would keep that fire going.

And there's this lovely photo that's actually on that porch right out the front that has Robinson sat with his nurse, Mary Gilpin, his dog Boy, and Miriam. So Robinson would come down here to visit Ernest and Miriam. So they had a close relationship.

She was given the house in perpetuity when Robinson died. And then after her husband died, she stayed here for a little while longer until the Canadians came in.

And I'm pretty safe to assume that once they started doing works in the flower garden of tearing it up to turn it into vegetable production and cutting down trees and things, she left. And I've always thought that, you know, she couldn't bear to see the garden getting turned up.

And she only moved only a couple miles away to Felbridge, where she built a garden there that was then in turn planted with clematis. One of the accounts is that Ernest and Miriam Markham were both growing in the garden.

So William Robinson falls in love with clematis. Correct? Or loves clematis. Or starts collecting clematis because he gets collections from other places which he brings here. So tell me about that.

Where does he start finding clematis from?

So before he gets to Gravetye, there's accounts of, I think it's Trenarthan, where he falls in love with James Bateman's clematis. And there's Mrs. Bateman, there's varieties, there's a handful of varieties from the Batemans. And he comments on the large flowering varieties there.

And that's the first kind of definitive proof of Robinson's interest in clematis. And then he starts acquiring collections after the work's done at Gravetye. So the exact date we're not sure of, but we know it's Pre World War I.

There's Francisque Morel in Lyon, in France. He has a collection there, he moves to garden design and has a nursery and sells up the collection to Robinson.

And Robinson's introducing varieties already to market through Francisque Morel. But those collections then come to Gravetye. There's James Veitch and Sons in Coombe Wood and he buys that collection too.

And through those collections and others that he has in the garden, they then start propagating and hybridising. And that's where the 2 to 3,000 seedlings at a time kind of comes in.

You mentioned that clematis wilt was around. Tell me what that was.

What was going on, it was a disease that it came into the country at the beginning of the 20th century and it really affected clematis through drought and it would just kill them off effectively. So at the time, clematis were largely just grafted onto our native species. So that's Clematis vitalba.

And I think the thinking at the time was that it's a really big plant, it's got good roots, it'll be great for growing, you know, the larger flowering varieties of like C.lanuginosa and C.patens in some of the hybrids that were coming out.

But between the grafting and the clematis wilt, it really knocked the plant back from being a popular garden plant because it would just die off in the drought.

And then between Robinson and Markham and then a handful of other people, predominantly here at Gravetye, they introduced C.viticella hybrids and varieties into the breeding. They reduced the inbreeding that was going on at the time and kind of reinvigorated the genus.

And Ernest Markham and William Robinson both wrote books on clematis.

Ernest Markham's book was much more of an in depth dive into the genus and was the first book, I think it's in either 50 or 60 years on the matter on the subject. So that really marks the, you know, the return of the genus back into gardens proper.

Alongside the breeding work, there was also the propagation methods that were being revolutionised. So Markham wrote this fantastic article on the new methods to develop and propagate clematis, which was through layering.

So, you know, clonally propagating the clematis instead of grafting them onto the C. vitalba rootstocks.

So tell me about Miriam's clematis that you are searching for.

It's a lovely pink variety. Apparently it starts off single and then goes double.

Speaking to people, I know it's been around in cultivation in the last few decades, but it's not commercially available now. But Ernest Markham still is, Markham's pink is. But they're definitely distinct plants. And it was named posthumously after Ernest Markham died but for Miriam by Roland Jackmon, who was working at Jackman's of Woking.

When you're thinking about it, do you ever kind of wonder, have a vision of where she might be, what kind of garden she might be growing in? Could it be an individual? Would it be a big house? Could it be a garden attached to a nursery?

I mean, do you have thoughts about where you might find her?

Probably in a private garden. You know, there's gardens all over the place. I can imagine it's just someone that grew clematis in the past, you know, someone older, definitely, unfortunately, it's not going to be in someone, a younger person's garden because it's just not commercially available.

There's a theory that there could be kind of a band of older clematis varieties that were moved about and commercialised kind of 50 years ago that made their way out of Britain to, you know, Eastern Europe, out to New Zealand or Australia or those places where kind of the industry expanded and then contracted slightly. So those heritage varieties are still in existence out there. So they could still exist, you know, stranger things have happened. Fingers crossed it still exists somewhere.

Varieties turn up in people's gardens all the time so fingers crossed that Miriam's still out there somewhere. Ernest is still up there in the garden. But to have Miriam growing with him would be very lovely, just on a quite sentimental note.

But culturally too, to put these plants back into the garden is really quite important.

You may recall that back at the beginning of this story, I mentioned Raymond Evison, a nurseryman and passionate clematis grower. It was Raymond who sent Sam the obituary that helped him locate Ernest and Miriam's grave. The three of us met up.

Can Raymond shed some light on Clematis 'Miriam Markham'. Almost before I started recording, he had something to give Sam.

To me, it's tremendously exciting to have this document here. And I think, Sam, I think we decided that Rhonda was Ernest Markham's sister.

Yes.

Yeah. So here's a letter written by Ernest Markham to his sister Rhonda, which is very, very, very, very faint, of course.

And then we have the obituaries from his funeral service and the write up in various newspapers here, which are all in bits and pieces, but they all do go together. So to me, that's, you know, it's really part of clematis history and development. So that, Sam, is in your safe keeping.

Markham's work is key to why we have clematis in our gardens today. But what was the clematis wilt that threatened that in the late 19th and early 20th century?

Well, clematis wilt is caused by a fungal disease called Ascochyta clematidina.

And in basic terms, stem of the clematis can be damaged and then the spores are probably the fungal spores are really in the soil or maybe in the compost if the plants are going in pots. And all it needs is really is rain to splash up those spores into a damaged part of the clematis stem.

And then like all fungi, they breed and develop very, very quickly and they block up the sap stream in basic terms. And so the clematis wilts because it hasn't got any sap going up.

How much evidence is there of these clematis at Gravetye now?

Bits and pieces. We've tried to keep some of them in. There's some older varieties, things like Huldine and Minuet.

There's a couple very old ones, there's a couple very old C.montanas that are spread up through trees. But other than that, there isn't too much evidence from the past.

Robinson wrote the first book, but that was very brief and just kind of a description of how the clematis are grown at Gravetye, whereas Markham's was much more in depth and detailed onto, you know, propagating the varieties how to grow them.

And is that a book you mentioned, you used, Markham's book?

Yeah, absolutely. Because I think there were some photographs of the hardwood cuttings.

I think, if I remember rightly so, one would take the cuttings in probably February, I think in the early spring. It's no good doing it in the autumn because the clematis is already sort of dying back still.

But if you get the surge of new growth and sap coming in the early spring, so I think really before bud break at the end of February.

I don't think they would have done the breeding type technical way that perhaps some of us would do today, because they wouldn't have thought in that way. But they certainly were doing pioneering work in the resurrection of the love of clematis that people had, you know.

So I think Ernest Markham and William Robinson. William Robinson, I suppose, as the owner, very, very much we have a lot to thank them for, for what they did.

Let's turn to Miriam.

I remember it being a very, very pale, sort of almost washed out blue, a bit of a patchy blue with a little bit of green and a very, very light, very, very light chocolate center. And it was almost a semi double flower. Never was a fully double flower. Sorry, I can't see without my glasses on. Sorry.

So just, just looking at Magnus Johnson's description here

There's one other photo that I haven't found for her yet, in that Magnus lists, that's in the first edition of Christopher Lloyd's Clematis.

Right.

I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Well, then I hope I ought to have that because I help Christo with that book.

So there might be, in the first edition of that book, there may well be an illustration of Miriam Markham.

Fingers crossed. Hopefully I think I do have the first edition because Christo was very gracious. It was really quite funny. What did he say?

Raymond's passion for clematis is, I can't remember exactly the words, but he does have time for his wife and children occasionally or something, which was really quite funny.

The good news is that since recording this episode, Sam has found that illustration. And if you want to help with the search for Clematis 'Miriam Markham', head to the website ourplantstories.com where I have posted the image.

I feel sure that he'll persevere in his search. But if you have any memories of someone talking about a clematis called Miriam, I am sure Sam would love to hear from you and I'll pass on any leads.

If someone is inspired by this story, how should they set about growing clematis in a pot in the ground? How do they choose? Where should someone start with all of your passion?

Well, I think number one is go to a very good quality garden center, buy a good quality plant. Don't buy something cheap and cheerful because that really doesn't work in the long term.

Clematis love a microclimate.

They love to grow through other plants. Certainly clematis love a shady root system.

And so, you know, I say to people it's a criminal offense if they plant a clematis on a south face facing wall and put a bit of trellis behind it and expect it to grow. That you can't do that sort of thing. It really is a criminal offense. Yep.

So clematis love a microclimate, grow with other plants, like a shady root system. And really important to prepare the site before planting. Dig a hole about 18 inches deep, 45 cm depth and 45 cm diameter

In the bottom of the hole if you've got some well rooted farmyard manure or very, very well rooted garden compost, put that in the bottom of the hole while you're preparing and doing that digging and preparing the soil. Then put the clematis in the pot, in a bucket of water for 20 minutes. Make sure that the clematis has soaked up the water.

Because when you plant the clematis, if you haven't done that and the clematis is dry in its pot, the water will just run off the sides and that plant will take a long time to establish.

And then when you plant a clematis, I always suggest that you plant it next to 2, 2 and a half inches deeper, 5, 6 centimeters deeper than the surface, then it will build up a root crown and remember my terminology, the clematis are really a climbing perennial.

So you build up that root crown and then if the clematis does get damaged by in cultivation or chewed off by a mouse or a rabbit or something like that, then it's got a 99% chance of regrowing. And clematis in association with other plants I love doing flower arranging and I love association of clematis with foliage and with other plants.

So you know, there are just hundreds and hundreds of plant association and plant combinations you can do. So really think about like perhaps buying a new car. Think what you want it for, what you want it to do, how are you going to maintain it.

And maintenance is important too.

But there's so many types of clematis with the, you know, with the evergreens and with the montanas and the alpinas and macropetalas, they're all different. And of course if you're going to grow montana, then you don't grow it through another shrub.

You can grow it up Corsican pine tree and that looks fantastic. So really think about where you're going to plant that plant and think about its maintenance and what it's going to do.

So do your research or really look at the plant label in the garden centres.

All good quality clematis will have good labels with good descriptions where to plant and another tip is really, if you want to plant a clematis in a sunny location, then try choose the deep colours. The whites are perfect, the deep blues, the deep purples or the deep reds because they will retain their colour in the strong sunshine.

If you're wanting to plant some of the pale colours, some of the striped pale coloured ones, the pale lilacs or the pale pink ones, then plant those in a semi shady location where the sun won't bleach out the colour. So just think about what you're going to plant and where you want to plant it. But certainly buy a good quality plant.

I hope this will inspire you to plant a clematis.

Raymond also gave a simple guide as to how to prune clematis and I'll post that on the website ourplantstories.com which is where you can sign up for the weekly blog which gives the latest updates and behind the scenes news of this podcast. With thanks to Sam for sharing the story he has researched so painstakingly and is still researching. And of course, if he finds c

Clematis 'Miriam Markham' I'll let you know. Our plant stories is researched, recorded, edited, produced and presented by me.

Sally Flatman.