Never underestimate the man in the potting shed with a paint-brush 
                                            Written by David Ponton     

I was watching ‘Dragon’s Den’ last night. It is an endlessly fascinating television programme and you just know that the poor soul with an invention is on to a loser as soon as they breeze into the Den.
“I’ve just invented a kettle that whistles ‘The Nutcracker Suite’”
“I’m OOT! Get OOT! Yer wastin’ ma time”
“This is my invention. A pair of sunglasses that folds into a deck chair”
“You’re mad. Laughable. Next!”
….and so it goes. It is very hard for anyone to come up with something original take it to market and beat the big brands.

In my recent experience, I was looking at purchasing a new TV and I kept seeing three big brand names - Sony, Phillips, Panasonic. How about when I wanted to change my mobile phone? Orange, Vodafone, O2. A trip to the supermarket? Tesco, Morrison, Sainsbury. Buying a book? Amazon, Waterstone’s, W H Smith. Can anyone out compete these ‘giants’? As President Obama would say “Yes they can”.

The one exception to the rule that ‘big is powerful’ is plant breeding. In the introvert, intensive world of plant breeding, the focused amateur can still come up trumps, create something and take on the ‘big boys’. There are some mighty breeding corporations out there, with scientists studying plant genomes, cutting and splicing DNA to produce new varieties. Suntory in Japan and Fischer in Germany, spend millions trying to produce roses that will do your shopping and daffodils that play the guitar. Yet, they cannot win against the dedicated individual with a small brush in a potting shed, experimenting by dabbling about with pollen….because that tenacious plantsman has the powerful wind of nature behind him.

So, it is to one such enthusiast I doff my cap this week. A retired teacher named Graham Hutchins. Graham has a passion. His passion is breeding clematis - Queen of the Climbers. In his small Suffolk garden, this amateur  gardener has bred what has been described as the ‘World’s most fragrant clematis’ by Peter Hoddenot, who is a bit of an authority and has been professionally growing clematis since 1952. This new clematis is named ‘Fragrant Oberon’ and is wonderful in all respects.

‘Fragrant Oberon’ is best grown in a large pot with an obelisk or trellis, on the patio or balcony, so you do not even need a garden to enjoy it. At it’s highest it will only grow to 1.5 metres. It produces masses of small white flowers 2cm across. There is such an abundance of flowers the foliage all but disappears from the beginning of March until the end of April. ‘Oberon’ is an early flowering variety and as soon as the flowers open you will be lifted by the scent. The scent is more musky than sweet, I would say, not unlike a hyacinth but with more oomph! Not only that, but you can cut a few stems and bring the perfume indoors as it has a long vase-life.

As for maintenance, well I do not know of an easier to maintain clematis. Firstly it is evergreen. If you want to trim it, simply use the kitchen scissors. The only thing it needs from you is a bit of ‘ tomato feed’ in May. It such a prolific flowering little clematis, it will appreciate the replacement potash. Thereafter it will sleep in the summer and come late autumn, it will start to stir again ready for the following March.

Now isn’t that a fantastic plant? All created by a man with no branding, a small brush, a passion and with nature providing a bit of luck. No amount of money or big business could have created anything as sweet. ‘Fragrant Oberon’ is available to gardeners around the world in September 2009, though limited in numbers, it is well worth acquiring.

The story of this clematis is inspiring me to breed a new plant. Well, I have the artists brush. I can hear my wife and I am looking at a bulb……... I wonder if I can create the world’s first talking tulip!

“Nothing dear, just thinking out loud”

Clematis Fragrant Oberon is available
supplied in 7cm pots for April delivery.

Code    INA06J10    1 plant        £13.50
Code    INA06K10    3 plants    £19.00