Join us for the “Inviting Vines” 20th Birthday Event
at Lake Oswego’s Luscher Farm Park and the Rogerson Clematis Garden, June 14, 2025
The Rogerson Clematis Garden, a world-class botanical garden outside of Lake Oswego, celebrates its 20th anniversary June 14 with Inviting Vines, a day-long event at the garden. The birthday celebration, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. will feature classes, on-site garden tours, a plant sale, and a special breakfast with speakers and garden celebrity Mike Darcy acting as master of ceremonies. The day ends with a cake and ice cream party sponsored by the city of Lake Oswego, which owns Lusher Farm Park where the clematis garden is located.
The “Plant Nerd” Breakfast, (named with permission from Mike Darcy who runs the popular “Plant Nerd Night” event each spring), will feature representatives from Lux Perennials, Gossler Farms Nursery and Van Hevelingen Herbs and Plants who will talk about some of their favorite plants while volunteers carry them around the room in a plant fashion show. The nurseries will have plants for sale throughout the day under the Beech Tree, and the garden will sell clematis on the sales terrace. The breakfast, which is priced separately from the day-long program, has gluten-free and vegan options. The ticket includes non-alcoholic mimosas, catered breakfast, door prizes, and the plant presentations, along with an early look at the event’s Silent Auction packages. This year’s Silent Auction includes the opportunity to bid on a private evening in Mike and Linda Darcy’s Garden on a date to be set in July.
Workshops start at 10:30 a.m. with Maurice Horn, former owner of Joy Creek Nursery and clematis expert, talking about the Clematis of Japan and illustrating them with cut flower specimens. Horn will follow his talk with a tour of the clematis of Japan growing in the garden. Easy Irrigation for Containers by Kym Pokorny, former garden writer for The Oregonian, will follow in the afternoon. The demonstration will introduce the materials, tools and techniques of building a drip system for containers. At 2 p.m., Linda Beutler, curator of the garden since its inception, offers a workshop on Making Bamboo Structures for Clematis in Containers. After watching demonstrations on technique, participants will go home with a kit of pre-cut bamboo and twine to make their own. Tickets may be purchased online at the Rogerson Clematis Garden website. “Plant Nerd” Breakfast tickets are $60 per person. Workshop tickets, which include lunch, all three workshops and the birthday party at the end of the day, are $150. Lunch is gluten-free and vegan with vegetarian condiments. Tickets are limited, so purchase them online soon to ensure a seat!
Open to the public and requiring no ticket purchase, the plant sale with the three “non-clematis” vendors, including Lux Perennials’ new line of plant supports (perfect for clematis) and the clematis garden’s sales terrace, are free to everyone from 10 a,m. to 3 p.m. There will also be a garden book sale featuring titles from the horticultural library of the late Lucy Hardiman, a beloved garden designer, author and lecturer. The books have been donated to the event by Lucy’s husband, Fred, to help support our non-profit, Friends of the Rogerson Clematis Collection.
Rogerson Clematis Garden has 2,300 individual clematis representing 950 taxa. They grow in sun, shade, containers and troughs and many will be at peak bloom. While enjoying the clematis, visitors will be enveloped in a full-fledged botanic garden that in addition to the clematis includes 268 genera of other plants, represented by 820 species and cultivars. “Education plays a big part in the garden,” Beutler said. “We have the only public clematis garden in the country to be accredited by American Public Gardens Association and the most comprehensive collection of clematis in North America. We want people to see the many different types of clematis there are and how they can be successfully grown.” For more information visit our website at: https://www.rogersonclematiscollection.org/.