Every so often we like to introduce our customers to the great people who
spend their lives developing many of the plants that we grow in our gardens. This
month we would like to introduce to you one of the worlds greatest breeders of daylilies
and clematis.
Brother Stefan Franczak is an 85 year old monk who has introduced a wide
variety of beautiful clematis to the gardening world. Shown in the picture wearing
his habit, which up until 10 years ago was mandatory even while gardening. He began
his holy orders in 1948 and was given a choice between canteen duties or looking after the
garden, lucky for us clematis lovers Brother Stefan preferred gardening to cleaning
dishes.
As Brother Stefan established himself in gardening, one of his enthusiasms
was hybridizing North American Irises. As the years went by he moved on to daylilies and
then to clematis. To date Brother Stefan Franczak has registered over 84 new
cultivars of daylilies and 18 new clematis. Cultivars such as; Blue Angel, Cardinal Wyszynski, Warsaw Nike, and the very popular Polish Spirit.
A couple of years ago the horticultural society was shocked to learn that
authorities at Brother Stefan Franczak's monastery had to decided to close the garden and
replace it with a simple landscape of trees and grass. -- As the news spread of this
terrible decision many people in the international horticultural society pleaded
with the authorities to change their plans. Experts from more than 40 countries
wrote letters explaning to the authorities the importance of Brother Stefan's work. As the
letters kept pouring in - they at last decided to modify their plans. The gardens will
still be reorganized, but in a way that will allow the 85 year old monk to continue his
gardening work for as long as he feels able.
