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Clematis 'General Sikorski'

Large mauve-blue flowers with creamy white filaments and yellow anthers. There is a faint red or pink bar running from the base to about half way along the tepal.

The story goes that in 1969, Stefan Franczak sent a specimen of 'Jadwiga Teresa' to Wladislaw Noll in Poland, who renamed it 'General Sikorski'. In an article about Noll in Clematis International 2014: 82-93, S. Marczynski showed that Noll first sent General Sikorski to Fisk in November 1971 but that, as proved by his own clematis stud-book (and therefore contrary to what he claimed when registering this in 1987), Franczak did not raise his Jawing Teresa until 1972, so he was mistaken in later life to claim that Noll had misappropriated this. 'General Sikorski' has received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Szczepan Marczynski tells us that the cultivar is "named in honour of Wladyslaw Eugeniusz Sikorski (1881-1943), a Polish general and politician who rendered great service to his country. After the German conquest of Poland in September 1939, he became Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile that was based first in France, and then in England. He was also the commander-in-chief of the Polish air forces that fought alongside the Allies, and of the underground Home Army in occupied Poland." He died on July 4, 1943, in an airplane crash near Gibraltar, the exact circumstances of which have never been established.


Group: Early large-flowered group
Approximate height:  2.0 - 3.0 metres
Flowering period(s):  Jun Jul Aug Sep
Aspect: Sun or semi-shade
USDA zones:  4 5 6 7 8 9
Raised by: W Noll
Country of origin: Poland
Date raised:  b1971 nc1971 i1977
Parentage:  Unknown
Other name(s): 'Général Sikorski'; 'General Sikorsky'; 'Sikorski'. Mis-spelling: 'General Sirkoski'
Further detail: Flower diameter: (10-)15-20(-25)cm
Tepals: (4-) 6 (-8); 6-8cm long, 4-5cm wide, broadly elliptic to rhombic, overlapping, crinkled margin