Listing last updated on 30 Nov 2022.

Poland

Władysław August Noll (May 1900 Warsaw - August 24, 1978)

[From the website of Clematis.com.pl:] Władysław August Noll was born in May 1900 in Warsaw....He completed agricultural studies acquiring the engineer's degree and around 1925 he started collecting and growing medicinal plants. In 1928 during his visit at the Weiss family home in Złoczów near Lvov he visited their Clematis collection and was presented with  4 cultivars. He fell under the spell of these plants, started developing the collection and he took them to his every subsequent location – Poznań, Zamość, Sopot, Warsaw. ...After the war he worked in various public institutions such as Film Polski,  Totalizator Sportowy and the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw, usually as the Chief Accountant or CFO....In 1969, using compensation money for the land in Zamość taken by state, he bought 3300 m²  land with a house in Bielawa village (Konstancin-Jeziorna commune), 20 km south of Warsaw. He moved  his Clematis there and significantly developed the collection. It soon numbered over 200 cultivars, mainly large-flowered ones. W.Noll also raised and selected new cultivars, which he gave patriotic names in honour of great Poles (e.g. ‘Marszałek Piłsudski’ / 'Marshal Pilsudski', ‘Żwirko i Wigura’ / 'Zwirko and Wigura', ‘Generał Sikorski’/'General Sikorski', ‘Maksymilian Kolbe’, ‘Lwowskie Orlęta’ / 'Lvov Eaglets', ‘Stefan Starzyński’, ‘Gabriel Narutowicz’, ‘I Brygady Legionów' / '1st Brigade of The Polish Legions', ‘Obrońców Westerplatte’ / 'Westerplatte Defenders'), The Home Army (e.g. ‘Armii Krajowej’ / 'The Home Army', ‘Generał Rowecki’ / 'General Rowecki', ‘Generał Wachnowski’ / 'General Wachnowski', ‘Antoni Kocjan’) and the Warsaw Rising (‘Moja Warszawa’ / 'My Warsaw', ‘Dzieci Warszawy’/ 'Children of Warsaw', ‘Batalionu Zośka i Parasol’ / 'Zośka and Parasol Battalion', ‘Łączniczek AK’ / 'Home Army Messengers', ‘Lekarzy AK’ / 'Home Army Doctors').
....Władysław Noll died suddenly of a stroke on 24th August 1978. The quarelling family did not secure his collection and documentation. A lot of the plants were stolen from his garden while others, deprived of care, died or lost their labels. A majority of his documents were burnt. Many cultivars that existed as single specimen disappeared, others remained un-labelled or became mixed. Only ‘Niobe’ and ‘Generał Sikorski’ remained in the wide circulation.