Most Clematis bloom in the fall and not many have a fragrance. Not true with Sweet Autumn. Beginning in later summer and lasting well into fall, thousands upon thousands of small white flowers cover the foliage. The Sweet Autumn Clematis will grow up to 30 feet long and works wonderful for sturdy fences, trellises and retaining walls.

Each blossom is about 1-inch wide and have a heavenly scent. The honey bees love them! The blooms are star-shaped and are just as showy when winter arrives with silver-sheened seedheads that make lovely winter arrangements. One of my vines seedheads change to nearly hot pink in the winter.

Clematis is easy to grow in a rich, porous, alkaline soil with plenty of room for the roots to spread. Best performace is when the tops are in full sunlight and the roots are shaded, so apply a generous mulch on a shallow-rooted ground cover near the base of the vine. You can count on them every year to give you a breathtaking show once established, which is about one or two seasons. The vine base is odd, in that, it looks like twisted twine.

Most years I only have time or the inclination to pull the old dead foliage off the fence and railing around my porch but this year my sister volunteered to cut it back, as one should. So she cut it back in early spring and about a foot from the ground. Our fear was that it wouldn't do well as that was so drastic. Wow, were we mistaken. But I shouldn't really be surprised. They are planted in the perfect location. They get morning sun with the tops in the bright sunshine and the base protected with shade because I have bushes in front of one vine. The 2nd vine has the base protected from the sun because it is planted behind a fence posts and the mailbox mounted above shades it as well.

I also have to be honest here. I never intentionally water my clematis unless inadvertantly when watering the lawn. This year I didn't water the lawn at all but no matter what I do or don't do they seem to put on a show year after year. And I never fertilize them because the leaf matter that accumulates on the fence line and under the bushes provide all the nurishment they need.

The photo to the far left shows you the length of the vine. There are two vines in this photo. One is planted near the gate right below the mailbox (yes, there is a mailbox hiding in there) and the other just about 8 feet back along the base of the porch. So on the left you see the vine planted by the gate and on the right the vine planted in front of the porch.