Honorable Mention - Sweet Autumn Clematis
....but at least you can see the splendid display.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 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. Both of my vines are silver sheened but one vine has a brown center and the other, dramatic hot pink center.
BROWN CENTER
HOT PINK CENTER
Obviously, I have two varities and you can see the leaf shape in the hot pink vine but here is a comparison:
The leaves of the one with the BROWN CENTER
The leaves of the one with theHOT PINK CENTER
The BASE OF THE VINE just looks like a glob of twine.
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.
This PHOTO shows you about half of the length of the vine on the left. 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.
I hope you will give this particular clematis a try. Not only are they show-stoppers, but have a heavenly fragrance and the bees love them. This little LONE BEE was a bit late, but I still think he managed to get a little pollen. There are, of course some down sides. All vines will use anything to climb on so plant the vine away from other taller plants. If you look very closely you will notice the 3 bushes I have in front of my front porch are barely seen because the clematis is covering them. Yes, something I need to concern myself with as the bushes may end up dying from lack of sunshine or at the very least, not do well in years to come. There is also the fact that you must spend a deal of time removing the old vine each year and there will be the occassional seed that gets a start somewhere else in your yard, so keep a look out for unwanted vines. Good luck with all of your garden endeavors.
Zones 5-9.
Common Name: Sweet Autumn Clematis
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Genus: Clematis
Species: C. terniflora