It is a noxious weed here. It does grow in shade, smothers trees whole. Ring the warning bell loudly!

Clematis virginiana is only a weed and seeder if both male and female plants are close together. A single plant has only either male or female parts so can't make seeds on its own. It can be rather vigorous but no more so than clematis terniflora or sweet autumn clematis, which is seedy since it has both male and female parts on the same plant.

Birds are wonderful spreaders of seed.

I have this clematis in my garden and think it is much more desirable than SAC due to the seeding issue. It doesn't however have the fragrance of SAC.

{{gwi:585562}}

Thanks Miguel for the info and the picture - it looks beautiful. I hope my stairway will hold this up! But what the hey - I like crazy experiments.

Alice growing up that post is also Mrs. T. Lundell. The clematis virginiana was actually a mislabeled clematis. That is not what I was expecting and it wants to consume Mrs. T. Lundell. One day I might have to remove it to allow Mrs. T to really florish.