Hi, I would say it would smother everything in it's path if used as a ground cover. It has very dense foliage. Yes you could grow it up a large tree. The chicken wire would work great. Most clematis need at least 6 hours of sun in order to bloom. I prune my SAC to the ground every year and it still grows 30'. You could try pruning it twice and see if that might work. Once in late winter and maybe once again in early July. I don't know if that would delay the bloom. I think a large tree would work great if you have no other area to plant it in.

Many thanks...looks like that's my best bet. It won't get a full six hours of sun but I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Tricia,
Take a look at my post under Monster Clematis. That's SAC. I cut it down every year to around a foot and it gets HUGE each year! It blooms in September.

#4...I cut mine back to about 18" each year and it grows 8 feet straight up and then about 20+ feet in both directions available to it. I've even been known to give it a second trim in june to keep it from swallowing plants which SAC jsut can't play nice with.

This year mine has swallowed 2 grape vines and 8 kiwi vines. as well as a couple trees and a patch of raspberries. About 40' of linear area x 5-6' of width and 8+' high.

When it blooms the bees just end up intoxicated, and it can be smelled 3-4 houses away on either side.

I trim about 2-3 tall yard waste bags full of vine off of it every winter.

~Chills