here you go rougey ....

that gate closes in spring ... cant for the life of me .. figure out what the red dot is ... lol

all one plant .. about 16 feet of fence top ... it does not die back to the ground for me in MI ... but it can be cut back to the ground

when i did cut it back.. i found mice living in the old detritus ...

ken

I am speechless Ken.

Now I can see what it can do in full sun.

Did I say I am speechless?

(Maybe that is an ET admiring the view ;))

i never noted it as vanilla ... will check it out ...

ken

anyone know what the pick stuff is.. lol ...

i see spent columbine ... 4oclocks ...

ahhh.. i think i used to have matrona back there ...

ken

Both SAC's are eyecatchers. Mmmmm one I don't have, the wheels are turning, where can I plant one :).

"... cant for the life of me .. figure out what the red dot is ..." perhaps a basketball?

Annette

Nice! I bought "Sweet Autumn" this spring, it spread nicely and vigorously over the chain link fence, it blooms now. Didn't know it dies to the ground, what a pity.

Does anyone have any experience with "Sweet Summer Love" clematis? I bought one today on sale - supposedly, the colored version of "Sweet Autumn" which blooms earlier....

Extremely invasive here. I have never grown it, but it is seeding all over in an area impossible for me to control and has choked out the wild blackberries there. Periodically I find it in the controlled areas as well.

Didn't know it dies to the ground, what a pity.

==>>> i said it doesnt ... but that it can be trimmed to the ground ...

i have had just a couple seedlings in z5 MI ... i think the warmer you go.. the bigger the reseeding issue ...

ken

Didn't know it dies to the ground, what a pity.

You can expect this in our climate. But even so, mine which is in limiting shade still grows to the height of the chain link and over 12 feet wide...totally covering the fence in that distance...all in one season. (It isnt as vigorous as "Paul Farges" but it is close). And in sun it would be (much) more prolific for us.

Had a massive SAC in my old garden but it is simply too large a vine for where I garden now. I find the scent to be more honey-like than vanilla (which is not a fragrance I favor) but it is described in literature as "hawthorn-like". And no indication of reseeding or invasiveness in my area but that is often the case with many plants that are problematic in the east.

btw, 'Sweet Summer Love' certainly resembles SAC except for flower color but other than both being clematis, they are completely unrelated. SSL is more closely related to C. xtriternata 'Rubromarginata', one of my faves.

i always thought it was severe winter that reduces or eliminates reseeding...

what gal says... really surprises me ...

ken

This is such a great vine if you have the space for it, and it's not invasive in your area. I had one for years and years and never had a single seedling. Late one summer there were seedlings everywhere! Next spring.....it was dead. It was such a huge reliable vine, I was pretty surprised when it just up and died for no apparent reason. Our winters up here are always awful and it had always survived before. Didn't like the smell on that one, and we were installing a new fence, so it was going to have to go anyway. Made my job easy! I wasn't looking forward to digging that beast out. I have not had seedlings from this one at all. It is a younger vine, so I'm curious to see if it follows the same pattern as the other. Hope not.

Chelone mingles with it and there is anemone robustissima in another border close by, so this is a major feeding station for the bees. Just today they are crazy on it and the sound is soooooo loud. They moved from the heptacodium out back (some stragglers still there) to this SAC.

There used to be a bridal wreath and anthony waterer spirea, and a deutzia all planted in this area. They would make a nice support for the vine, but they just had to go. The only thing I have holding it up in the garden are a few of those small trellis supports. This one used to smell very sweet, but now it is more a vanilla scent with hints of sweetness underneath. It's interesting because my other one had changed its scent as it aged, which was disappointing to me because I much prefer the super-sweet smell over the vanilla scent.

Mine dies back each year. I too am so surprised about no reseeding in PNW. Wow.

I planted a SSL clematis last year. It was doing quite well but all of a sudden this summer it just gave up. It's not entirely dead, but it all browned and died back. New growth is coming out. Not sure what happened as the cottage area gets supplemental watering. My local nursery planted a few in their display beds and the flowers really are beautiful.

"i always thought it was severe winter that reduces or eliminates reseeding..."

Nope. With invasive species that spread primarily through seeds or fruit, it is much more a factor of summer heat that creates the problem. The PNW is known for its cool summers. That and the rather northerly location doesn't often provide for the conditions necessary for proper formation and ripening of the seeds/fruit before cold weather sets in. That's why invasiveness is so dependent on regionality and local climate conditions. This set of conditions also limits the reliable winter hardiness of some shrubs which theoretically should be hardy in our zone 7-8 climate, like loropetalums and crape myrtles - the new woody growth each season just doesn't ripen and age sufficiently due to lack of heat before winter and most suffer considerable die back.

In addition to the SAC not being a reseeding invasive in our climate, you can add other common, invasive species like burning bush (Euonymus alatus), Japanese barberries, silk tree/mimosa (Albizia jullbrissin), Miscanthus sinensis, Nandina domestica, empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa), various honeysuckles (L. japonica, L. fragrantissima). But then we do have our fair share of invasive species that are not necessarily problematic elsewhere......like English holly, English ivy, butterfly bush, European mountain ash.