ID needed please....

7 years ago

This small white clematis started blooming in the past few days in a place where I never planted one. I'm not sure what it is. Many years ago I had a Sweet Autumn in a distant part of the garden, but it died years ago. None of the abutting neighbours have one, and this clematis has no scent. There used to be a Paul Farges (aka Summer Snow) near this area but it was dug out a year or two ago and never bloomed this late. Any guesses on what this is?

Picture taken through the pantry window of the top of the arbour where it appeared - there are multiple clematises on the arbour so most of the foliage does not belong to this one:

A closer view of a sprig with leaves and flowers - the flowers seem to have 5 tepals:

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

7 years ago

According to CABI, it is present in your area and the seed is easily disseminated by wind.......the primary reason it has naturalized widely in North America, to the point of invasiveness in some areas.

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Comments (7)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
7 years ago
Clematis vitalba.
woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
Original Author
7 years ago
If that's what it is, I have no idea where it came from! I've never seen them 'growing wild' around here....
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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
Original Author
7 years ago
It might show as present in this area - BUT I’ve never seen it around here and it has never been in the nearby ‘forest’ wild area where DH goes birding a lot, especially in migration seasons. But if it’s here now, I’ve go to deal with it - and I’m not sure how to separate it out of the mass of other, desirable clematises there.... We will be cutting them all down this week to try to at least keep it from seeding around. Any other suggestions?
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
7 years ago
GG 48, what tells you it is vitalba? It looks quite a bit like my wild virginiana, though since the focus is more on flowers I can’t tell if there are three leaflets or they are all single. I am curious.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Primarily on the appearance of the flowers. C. vitalba is much more staminate* than C. virginiana and the tepals recurve on fully opened flowers. C. vitalba also has grooved stems, which should be an easy check.

*'staminate' is really not the correct term but it does describe the boss or mass of airy filaments vitalba produces, which are both more plentiful and longer/showier than those produced by virginiana.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
7 years ago
Thanks!