Sweet Autumn Clematis

I was wondering if anyone can answer my question ...

Is Sweet Autumn Clematis known to be invasive in zone 9b/10a? I live on the east coast of Florida and received a small volunteer plant last year and it seems to grow pretty rapidly. I currently have it growing in a pot. Should I plant it in the ground or keep it in a pot. Also, how long (years) does it take before it blooms? It didn't bloom at all last year.

Thanks for any info! :-) ~Becky~

Check out the comments on Plant Files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/683/

and be sure to take note of those who live in the higher zones. Some do view it as invasive.

Becky,
The reason it is known as invasive is because it reseeds readily!! I live in zone 5 and I wondered which clematis was reseeding all over my yard?? I did not see any flowers all summer and I have had the mother plant for maybe 5 or more years. Well last year those little seedlings were every where. Now I put them in a different catagory than lets say Fever Few (which also reseeds readily) It reseeds but not Aggressively like feverfew! It does not have any runners or under ground tubers or any parts that broken under ground will send up lots of plants!! You can pull the plants easily and lots of people want them. I personally will keep it in my garden but in Florida it may be an agressive seeder!! If you take it out of the pot your plant will probably double!! You are keeping it in check by keeping it in a pot. That however will not keep it from seeding!! Good luck!
julie

Becky - I'm new to clematis raising - so have been reading this forum's posts today. Oh - another gardening obsession coming on, I think... Since you're a butterfly officianado - do BF's like clematis?

These vines sound like our passifloras - they spread like wildfire, but you can always find someone who wants a start for the BF's.

No bookworm most CLEMATIS do NOT spread. There are only a couple out of hundreds of cultivars that have a reseeding problem. Actually if the truth be told many people will put up with even the reseeding ones because like this one we are talking about some have a beautiful fragrance. I put it on an Arbor that is next to my acess to the yard. So as you walk into the yard the fragrance enthralls you!! it is truely a fabulous
scent.
julie

I am enthralled and haven't even experienced the fragrance! I'd actually like one to be a re-seeder to use in different places and take to RU's to give away. Do butterflies like the vines, jazzy?

Well that I don't know for sure but I would say it is NOT on the list of plants for a butterfly garden!
I have 70+. i love them. They give a verticality to a garden and they flower!! Just what I like!
Maybe you will too! Go to the clematis forum. Look under a thread for "Koi Gardens" and go to plants. They have a clematis sale on now for 6.00 a plant for Daves people. maybe you'll see something you like.
Julie

Awww ... thanks everyone for giving me info about this particular clematis. I really, really appreciate it. I do like how it looks and it does seem to grow fast! It has not bloomed yet for me though. It is currently in a pot while I finish another garden project area that I may plant this vine in. I just wanted to find out if that was a good idea or not to put it in the ground. I know that some vines can literally take over a garden or even a yard!

If it has a fragrance, that is even better. I love blooms with a scent! As far as butterflies, I am not concerned whether it attracts butterflies or hummers. I am going to mix other blooming vines in with it that DO attract those creatures! It is going to be used as a filler and complimenting vine along a picket fence. :-)

Thanks so much to everyone for your thoughts on this vine! It was very helpful to me!

Hi Becky,
A little late on the comments, but my mom and I both grow this. She has hers in a her yard and you can find seedlings 20 feet away. (The babies make great trades on the garden web if you are a member.)

What I did to alleviate the problem was plant it and then put rock all around it, except for about a foot away from the roots. I mulch them and put pots of flowers around them to keep them cool. However, some babies still come up in between the rocks, but nothing like my mom's yard!! (We dug with a little hand trowel and got hundreds!)

Also, please remember this isn't a baby of a clematis. It will grow to 15-20 feet tall if you give it the means to climb up. Mine flowered in it's 3rd year and everyone thought it was just beautiful.

Mine has a tendency to attract praying mantis. They just seemed to love it and I love watching them, so it's extra cool.
Joyce

You do get those praying mantis? We don't see them much here. i think i saw my first one in 20 years of gardening in my own garden last couple years . They do sort of make you feel like when i was young. i wonder where they all went??
I have not had 100's but now you are scaring me!! I will have to watch better!!
The smell is great though!!
Hello joyce i have seen you at Yahoo lately too! My what a day i spent on there today i am exhausted!!
julie

We get all different sizes here. Some are 5 or 6 inches they are just huge. Some are 2-3 inches, but we see lots of babies about 1 inch. We get them everywhere. Last year I showed the neighborhood kids one that only had 3 legs, so we carried him really carefully and put him on a lilac bush. My husband gets off of the lawnmower and will move them too.

Today was awful at yahoo wasn't it? I'm so glad everything I ordered filled up so I didn't have to order more. And they are talking about a 3rd co op, darn the luck!!

Guess what?? I ordered 14 clematis from Koi Gardens! Geez! What else.

If you don't look hard for the clematis babies, you won't even notice them. It's when you don't cut the grass for awhile, you will see them start to vine. They are very hard to notice when they are 1". But, if you cut the grass over them, they will just keep getting fuller, with 2 or 3 shoots coming out of the tiny little vine. Dig em up, pot em up and trade em off! They are great to bargain with.

Thanks Joyce!

Let me verify this then ... they reproduce from seeds? Not root runners? If they come up from seed, that is fine. I can certainly pull them. If they produce runners from the main trunk and roots, that may not be so good.

They do have strong roots but technically NO they DO NOT have RUNNERS!!
But the seeds fall and are able to germinate easily. Easier than almost any other Clematis.
Joyce, You may be right. I let my lawn go as tall as i can on each cut but i have never taken the time to look real hard at the lawn around the vine!! I will check it out very carefully!! I am sure they are hiding there!!
Julie

Hi, beckgardener I'm closer to your zone and have this plant too. It does not spread by runners or roots. It does seed and birds will carry the seeds to other parts of your yard. The roots are pretty deep but it is still not hard to move or pull up, you just may need a small shovel for the job. The leaves are beautiful and don't get killed back by frost so it should stay nice and green all year round for you. I cut back the top growth between the flowering and seeds. I have noticed that the plants that go to seed will die back, not sure if this is normal for clematis since this the only one I have. These plants are great along with azaleas. They climb through the azalea and bloom when the azalea is doing nothing.

pieohmy - do they bloom before or after the azaleas bloom?

The clematis bloom in the fall. I have really large Azaleas so let the clematis bloom and the plant dies back after that. Then by next fall it has covered a good bit of the azalea again and looks like I have a bush blooming. The azalea blooms in the spring while the clematis is still just shooting its leaves up.

Thank you. That helps with making a decision.

Thanks everyone! I am trying to figure out what I want to do. The information you are sharing with me is VERY helpful. I do want this plant to grace my outdoor patio area that will be enclosed by a white picket fence and arbor entrance. I think it would look beautiful vining all over the fence and up and down the arbor.

My plant recently died back. I was thinking it might have completely died. But apparently, they need to take a short break even here in zone 9b/10a. I pruned it back to just above the soil line in the pot. Within about 2 weeks it started sending up new shoots. Now I see that it is growing in leaps and bounds each day. I can just imagine what it will do once in the ground. Unfortunately that won't happen for another month or so until the picket fence and arbor are done. I plan to have it climb all over the fence and arbor and pair it with another flowering vine. Not sure which vine to add to it. Any suggestions? I am wanting to attract hummers and butterflies.

Now I have another question ... I am thinking I need at least one maybe two more to nicely cover the fence and arbor. What is the best way to get more quicky? By seed, by cutting and rooting of the current plant, or would it be better for me to try to find someone who will trade me some seedlings or starter plants for postage or something else?

I am going to

Buy more. At Koi gardens they'll sell to DG people for $6.00 each - hard to beat that price. Silver Star Vinery is more expensive but huge fantastic roots. Much more of a choice at Silver Star. Maybe getting three from each place is a thought.

Check Plant Files before you put in another vine that might overtake your clematis.

Becky, if you want more of the sweet autumn clematis I can send you plants for postage (or trade). I don't kill mine we just mow them and the grass hasn't started growing yet so there are plenty.

A great butterfly attractor and fast grower is Passionvine, there is even an evergreen one for your zone. I tend to think that any vigorous vine in the lower zones will have the tendency to be invasive if it isn't watched.

pieohmy - I would LOVE to get some seedlings from you!!! You have d-mail! THANK YOU!!!!

And I so agree with you about how aggressive some vines and plants can be in the south. I have several Passion vines along my backyard fence and I just finally whacked them all back (hard prune). And I already see new leaves and branches popping out on the trunk! The covered my fence literally. I thought the cold would kill them back ... it didn't so they were HUGE!!! I hope the clematis grows as quickly and thick at the PV does! :-)

Anyone else who needs a SAC..I have a couple I can send for postage..they are a nice size to mail...

I'd love them. I'll Dmail you my address. Thank you so much!

I have a yard full of them, does anyone else want 1?
You are welcome, pirl...

beckygardener, Clematis terniflora is listed as a category II invasive species in central and northern Florida

http://www.fleppc.org/list/list.htm

claypa - Interesting info! I wonder if it is considered a catergory II in "southern" Florida? I still want it in my yard, regardless. I may prune the vines after it flowers to prevent seeds from forming. Seems a lot of you have volunteers growing when you have this vine. I will see how aggressively it seeds. It may require me removing it from my yard if it proves to be very aggressive. I shall see! Coral vine is also listed and I have that growing on 2 parts of my fence. I am waiting for it to grow enough to even be considered aggressive/invasive. So far after 3 years the Coral Vine is barely surviving in my yard. Maybe it's not drought tolerant! :-)

I don't know if it's listed in south Florida, but they consider Indian River County to be central FL on their map. The feathery seeds get blown by the wind for miles, so you may not see how aggressively it seeds. Florida's already so full of invasive species, one more won't hurt, I guess.

claypa - I don't know how far any seeds would blow. I have had scarlet milkweed seed pods split open and blow everywhere!!! They germinated in my garden beds, but no where else I could find in my neighborhood. Especially nowhere behind my backyard fence in the vacant lots, which is where I was expecting to see some. It is dense overgrowth in those lots and too much shade and moisture in the ground for many plants to germinate and grow much less thrive. Now if birds eat the seeds and spread them around in their excretement, then yes! I could see them being spread that way. But nothing comes close to the Brazilian Pepper trees that are some of the most aggressive growing plants that I have ever seen here in Florida. They go from a seedling to a tree in one year. The sap is poisonous and can irrate the skin. My dh gets a horrible rash/infection from the sap. I don't think the SAC would come close to the invasiveness of those trees/berries!

Hopefully, the SAC will behave itself in my yard and not spread babies all over the place. Most of the land around me is being used for developments for commercial and residental. Most of our beautiful wooded areas are gone. Lots and lots of asphalt and concrete now. (sigh) Probably even an aggressive vine wouldn't make it here for long. But I will try to keep this vine under control in my yard.

I don't know of any other clematis that will grow readily in zone 9b/10a. (My area is listed as 10a on some grow zone charts.) Thanks for the warning about this vine being a catergory II. :-)

melvatoo - Do you mind if I keep you as a back-up source for seedlings? I am waiting to see if pieohmy will send me some. :-)

Sure, that would be fine...