{"id":3174,"date":"2020-09-08T12:54:19","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T20:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3174"},"modified":"2020-09-08T12:54:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-08T20:54:19","slug":"sweet-autumn-clematis-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/sweet-autumn-clematis-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Autumn Clematis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"autumn<\/a><\/p>\n

My behemoth quince bush has been taken over by a plant that has had more names than a check forger, is bound and determined to run completely out of control, and makes regular, unscheduled appearances in respectable gardens everywhere.\u00a0 Sweet autumn clematis is the plant, and if America\u2019s Most Wanted<\/em> had a plant list, this fall bloomer would surely be on it.<\/p>\n

Sweet autumn clematis is known more properly right now as Clematis terniflora, or sometimes C. ternifolia.\u00a0 In the recent past it has also been known as C. paniculata, C. dioscoreifolia and C. maximowicziana.\u00a0 If you attempt to pronounce the latter, which is derived from the name of Karl Ivanovich Maximovicz, a nineteenth century Russian botanist, you can understand why even plant taxonomists may have felt the need for a name change.\u00a0 The current name, \u201cterniflora,\u201d is the one used by the Royal Horticultural Society and means \u201cthree-flowered\u201d, which doesn\u2019t make much sense, as the flowers have four petals apiece and do not cluster in groups of three.\u00a0 The less preferable and possibly mistaken \u201cternifolia\u201d seems to make more sense, as it means \u201cthree-leaved,\u201d and refers to the number of leaves usually found in the individual leaf clusters on the plant\u2019s twining stems.\u00a0 \u201cPaniculata\u201d indicates that the flowers appear in panicles or dense clusters, with each one on its own separate stem.<\/p>\n

No matter what you call it, the plant is a treat.\u00a0 The leaves are medium green and shaped like elongated hearts.\u00a0 In mild climates the foliage may be evergreen.\u00a0 Clematis terniflora comes into its glory in the early fall, when it covers itself with hundreds, if not thousands, of star-shaped flowers.\u00a0 While each one is only about an inch wide, a mature plant in full bloom becomes a sweet-smelling white canopy that canopy that can climb up to thirty feet or form a large clump on the ground.\u00a0\u00a0 I have seen a picture of sweet autumn clematis growing in an enormous concrete urn, mounding over the top and cascading down the sides.\u00a0 If for some reason you don\u2019t need a thirty-foot tall vine, you can rein it in at least a bit by hard spring pruning.\u00a0 It is also great for doing kudzu duty–covering everything from rusting equipment to old outhouses.<\/p>\n

Unlike other vines that need to be tied to supports, sweet autumn clematis has twining stems that fasten themselves readily onto trellises, trees or anything else in their path.\u00a0 Its opportunistic climbing habit is more than matched by its opportunistic reproductive habits, and it seems to pop up everywhere.\u00a0 Dozens of plants have sprouted unbidden in my yard, and I\u2019m sure that if I mowed the grass less often, there would be even more.\u00a0 As far as I know, nobody in the neighborhood has one, so the original seeds either blew in on a mighty wind or were \u201cplanted\u2019 by passing birds.<\/p>\n

At different times in the past I have had sweet autumn clematis scrambling through my flower beds, privet hedge, and holly trees.\u00a0 I generally put a stop to that behavior by pulling out the offender, unless it looks better than whatever area or specimen it is covering.<\/p>\n

The plant is native to Japan, which accounts for one of its common names, \u201cJapanese virgin\u2019s bower\u201d.\u00a0 According to horticultural historian Denise Wyles Adams, the species was introduced in the United States in 1864.\u00a0 It has succeeded well here\u2013too well in some areas.\u00a0 According to some sources, it can be invasive in the south.\u00a0 Having seen it growing on railroad right of ways and other untenanted spaces in the Middle Atlantic States, I can understand how it might be a beautiful pest elsewhere as well.<\/p>\n

Sweet autumn clematis also found its way to New Zealand, and, as Clematis paniculata, become so popular in that island country that it is also known as \u201cNew Zealand clematis.\u201d\u00a0 Its elevated status was commemorated in 1967, when that government issued a new one dollar note with the signature white blooms on the reverse.<\/p>\n

After the clematis blooms have faded, they are replaced by feathery silver seed heads that last into the late fall, and add ethereal beauty to the landscape.\u00a0 I leave mine on the vines–mostly because there are too many to clip off–and then prune the whole thing back in the spring.\u00a0 Of course, this laissez-faire approach results in more sweet autumn clematis, so I must maintain constant vigilance for the fast-growing seedlings.<\/p>\n

Ideally sweet autumn clematis should have decent, well-drained soil, and at least some sunshine.\u00a0 However, if your garden environment is less than optimal, try it anyway.\u00a0 It will probably grow nicely on a diet of partial sunshine and total neglect.<\/p>\n

If you wait long enough, a sweet autumn clematis will undoubtedly sprout in your yard.\u00a0 However, if you are impatient, contact Digging Dog Nursery, 31101 Middle Ridge Road, Albion, CA 95410<\/a>, (707) 937-1130<\/a>; www.diggingdog.com<\/a>. Print catalog available. \"Autumn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My behemoth quince bush has been taken over by a plant that has had more names than a check forger, is bound and determined to run completely out of control, and makes regular, unscheduled appearances in respectable gardens everywhere.\u00a0 Sweet autumn clematis is the plant, and if America\u2019s Most Wanted had a plant list, this … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[1491,2371,120,2373,154,2372],"class_list":["post-3174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-clematis-terniflora","tag-clematis-ternifolia","tag-climbers","tag-fall-flowering-plants","tag-invasive-plants","tag-sweet-autum-clematis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3177,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3174\/revisions\/3177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}