Plant of the Week - Sweet Autumn Clematis

This week’s pick is one of my favorite vines and let me say up front that this vine is an aggressive vine but can be controlled with a hard pruning in the spring. Okay? Now, having said that…my plant of the week is Clematis terniflora, or commonly known as ‘Sweet Autumn’ Clematis. As mentioned earlier, here is a vigorous climbing / twining vine with a rampant growth habit, known to grow as much as 10-15’ in one season, which is great for covering pergolas, fences, large trellises, has been known to grow as a groundcover, etc. Nice green oval leaves in the season, this green vine becomes a gorgeous sight when late August and into September it becomes totally covered in pure, white, fragrant flowers (vanilla scent) that eventually become a silvery mass of fluffy seed heads in fall. A real show-stopper in late summer! Grows in sun or partial shade / cut back in spring to control sizing.