Must be a "your zone will vary" thing. Here in Zone 5 we have no problem with it. We grow ours over a pergola to add to the shade. Other clematis will not grow fast enough to do that. The flowers all face up, though. But my daughter, whose room is over the pergola, has the view in the daytime and the scent at night (which she likes). We donÂt find the scent heavy: not like oriental lilies, for example. But the reactions to scents are so individual. Twice now it has been killed by rabbits gnawing the bark over the winter, and both times we went right out and bought another one. But itÂs not easy to find around here, and expensive too. Maybe you who want to get rid of it should put out little bunny placements and table settings to invite them to dineÂI wonder if thereÂs rabbit attractant you could spray on it, LOL.

The term clematis paniculata as used by Bluestone is incorrect. Sweet autumn clematis is clematis terniflora. Clematis paniculata is an evergreen clematis native to New Zealand. See link below. Clematis terniflora can be found at most nurseries and is something that if I could purchase locally, would do so over ordering mail order. Not all clones of terniflora are scented so it is better to purchase a plant in bloom to make sure that it will be fragrant. Terniflora is very vigorous in my garden and is a mad reseeder. Some people consider it to be a weed and invasive due to its seedy nature, while in other people's gardens it is not as seedy. Whether it would do well under maple trees is unproven since maples are notorious for sucking moisture and nutrients out of the soil. The shade they cast may also hinder the plant's ability to thrive. My best suggestion is to see if you can purchase an inexpensive plant and see how it does. You will have to provide the plant some support to get it to climb into the limbs of the tree since the plant won't be able to climb the trunk of an older established tree due to the diameter of the trunk. Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis paniculata

RetroLady - I tried the silver lace vine, too. Bought it at Horn's as a very nice size plant. Made it 2 years and then died for some unknown reason. Anyway, I replaced it with S.A.C. and porcelain vine - both of which I really like. I plant a lot of things for my birds, and they love the berries on the porcelain vine. I bought a female bittersweet this year to go with my male and hope to have berries next year for it. I also have the Virginia Creeper (which is actually in my neighbor's yard, but the birds love the berries on it, and the sphinx moth cats I have found on it make it more than worthwhile to me. If you really want a fast growing, but not invasive vine, I would grow one of the clematis viticelli hybrids, like 'Polish Spirit'. It is easy to keep within bounds because you cut it down almost to the ground each spring and it rewards you with wonderful growth and flowers all summer. Most of the flowers occur in spring, but it continues to flower sparsely all summer long. It doesn't reseed at all, like SAC. The blooms are smaller than the bigger clematis in the jackmanii family, but it blooms so prolifically in spring, that it makes up for the bigger blooms. I have mine interspersed with C. tangutica, which blooms small yellow nodding blooms later in the summer, and passiflora 'Incense'. The 'Incense' is for the gulf fritillary caterpillars, and the blooms are outstanding. Have fun vining! Susan

The pruning guidelines revolve around flowering time. If you know when exactly your vine blooms, you can make informed assumptions about how to prune without even being able to identify the species or cultivar!! Type 1's are the no prune or prune immediately after flowering vines. These are very early flowering vines (typically late winter to early spring) that flower on old growth and are almost always species clematis. Type 2's are light pruning vines. This category includes nearly all of the large flowered hybrids, with bloom times from mid spring through late summer. These vines tend to bloom on both old and new growth, which is why many will have a later but lighter repeat flowering. Type 3's are late flowering vines, blooming from midsummer into fall. These bloom on growth produced the current season and are very often quite large vines when mature. They can (and usually should) be hard pruned as Bab's described. I tend to simplify pruning by limiting it to those I prune hard and those I don't prune at all. So all type 1's get NO pruning unless they simply outgrow their space (then prune immediately after the flowering) and ALL others get hard pruned at some point during the winter months, as new growth begin early in my area. If you don't get around to pruning in a very timely manner (weather, etc.), do not be afraid to do so later than what is advised :-) When I had my big garden with scores of different clems, I sometimes missed pruning all when I should and often cut back vines with a lot of new growth showing, sometimes even with tiny flower buds present. If the plant is not dormant, pruning will actually stimulate new growth and the vine will respond by pushing a lot of new growth and buds. It may just bloom slightly later than typical. FWIW, commercial growers prune their vines back repeatedly during the growing season just for ease of care (reduces tangling, etc.) and the vines (2's and 3's) will still produce flowers.