I have:
recta purpurea
Arabella
Juuli
Petite Faucon
integrifolia
Durandii
Gazelle
Inspiration
Harlow Carr
Fascination
Alionushka
Pangbourne Pink

'Midnight Masquerade' is from Edelweiss Perennials here in Oregon did you buy it from them? They rock! I purchased my recta from them and many of my perennials too. They have booths at local plant sales all the time. I almost grabbed MM several times this year but I have so many Clems now that aren't planted yet so I held off.

yes, I did get it from edelweiss!

Thanks for the tips on the 'wigs. I hate them things!!!

Sluggo Plus is a pet and wildlife safe slug bait that is also labled for earwigs. I find it works better on earwigs than slugs.

My recta purpurea really took off this year. I planted it from a 4" pot less than two years ago. I need to empty my camera memory cards and take some more pictures.

I have 'heracleifolia - new love'. If you see this bush type clematis - RUN - don't walk away from it. It has been a nightmare! I planted it 4 years ago and it is now spreading all over my flowerbed. I have shoots coming up 8 feet away from the original plant. I tried to dig it out last fall but no luck - the roots are thick and hard to cut through. If anyone has any ideas on how I can get rid of it, please share them! It is destroying all of my other plants in that bed - just takes over and chokes everything else out! Thanks!

That is good to know, Shirley, but I am very surprised to hear it.

Wow, that does sound scary to one who just planted China Purple last summer. To clarify your situation, is it growing via underground runners or are the seeds flying everywhere & starting new babies?

It is spreading by underground runners - big fat white ones! They're heading off in every direction and taking over everything in their path. I don't think all bush type clemtis would do this. This is the first (and last) one that I will ever buy. The flowers are very pretty and the first 2 years that I had it everything was fine. Last year I started to notice some new plants and when I pulled them out I could see the path right back to the original plant. I have been fighting with it ever since. I really could use some advice on how to get rid of it once and for all. I don't want to resort to using something like 'round-up' that would probably kill all of my other plants too.

Thanks for any help that you can give me!

I tried googling to find out what varieties of clems do this & to what extent. I couldn't find hardly any info & the 1 link I did find was about propagating. It says: "There are a number of plants which have this habit, some that I have successfully divided to produce a few extra plants are; heracleifolia, cirhossa Balearica, the viorna section, integreifolia, ladakhiana, marmoraria, marata and some of the New Zealand hybrids, such as Little Runner."

I'm with you, I can't have that going on in my yard either. I emailed someone on the China Purple that I know has experience with it & holding off on mine until I hear back.

I can tell you how I handled a Wisteria issue that was like that if it would help? I'm not sure if they grow the same, but I did have a bunch of roots coming off the mother plant & sending up new plants 15' away, so it is similiar. If the roots are that thick, you will need a pruning saw (I did, the wisteria had been in the ground for at least 10 yrs). I removed as much dirt around the initial rootball as possible to find all the roots that had grown a million miles from it & started sawing & pruning them off until I could get the initial rootball out of the ground. I then sprayed round up on the freshly cut wounds of the stems still in the ground & left the dirt off of them for a good week for the sun to bake on them. It worked. I know round up isn't suppose to work like that, only on foliage, coincidence? I wasn't going to take the chance on putting nothing on them, I was literally having bad dreams about this plant not ever going away. You might want to sub for something a little more potent, but you may not be able to plant anything in that spot for a year. If it simply the case that they were living off the mother plant then severing them might have done the trick.

Good luck!

I have had New Love bush clematis 4-5 years. It is very well-behaved, no invasive tendencies at all. Really like it a lot. Just checked with one of Iowa's top gardeners who has had his even longer and had recommended it to me. His does not spread either. We concluded our plants must be different than yours. Wonder if yours was mis-labeled...just a thought.
Marlene

I have been growing China Purple for at least seven years and have never had any spreading or self seeding in my gardens.

Thank you for the advice - the pruning saw might do the trick. The rootball is such a tangled up mess that I was not able to dig it out. I'll try 'sawing' it up into pieces that I can handle. I'm going to check with one of the local garden centers about using round-up.

I don't think the plant was mislabeled. The picture of the flowers and leaves on the tag are identical to the plant that I had. Just my luck that I got the one 'rogue' plant that was out there!

Thanks again for your help!

I'm curious if your growing conditions are different form the others who don't have problems with it. What type of soil do you have, Shirley? Do you have a clay based soil. Sandy? Loamy? Are you near a lake or a river? At the edge of an old forest?

I am extraordinarily happy to hear about China Purple! Thanks, nswgal for putting my mind at ease. I believe janetpetiole is on to something. My only additional thought would be if the roots were disturbed? A lot of plants will do what it takes to stay alive ? IE a crabapple I moved 2 feet away to accomodate long term space & started suckering from the roots ever since. I believe all plants will do what it takes to survive in time of stress, whether it be suckering, berries, coning...Most plants will bear the most fruit after a drought to ensure they carry on their progeny. In your case sending out runners?

I just received an email that will hopefully clarify what might be going on here. It is the tubulosa (aka heracleifolia var. davidiana) species that exhibits the growth that shirleyd is experiencing. They look nearly the same & the way to tell the difference is by the way they flower: "The differences in the two species, heracleifolia and tubulosa, are that the former has smaller flowers on a more spreading inflorescence, with the flowers tending to nod. With tubulosa, the flowers are larger and out-facing, but have no stalks, so the flowers are set right down into the leaf axils."

Since they do look very similiar it would seem that shirleyd received a mislabeled plant. I would really be PO if it was me.

To answer your questions, Janet, we have heavy clay based soil and we do live on the edge of an old forest (which is now a park). We have huge oak trees along the back edge of our property. We don't have any lakes or rivers nearby. I would be very interested to know if any of these conditions would make a difference in how the plant behaved.

Lalalandwi, the plant had not been disturbed since it was planted 4 years ago. Nothing new was added to that section of the garden. It was all planted at the same time. The flowers on my plant were small, grew in clusters and they did indeed 'nod'. Interesting information about the different species.

I had my strong, young son-in-law come over with some 'power tools' and he tackled the remainder of the rootball. He thinks he got every last bit of it out! I hope so.

Thanks to everyone for their help and taking the time to research this plant.

Shirley, it was long shot, but I was wondering if the growing conditions were too perfect. Lalaland's explanation cleared it all up.

I am growing heracleifolia and tubulosa for couple of years as well as china purple, stans pink and blue. They are great clems and I see no spreading tendencies. I have grown mine from seed from Gardens North. Would not mind to have them reseed. Bill McKenzie does give me volunteers but there are always takers for them so getting root out is no problem whatsoever. Again, I have informal shady garden and do not mind if plant reseeds or spreads some.