Gayle
As for me, I like the stuff, but it will take over a fence, or almost anywhere else it get's loose, (like the eggplant that ate Chicago).

If you can control it and you like it....well, enjoy it. I have a small very controlled area of it myself, but I just don't like anything that takes over a fence invasively. When I moved here, red trumpet vine was everywhere, and I've been doing battle with it ever since, and it still pops up unexpectly along my property borders. That and poison ivy. For that, it's Round Up time in a hurry!

Barbara

I have one on a fence near the calf pen and I love it! Each year it has to duke it out with Grandpa Ott's morning glory to even bloom. I have to pull off as much mg as I can so the sun hits the clematis. Now that whole back area where the two baby calves are smells wonderful.

Mine has never self-seeded like lots of them do for others.

Is serves as a nice screen for an unattractive area, but it does tend to vine out and over whatever is in front of it.
I am worried about another clematis that is covered. I plan to take the shears out and clip it totally off that vine.

All things considered, if you place it in the correct spot, it is a wonderful plant.

Gayle,

I love it and mine has never reseeded or spread beyond its original site. I have hard, red, clay soil though, so that could explain the reason it hasn't gotten out of control here.

If you have really nice sandy loam, you probably do have to worry a bit more about it reseeding easily. Still, I think I'd keep it...and keep a close eye on it. If you see it reseeding heavily next year, or starting to grow too rampantly, then you can decide whether to keep it or get rid of it.

There are so many plants that struggle to do well here, and it is nice to have one like Sweet Autumn Clematis that does well and blooms at the end of the summer and into fall.

Dawn

It's funny stuff. My mother had it and it selfseeded like crazy so I dug up one for me and one for my daughter. I planted mine on the garden fence and it blooms and smells so good but has never selfseeded. My daughter planted hers on the porch post by the front door but had people complaining about the bees. She runs a daycare out of her home and has parents in and out morning and evening. So she took it out and is still taking seedlings out three years later.

It should be pruned heavily in the winter as it blooms on new wood. I usually neglect to do it for a year or two running and it gets so overgrown that I cut it back severely. This next winter will be a cutting back winter.

I too have seen huge masses of it out in the wild growing along fences, up power poles and trees. But mine has been more contained.

This is the fourth year for my post mailbox to be covered by Sweet Autumn. It is surrounded by lawn/grass and I've never seen an errant seed sprout yet. It's a gorgeous addition to the mailbox and smells so sweet - all the neighbors love it.

In fact, I just purchased two more today to put on my arbor.

Go for it. :-)

-Lela

I should also add that there's plenty of it wild down the road from me too....out of control into the tops of trees.

However, it's been let go...so when you keep it trimmed, I don't see a problem. :-)

One plus, if it attracts beneficials like bees, I'm all for it, in the right place, and under control, like honeysuckle which grows rampant in my area. The neighbor's was so prolific, bees decided to make a hive in a nearby tree, lol! She,not being a gardener failed to see the advantage and had it removed. Me, being a gardener, wished she'd kept it.

Barbara

Gayle, another "invasive" vine quite similar to the Sweet Autumn Clematis could be the culprit you see growing wild.
Fallopia baldschuanica "Silver Lace Vine" is often found in our neck of the woods.

Rosie

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Search Results for Silver Lace Vine

Thanks for all the replies. Well, if it reseeds it will be difficult to contain because of where it is. The seeds would wash downhill into the woods and creek. I don't weed or tend the woods much. There would be no stopping it. The birds would carry the seed far and wide.

On the other hand I have bees. A fall nectar crop for them would be a good thing. Since I got bees I've been much less hard-core about ripping out non-natives.. honeybees are an introduced species after all! Did you know they use poison ivy flowers for nectar? Also they use Virginia Creeper, a a native that seems to be running wild these days.

Tulsarose thanks for the links to silver lace vine. The flowers are different, so that isn't it.

Dawn, I have awful clay and what isn't clay is sandstone. I don't see the stuff running wild around here but down the river between Sand Springs and Tulsa is where I am seeing it out of control. It may be the difference in the soil.

gldno I had to laugh about the morning glories! I have some that have completely covered a young redbud. That tree isn't in a good spot anyway so I'm letting the morning glories have their way with it.

Gayle

Gayle,

We have 10 acres of woods filled with poison ivy and virginia creeper too. We cleared the poison ivy away from the 'edges' where the woodland meets the open pastures and we cleared the poison ivy away from the yard area around the house, but left the rest for the bees, butterflies, birds, etc. We manage to more or less cut pathways through the woods every year so we can walk through them and that involves removing a little poison ivy too, but otherwise we leave it alone.

We leave all the wildflowers we can too. Sometimes it drives Tim crazy that he has to drive around patches of wildflowers while mowing, but he does it.

After moving here, it didn't take me long to learn that every native plant we have here feeds something, so we have left most all of them in place. And, when landscaping the yard, often we just dig up a native tree sapling or ground cover or collect wildflower seed and add the native plants to our landscape. To me, it wouldn't make any sense to take out the native plants, and replace them with imported non-natives that don't feed the wild things.

We don't have a bee hive like you do but we have tons of native bees around year round. When food is sparse in the winter, they seem to feed at the deer corn.

I remember you mentioned a while back that you were taking a bee-keeping course. We need a bee update!

Dawn

and Gayle - if you want to get rid of any....I could use some!!! I live in "sandy loam" so I might be sorry someday...but I'll get over it!

Paula

Mine is the sweet autumn clematis and it has never made another plant or plants. I actually paid for it! Had to dig and move it this spring because it was so happy. I have seen the creeper and it is different and very invasive!

Here's an update on the sweet autumn clematis.. didn't have time to post till now. Something ate it!! Nothing left but bare stems on the stump where it was growing. By the time I noticed, whatever ate it was gone. Deer, caterpillars, grasshoppers?? I wish I had seen it.

On a similar note, whatever little group-feeding caterpillar it was that ate the sumac did not show up this year. They were fascinating and I let them alone and just watched. They stripped it two years in a row, and I didn't see one this year. Looking forward to the fall sumac color.

Yes I still have the bees. Three hives currently. I harvested about a gallon of honey. I could have had more but I left most of it for the bees.

The fall bee class is full, and I'm not sure but I think the spring one is full also. It's as much fun as gardening, and adds a whole new dimension, planting things that I can watch the bees browse on. I found out that they love tomatillos.

Black blister beetles love sweet autumn clematis and a horde of them can strip a small vine.

hmm.. would it be a good lure to keep the blister beetles off the tomatoes?

I'll bet you're right about the blister bugs. I have seen some around.

I made the mistake of planting sweet autumn clematis in my yard several years ago. I've had to rescue my azaleas, japanese maples, magnolias, and other treasured plants on numerous occasions. It keeps coming back! I found the posts that had success with this plant interesting, but if you have much shade and adequate moisture in your garden, my vote would be to find something else to plant.