Did all of your clematis return besides that one fleur? I was so happy to have all of my clematis return this year since I had planted quite a few last summer. Made me much more eager to add more this year and I've already purchased too many and it's only May!!

Sweet Summer Love was the last clematis I added last summer and it was in July as well... the lady at the nursery said it was beautiful when it was blooming. I hope you are enjoying your new gardens. Sometimes starting from scratch is a blessing in disguise. We bought an old home with gardens but they were not managed for several years and were filled with poison ivy and invasive plants and old shrubs planted too closely to our house.

I hope yours returns!

My clematis Virginiana is back, my wisteria also seems to be alive and well and the lonicera also looks alive. I planted a trumpet vine last summer but ripped it out after 3 months. That thing got every single disease known to man and I couldn't deal with it anymore!

I also planted some morning glories last year but not one came back as of yet. The silver lace vine made it through the coldest winter we had in years even if it's supposed to be zone 5 (yay!) I also planted some Virginia creeper which is thriving, as it usually does here in Montréal. I also just received some bare root roses and planted that three days ago.

I have a hundred feet of chain link fence to cover, plus an entire backyard (although it is small).

Some of these vines are considered invasive in much warmer zones than mine but here, they stay quite polite in their growth rate.

Fleur, FWIW, I've seen gigantic trumpet vines in Montreal. You're lucky that you ripped it off :-)
Virginia creeper has a rampant growth and can grow up to 2 stories high building in one season easily.
For some reason the non clinging one is also quite prevalent over here.
As for morning glories the only ones, which self seed here are the Ipomea purpurea (Grandpa Ott's etc). You need to wait until June to see their distinctive cotyledons popping out where your original vine was.

I would be careful with Virginia Creeper, it can cause a skin rash much like poison ivy. I've spent the last 3 years trying to eradicate it from our garden - the PO either planted it or it made it's way there on it's own. It was choking a 8' shrub and killed off several large branches. It makes it's way into my garden every year and it's not easy to pull up. The vine snaps and pieces are left behind buried under the mulch that no doubt continue spreading. I have a reaction to it just like poison ivy and have to be careful when removing it. I would never plant it, even in a colder zone. I would take creeping charlie over virginia creeper every day.

I planted this Sweet Summer Love last fall and it grew but did not bloom. I pruned it back to about 10 to 12 inches from the base in late fall/early winter. It started growing in late March, and is about 5 feet now. Here is a picture of the vine. I will post another when it blooms.

I also have Sugar Sweet Blue, Montana Mayleen, Virginiana, Sweet Autumn.

I've had virginia creeper in every single backyard or house I've ever lived in and never had a problem with it or skin rash. However, it was always used to cover up chain link fences and not the house itself. I love the color in the Fall and it looks absolutely stunning with silver lace vine. I'll definitely take pictures of that in September or October!

I see buds!

I see mine developing buds as well, they are a little behind yours though! Can't wait to see it.

Ked did yours bloom? Hope you got some photos!

Just an update. I have about 6 to 8 feet of vine but no blooms. Now I am reading it takes two growing seasons before you get blooms. I am still hoping for some. If it does, I will post pics.

Help!!!!! my sweet summer love was blooming fabulously and in the last couple weeks is losing it's blooms and I have seen a couple japanese beetles floating around.......could that be the culprit?

First picture is the damaged plant.....second photo is weeks before

Could one of the stems be broken somewhere resulting in the die back? Your plant is huge! Making me reconsider where I placed mine.

I have two on each side......but within one year they just took off.

Juls lovely plant, sorry to see the damage. Check for a broken branch/ or animal damage. How would you describe the scent? Is it by any chance almond scented?

No not almond......it smells sweet. Lightly sweet-not super heavy like honeysuckle can be.... it's a perfect plant in my opinion:)

Check low to see if some creature has snipped the stem. I've found that happened when several of my clematis plants had branches that suddenly wilted. My culprits are rabbits and deer.

true_blue, as you are in Mtl, you're invited to come to my house and smell the flowers for yourself! Mine has been blooming for about a week now.

I just planted one, so looking forward to flowers, patience, patience, patience. Mine will be duking it out with tangutica, should be an interesting combination, if not I'll move it.

Annette

We had severe winds Friday night which blew away all the large blossoms from the deck clematis but I see a few small blooms on Sweet Summer which are about to open. Looking forward to its fragrance.

Thanks Juls for the description.

Fleur merci for the offer ;-)

Rubromarginata and Mandshurica though not related are almond scented. There seems to be somewhat more of terniflorain the scent....

Mine is putting out a second set of buds after lightly blooming through June (first full season). I thought it was done until next year, so I'm pleasantly surprised to see more activity!

"Rubromarginata and Mandshurica though not related are almond scented. There seems to be somewhat more of terniflorain the scent...."

Ah, but it IS related to 'Rubromarginata', although perhaps a little distantly. According to the breeder, Szczepan Marczynski (do they not have vowels in Poland???), C. flammula is part of the parentage, as it is with Rubromarginata. He declines to reveal the rest of the parentage but there is likely some jackmanii and viticella in the mix but NO C. terniflora. And the scent is definitely the hawthorn fragrance of flammula.

This is the second full year for mine and so far NO BUDS OR BLOOMS! Quite upset but our growing season is through October so I live in hope. Zone 8 SC

We call ours "Cousin It"

gets huge. Over winters well. Blooms a tone. Very durable plant.

Gardenscents, I'm having the same experience in Durham, NC. Its the second year for our vines. They have grown tall, but no sign of buds yet. I'm hoping they will bloom in our Indian summer. Something really chewed the leaves early in the season but new growth has since emerged.

Still blooming at the end of September with more buds forming (so since June). Also
putting out a lot of top growth... it's outgrown the light post I have
it on and it's only in it's second year >.>

Help! I just purchased my "Sweet Summer Love" about 2 weeks ago. I planted it into a large container, but now realize It will have to be replanted in the ground. Can it be up against my house, or close to a tree... What would you suggest. I do have one spot with a 6 foot wide trellis... But the soil is Sandy and clay based there.

Good luck! Mine every year (3rdyear) gets huge tall and wide but I have yet to see a bloom. I've cut to the ground. . No blooms. I've cut to 18" still no blooms! I'll let you know in late July. 6 ft wide trellis should be fine.

gardenscents, I hope you have buds this year I am finally seeing some in the third summer in the first week of July. I'm in Durham, NC. We've had a ton of rain this summer plus I gave it a bone meal and epsom salt mixture in water.

Chende2292. Haven't seen any yet☹️. I bought another one and put in a different spot. We"ll see. Very discouraged.

Good luck with the other location! I confess I've been a bit obsessed about waiting for these buds. Now I want to see some open flowers. :)

I planted Sweet Summer Love in May this year and it is already blooming [in August] and doubled it's size.... I'm surprised. Looks very hardy.

What state do you live in? Its taken mine 3 years.

Rabbits keep biting off the stems even with a protective fence they keep biting off higher and higher. Expect no blooms this year :-(

I planted one in a large pot in early June here in Toronto. It took a while to get going but it's now about 4 feet and had maybe a dozen small blooms. Smells very nice! I can't wait for it to get more established and bloom a lot more.

I am on my 4th yr with Sweet Summer Love - still no blooms! What can I do? It grows like crazy and looks very healthy.

Are you fertilizing with anything that might encourage plant growth and not blooms? Is it getting enough sun?

I planted Sweet Summer Love last year. It grew well, but no bloom. I cut it way back this spring, and it has reached the top of a 6 ft fence. I was surprised to see buds as I thought it was supposed to bloom in the fall. It's been blooming for a week now, but only on the top half. The blooms are small, I hope they will be a little larger as time goes on. I use compost and rose food to fertilize.

I planted two vines on either side or an arbor entrance last spring. One didn't look very good and didn't grow much. The other seemed heartier. Neither bloomed (as expected). I didn't cut them back this spring, and have not taken special care to shade their roots (which i will do this year). This spring and summer they have taken off and up until a week ago were blooming like crazy. Then the plant seemed to die back from the roots up, and my gardener says it's possible that it's just doing it's thing, and might be a clematis that grows and flowers on old wood...does anyone know? I've tried to research this online but haven't found anything that talks about this. Here are a few pix...Love the scent!! Looking forward to next year...

I moved mine to an arbor. It's never bloomed after 4 seasons tho I didn't expect it to bloom after being moved. I won't cut it back this year though it's in the same class as Sweet Autumn which I cut back and it blooms and spreads like crazy. I'm about to give up! You give me hope. Thanks!

'Sweet Summer Love' is a pruning group 3 vine - it flowers on new growth produced each season and is a hard prune variety. It is not related to SAC at all and only bears a similarity in bloom time. It is a hybrid vine very much like Clematis x triternata 'Rubromaginata' to which it looks (and smells) very similar....a flammula crossed with a viticella or a viticella hybrid. I have grown Rubromarginata for years and it is a slow to bloom variety, often taking 3-4 year after establishment before producing a plethora of flowers over a long period from midsummer well into fall. My SSL is two years old and still yet to bloom but I'm betting on next year :-))

I would also add that this does not seem to be very shade tolerant....the more sun it receives the faster it is inclined to start producing flowers.

My SSL that bloomed in June is starting to bloom again. My neighbors from Guatamala(sp) are enthralled with it. They think I got it from Guatemala.

My SSL is in part shade. This is the second year of bloom. Blossoms were very small and limited in amount. Still, good growth and not eaten by rabbits. Love the fragrance.

I'm glad you have blooms. I am officially giving up on mine. I've had them for four summers. Very healthy leaves, but no flowers. I'm in Durham, NC. The roses on the same arbor are blooming so I don't think the issue was sun. Perhaps it gets too hot and dry for them here.

chende- don't give up, my Polish Spirit took forever to bloom, at least 4 years.Next spring hit it with some high bloom fertilizer, can't hurt.

I am considering replanting my Summer Sweet Love Clematis after reading your comments. I planted it in June in a spot that gets afternoon sun. I am at high altitude in Park City, Utah and thought the intense sun rays will be enough. It doesn't start getting direct sun until 3 pm. Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you!

I have had four of these planted for three years. Two had to be replaced. The first year that they flowered they were the color described. This year they reverted to all purple. Two have managed to get 7ft tall. I have now planted sweet autumn with them and they are clearly much more vigorous. I am hoping since the leaves on both are pretty much the same they will come together in a more lush vine with the purple blooming in the summer (mine are in full bloom now- June ) and the autumn will be white in the fall.

We've had 'sweet summer love' for four years now. I'm not sure if it bloomed the first year or not. The second and third years it grew large and bloomed like crazy. This year, year four, it is even larger. However, there is one major problem. This clematis is a huge japanese beetle magnet. We only had a few beetles in recent years, so they weren't a problem, but this year the beetles are terrible. Every day, hundreds of them eat all the blooms of this clematis. They've shredded them all. There are so many beetles on this thing, it's like flies on a pile of meat. If beetles are going to be this numerous every year, which is likely, then this clematis will be worthless and will have to be replaced with another kind beetles don't like. We have several others and they don't touch them. 'Sweet summer love' is quite fragrant and looks like an insect-attracting plant, unlike the other kinds.