I have just planted two of these this month. Too early to tell what they are going to do, so far not much new growth, but our weather has been very strange, almost near freezing, to almost 100 degrees in a few weeks. I will keep you posted on how they do. I have 4 SAC that I love, so I hope these will do as well later in the summer. Debra

Sweet Summer Love has continued to grow like crazy and now, it's 2nd year, is half way across the top of my arbor, still blooming it's little heart out. I have not taken a photo because of my arbor. It needs replacing - and I don't know how to do that without cutting SSL and New Dawn rose way, way back. I do not even direct visitor's eyes toward the blooms of this clematis because of the arbor. Maybe by next year, it will be dense enough to cover the arbor. But, I LOVE this clematis. It is vigorous and just wants to grow and bloom. The fragrance is slighter this year, possibly because of nearly 2 months of 100 deg. heat or because the blooms are higher overhead.

Well, I've spent a fair amount of time fighting honesuckle and multiflora rose to keep it out of the woods on properties I've worked at. Didn't realize until I Googled it that the native wild clematis, VB and Sweet Autumn Clematis were different, and that the non native one was invasive. It's the smelly one I want. The wild clematis is not showy enough to waste space on it in my tiny, tiny, tiny urban downtown row house yard. I don't feel there's much danger of my stuff invading a pristine natural area, the best luck a seed from my yard would have is to land on some vacant urban corner. I haven't read anything about the clematis being a big problem around here, but maybe that's because it is not very commonly grown or sold in nurseries. I don't mind cutting back the upper foliage, to keep it trained along the fence. My neighbors have a grape vine trellis that they have to keep after, but the roots don't wander, just the tops. But after that rose experience, I just don't want something with root suckers, because then I have to go into my neighbors yard to pull the stuff up, and it risks disrupting things, in my yard and hers. I don't want to accidentally uproot her tomatoes or something like that. Maybe I should go with a regular clematis. I sure do LOVE, LOVE the smell of the Sweet Autumn Clematis, and the flowers are pretty too. It smells like baby powder. I have such a tiny yard, I can never decide what to plant, because I am torn between wanting stuff to eat, smell and look pretty. I had to tear out my beloved crab apple which has all three qualities, because it was overrun with rust. I didn't treat it at first because the Cooperative Extension folks said it was just "cosmetic." But eventually the whole thing became infected and distorted and covered with the stuff. And I realized that the soil where all the leaves fell would now be infected for years to come. I finally put the poor thing out of its misery. Now there's a huge hole in my garden and I can't decide what to put there. So far I am replacing the tree with a red ninebark, but I don't know about along the fence behind it and on either side.

Unlikely to repeat bloom but possible :-) This clematis is a hybrid with undisclosed parentage but C. flammula is very likely part of the mix, given the scent, shape of the flowers and bloom time. SSL is reported to bloom from July to September, similar to flammula and x triternata Rubromarginata, to which it is most likely related. Since it takes anywhere from 3-5 years for a clematis to establish properly and perform as intended (or described), I'd suggest a couple more years of being patient before the vine puts on a typical, extended bloom display.