Sounds like you did. This is one that takes care of itself once it gets established. Stand back though, as it can be a monster in size.

Thanks for your response, I feel better already. I'm in zone 5 here & I haven't heard of your zone. Wouldn't this make a difference? Ahem...how big a monster?

Carol

I love my SAC also. It is the grand finale for my clematis each year. It starts blooming for me in the PNW in September and blooms all fall. It smells nice, the bees love it but it does get large. Just make sure there are no small trees, shrubs, or compact cars in it's way or they will be goners. Just kidding! You can keep it well pruned to keep it in bounds. I let mine sprawl though. Good luck with your clematis. Karen

{{gwi:623372}}

It grows very well in my zone, however one year it didn't have spectacular blooms because of an early frost.

Zone 7a here Carol. My zone listing was a poke at iVillage after they bought out the Garden Web site and were claiming ownership of anything posted here.

SAC has been blooming here in NC since the middle of August and even with our drought and my lack of watering it at all this growing season, it is still just blooming away.

Karen, thanks for posting the picture...Ohhh soooo pretty. I put it on an iron climbing tower & thanks for the warning lol.

Nckvilledudes, that's a funny poke..good one. I'm sooo slow lane material, it just flew over my head.

I put this in a new island garden & plan to pack alot of perennials in there too..I guess I'll have to keep pruners at the ready? I guess I can relegate it to our split rail fence if it doesn't play nicely with others?

Carol

I love mine too. I have had one for six years now. Now I have two, with two on the way " cuttings". Its a funny thing my first one has never had any smell. The second one I planted smells great. Last year in the fall I hit the oldest one with 0-36-0. And this year it went wild. I grew several other vines into it. cardnial climber, black eyed susan vine, cup and saucer, purple hyacinth bean vine, nasturium, morning glory, scarlet runner bean. It was fun to see the cup and saucer vine and the sweet aut clem, duke it out. Every year I will try to start new cuttings of S.A.C. you cant have too many of these. filix

Filix, whether your SAC has fragrance or not depends on the stock it was started from and whether you propagate the plant vegetatively or via seed. If your original plant does not have a fragrance, it was probably either started from cuttings from a vine that had no fragrance or started from seed.

Cuttings produce clones of the parent plant so if the parent plant has a great fragrance, any plants from cuttings from it should have fragrance. Any plant started from seed may or may not have fragrance depending on the shuffling of the genes that occur during the fertilization.

Another point to consider is the age of the plant. I have one that took a couple of years to develop its fragrance. Some have suggested that the plant just needed time to settle in and produce more blooms, but that is not the case. When I say the plant originally had no fragrance, I mean that early on I could detect no fragrance when I got up close and personal with blooms and smelled them. A few years later, I could smell the fragrance while in the yard and when I up close and smelling it also.

Thankyou nckvilledudes. I know you know your stuff. I agree with you that you get a clone of the parrent plant. The second one I planted I bought from a local nursery. It was in bloom when I bought it, and it had nice fragrance. I didn't know one could get different ones with seed. To me fragrance is very important. So I took my cuttings from the one with fragrance. They are beautiful, but to me if your going to devote a large spot for them they should have fragrance too. The first one I bought came from mail order"wayside". I learned my lesson to buy local.I hope my old one developes a fragrance! filix.

Glad to be of help filix. I agree with what you say about SAC. It becomes too big of a monster to have it without having its fragrance.

What is the best way to do a start of this plant? It's July, and I just took cuttings. Does it go into water or soil to root? Does it need root hormones, or any other things to help it along? Do I place it in a window?
I had a beautiful sweet autumn clematis at my old house that we sold. I had it trailing along our fence, and it was the best thing about our garden. I went for a walk this evening past our old house, and gathered several cuttings of the newer leaves.
Thanks in advance for your advice!

I am still ripping it out. I planted it 18 years ago and after eight years and growing under the house and popping up on the other side of the lot, I knew I should have researched how many acres it needs. It grows by rooting underground and also throws seeds ALL OVER because there are so many on this plant. I can't get rid of it. It smothered everything within 40 feet. I hate it.

Westy

I have a autumn clematis that is a few years old, looks good and has absolutely no fragance while my neighbor has one and the fragrance from her's wafts into my yard. I have inspected and compared both and can find no difference. Can you explain why my plant has no fragrance or bees that I have noticed.

Mine doesn't have much scent either. If you get right down in it, you can smell it, but no wafting. It's gorgeous, though.

Beautiful, but it'll be beautiful EVERYWHERE! I am avoiding this one like the plague. I have no need for a huge monster of a vine that self-sows everywhere. Don't care what it smells like if it takes over my yard.

Mine hasn't self-sown anywhere, and it's got to be 15 years old at least.