Ep 220. Sweet Autumn Clematis Native Alternative

Mary Stone describes the beauty and fragrance of Sweet Autumn Clematis, despite its invasive tendencies, suggesting that pruning seed heads before they dry will prevent self-seeding. She introduces an alternative native plant look-alike, Virgin's Bower, clematis virginiana. Though nonfragrant, it's a lure to pollinators. Plus, Mary lists lovely native shrubs to shade the roots of clematis. 

She wraps up sharing her recent journey and the therapeutic joy of gardening, emphasizing the gifts of health, time, and family.

 Related Podcasts and Posts You'll Enjoy

Sweet Autumn Clematis Native Alternative - Blog Post

Ep 173. Oakleaf Hydrangea for All Seasons

Oakleaf Hydrangea for All Seasons - Blog Post 

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I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. 

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Episode web page —Garden Dilemmas Podcast Page

 Thank you for sharing the Garden of Life,

Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 220. Sweet Autumn Clematis Native Alternative

Sat, Sep 06, 2025 10:31AM • 11:55

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Sweet autumn clematis, native alternative, Virgin's Bauer, pollinators, invasive species, garden sculpture, cardinal symbol, oak leaf hydrangea, native shrubs, garden therapy, vegetable harvest, garden dilemmas, screen porch, garden community, garden inspiration.

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Mary stone, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries. It's not only about gardens, it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in - the spirit of learning from each other - we have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:26

Hello there. It's Mary Stone, and welcome to the screen porch. It has been a lovely, warm, dry spell, actually, overly dry. This morning there is a fog in the air. It's just so interesting, after morning after morning with such sunshine to see this lovely cloud, if you will, all around me. I want to thank those of you who reached back after our last chat about the curiosity of cardinals brings wisdom. I have seen the male Cardinal twice now, late in the dusk. Toot, toot, toot, popping around the viburnum outside the kitchen window. I like to think he's taking care of his baby somewhere in the vicinity—such a beautiful, beautiful thought. I heard from one of my clients. I had given her a lovely garden sculpture of a cardinal years ago, when her beloved Shepherd passed away. She loved it so much that she wanted me to find two more for her to represent other dogs she had lost over the years. It is said that when you see a cardinal, it is a sign of your dearly departed, a symbol of hope and comfort. Carolyn wrote, I enjoyed listening to the cardinal story. We are also very much affected when we see empty nests or a fledgling that we are not sure made it or not. I prefer to assume they always do little heart emoji. Yes, indeed. 

Mary Stone  01:54

I look forward to sharing an update on a favorite plant, sweet autumn clematis, that some do not favor, and for good reason. However, there are remedies to her ambitious nature, and I have just learned about an alternative before preparing the column for the press newspaper. I listened to the long-ago story about the little beauty featured in Episode Four. It included the sounds of Ellie rolling her treat ball. It just warmed my heart to hear that sound again. I was recovering from a nasty bug that forced me to rest. It feels so good to feel better. I am grateful. So grateful. So, on to this week's story, which starts like this. 

Mary Stone  02:38

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I look forward to sharing an update on a long-ago story about a real softy: a soft, wooded, sweet autumn clematis in its glory this time of year, with a plethora of tiny white blooms from August to September. She resembles a snow drift and smells heavenly. I love the fragrance brought in by the cooler evening breeze as they snag the Last of the Summer season's porch campouts on the futon. And adore waking to the busy hums of bumblebees with fuzzy yellow backs and black bodies, though they seem smaller than the common Eastern Bumblebee. Unlike Wisteria or trumpet vines, which folks start out loving until the strength of the woody climbers destroys their deck or pergola. Sweet autumn clematis, soft, woody nature won't harm rails or screens, plus she blooms on new wood, so you can easily manage her size without missing out on glorious blooms. 

Mary Stone  03:35

Once the flowers fade, a silvery blanket of seed heads follows, contrasting beautifully with the dark, almost blue-green leaves. I let this beauty scramble up the screen, the porch stairs, and make its way onto the screens. It's true, you may have to tiptoe around the exit from the porch to go outside, a path rarely taken, not because of the sweetie. I just don't go that way, Hardy from zones five to eight, some say nine, like other clematis, clematis turnifolia, like cool feet and sunny heads. That means cool roots and sunny foliage for those of you who don't think of plants as having people parts. I have one happy, sweet autumn clematis doing fine in the afternoon, shade as much as they do like full sun as well. Mulch generously or shade the roots with a companion plant, such as a low-growing hydrangea, ruby slippers, Oak Leaf hydrangea is a favorite that comes to mind. And there are even shorter varieties, such as my little munchkin, that shades the feet of mine. Indeed, they aren't native here in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but the straight species of oak leaf hydrangea, hydrangea quercifoilia, is native in the southeastern United States, spanning from North Carolina and Tennessee south to the Florida Panhandle and west into Louisiana. So I'm a fan of them. My Munchkin OakLeaf hydrangea has a sweet autumn clematis poised on the trellis behind it, next to the door Jolee and I come and go from. There's a tendril of the clematis peeking through the foliage of flowers with a beautiful white spray of sweetness amongst the freckled, lovely, dusty pink flower heads. I invite you to tune into Episode 173, Oak Leaf hydrangea for all seasons. I'll put a link in the show notes as well as to the story on the blog post, so you can see how beautiful oak leaf hydrangeas are and how that flower shifts from white to cream to a freckled face. 

Mary Stone  05:43

Native shrubs that I adore for cooling the feet of clematis in part sun to part shade areas include lowbush blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium. It's a low-growing native shrub that produces berries and a vibrant red foliage in the fall. It thrives in acidic, well-drained soil, making it a good partner for some of the clematis varieties, including my dear sweet autumn clematis. There's dwarf bush honeysuckle, Diervilla lonicera, also compact with yellow flowers that attract hummingbirds and other pollinators. It tolerates a range of soil conditions and is easy to grow. And then, of course, the beloved inkberry holly, Ilex glabra, the evergreen shrub that I use instead of boxwood. It provides a lush green backdrop for your clematis. 

Mary Stone  06:34

But there is a negative about the sweet autumn clematis, and that is, it's considered invasive by many. She self-seeds readily in some areas, not in my yard, maybe because of its location. Seeds drop in the lawn area, and therefore, any volunteers are cut down by the mower. However, recently, a client I have in Essex County has experienced an issue with volunteers overwhelming their beds, and sweet autumn clematis has been seen running amok along the highways. A remedy in areas where it can be maintained is to prune the clusters of seed heads before they dry and turn brown to prevent self-seeding. Then each year, when dormant, cut her down to about a foot above the ground to maintain her 20-foot scramble. Each year, I've even let her scramble along the ground as a ground cover, with great success. She's listed as occasionally severely damaged by deer, though I haven't had Bambi interfere, unless the ambitious nature allows for nibbles to go unnoticed. 

Mary Stone  07:33

A Drum roll, please. Let me introduce you to a native look-alike. I recently found Virgin's Bower, clematis virginiana, blooms mid to late summer for about a month. It's often confused with my beautiful, sweet autumn clematis, which originates from Asia, but the jagged leaves and lack of fragrance distinguish it from clematis turnifolia, which has rounded leaves despite being fragrance-free. The flowers are highly attractive to many species of native bees and butterflies, plus caterpillars of several moths feed on the foliage like its sweet autumn cousin. Songbirds nest in the thick vegetation, which is relatively deer-resistant as well. 

Mary Stone  08:17

Back to my sweet, smelling lovely-- despite the invasiveness, there are many fans of my sweetie, including our industry woody plant guru Michael Dirr, as written in his Manual of Woody Plants, it's probably the easiest clematis to grow, and seems to thrive with neglect. Perfect. Then he adds extremely vigorous to the point of viciousness. Uh oh, there, there. Worrywarts. Perhaps the location in Georgia has something to do with it. Dirr ends with kudos, saying the soft fragrance is delightful, and I've allowed the plant to scramble over crape myrtles. Delightfulness overcomes viciousness, but a native alternative that pollinators also love is far more enchanting. Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com. 

Mary Stone  09:08

So I hope I've convinced you that sweet autumn clematis has a role in our gardens, but certainly I would opt for the native alternative, Virgin's Bower, now that I found her, even though she doesn't have the sweet smell, pollinators adore her.

Mary Stone  09:27

As I'm chatting with you, I'm hearing my voice a little better, so that's a good thing. During my recovery, which is over the Labor Day weekend, I felt well enough on Labor Day to go out to the vegetable garden, and I was still wearing my jammies. I even took photos, because I thought it was so funny, and I tiptoed around the garden seeing what was growing. And it just filled my heart. It's amazing, the therapy of being amongst plants, and that smell, that aroma of tomato foliage, is just so musky. I just love it. And I looked around at my pepper plants, and I found some finds of fruits, and so I harvested them, my first pepper harvest of the season. In fact, as mentioned all season long that I've been late at every part of this vegetable garden. But now things are really starting to fruit, and it brings such joy. So I've harvested my first pepper picks, small but mighty, or I should say small and smiley, because I brought them back here and made an arrangement out of the vegetables. Quit playing with your vegetables, we say to kids who push them around the plate. I say Why not play with them? I made a beautiful smiley face out of them. I'll put it in the column post, yes, indeed, cherish your health, along with precious time, dear friends and family, and the bounty and the beauty of the world around us, they're the most magnificent gifts, really, really. 

Mary Stone  10:56

So thank you again for joining me. I look forward to the next time on the screen porch. And I appreciate all of you who subscribe to the podcast, and if you haven't yet, please do so that it magically appears in your feed and share with a friend or two, if you would, so more can join us in learning and growing in this garden of life. I adore how our community is growing, and it's because of you and all that you share with me, I am so grateful. See you next time. 

Mary Stone  11:24

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at GardenDilemmas.com and on Instagram at the hashtag #MaryElaineStone. Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch, and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.