Sweet Autumn

Though autumn is a lovely season with its cooler temperatures, colorful foliage, orange pumpkins and a smell in the air that says it's here, it is not my not my first favorite season - it's my third favorite. Sweet Autumn is a clematis - a prolific one and smells ab-so-lute-ly out-of-this-world! It has a small, one and a half inch, four petal white flower with seed heads that are fascinating and it grows up to twenty feet tall. Bees absolutely love this - they're so busy collecting the pollen, one can walk under it without being afraid of getting stung and their 'busy buzz' can easily be heard. Cardinals love the seed in the winter and a snowfall on it makes an interesting vignette. It eventually blooms itself to death but don't worry...it reseeds in all kinds of places!

Sweet Autumn has been in my 'must have' plant list for many, many years. My first slip came from my mother who got it from a friend - I'm sad I don't remember who. Though its babies can be a tad pesky, it's still one I don't want to be without.

Just don't let it climb on a live tree - it will probably kill it. On this picture, it's climbing/hiding the dead side of an arborvitae and is a perfect climbing place.

Sweet Autumn needs to be cut back late winter/early spring twelve to eighteen inches to get rid of the old growth and to keep it under control. It's a fast growing plant! This is a good time to transplant it if it needs to be moved.

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On another matter:

I will be cutting THESE back next week and there were requests to have starts. Contact me VIA this post or face book if you'd like a start. There's plenty to go around! Locals can give me a phone call.

We came through the the hurricane without any damage and were blessed to have electricity all the time - many around us were without anywhere from several hours to several days. Approximately five inches of rain fell in ten hours.

...happy gardening!

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