sweet autumn clematis

Sweet Autumn Clematis (clematis terniflora or clematis paniculata)

Well it’s autumn. Up here in the “land of long winters” and “Seasonal Affective Disorder” (SAD isn’t it) we are starting to think of frost in the weeks to come -- first soft then the killing frost. It is no wonder that so many of us suffer from SAD, when you have to start thinking of frost in September. As far as I’m concerned SAD feels and is described similar to pure Depression – it all sucks, depression that is even if you can cure SAD with a light bulb.Right now, we are enjoying the end of summer and doing it with elegant and fragrant delight through our Sweet Autumn Clematis (clematis terniflora or clematis paniculata). I propagated this one last year and this is its first season of blooms. It grows out about 10 metres before it blooms in late August-Sept. The fragrance, particularity at night, is subtle, sweet and enjoyable. The blooms though simple in terms of other varieties of Clematis are dense and thus stunning by magnitude. We grow this one on our deck as it quickly covers and then supplies a wonderful scent, on those fall afternoons of sitting in autumns yellow sunlight.

As ours is still young it still needs a year or so for the root system to mature, it has quadrupled in size just since last year. By next year, if nature permits it should quadruple itself again and I’m hoping it will look more like this one below. It is a nice way to bring in fall – pure simplicity without a lot of show but rewarding nonetheless.
Another small way of crawling further out of that rut of the blues or depression.
GP