Roses and honeysuckles are classic companions for clematis. Any such combining of climbing plants requires repeat attention to pruning and training to keep the arrangement from breaking down.

Sweet Autumn is very vigorous and anything planted with it is likely to get covered by its growth. Still if it is a young plant you might see MG blooms. Go ahead and try it and let us know how it works for you.

oh my.. when i stop crying with laughter ....... i will tell you you that NOTHING... will stop a ASC ...

my single plant.. covers about 18 feet of fence.. but only 16 feet if i cut it to 8 inches every spring ...

crikey ... this is just about the ultimate in RUN IT OVER WITH THE TRUCK PLANTS ...'

you are contemplating an annual... go for it ....

ken

ps: i hope you cut yours down every year or 3.. else it might end up collapsing the trellis ...

PPS: the name says AUTUMN .... and you are disappointed it only blooms in autumn.. whats that all about... lol ...

I don't think you have to worry about the clematis at all.

If it was me, I'd probably look at a clematis that blooms early in the summer to pair with it, depending on the size of the obelisk. The one clematis I know of that blooms for long periods of time, is Rooguchi. It doesn't have tendrils but it would ramble up the clematis and look very pretty.

I am glad you are keeping your SAC and I hope you find a lovely companion for it, whatever it might be. I miss mine & am really thinking about getting another one this spring. My mother-in-law gave me one as a house warming gift two years ago when we bought our home, and I didn't know that clematis grown in pots needed protection (it was my first summer of gardening) and it didn't survive winter. It was beautiful & vigorous in it's first year, that's for sure.

Good luck! Let us know what you decide. :o)

Michaela

Here is a link that might be useful: Rooguchi Clematis

Thanks everyone.

Ken,

I didn't know what type of clematis it was when I was saving it, I figured that out later, once it bloomed.

No one could have foretold how dang "enthusiastic" that thing was going to be from the looks of the sad little thing I dug up a couple of years ago.

And I'm not disappointed or surprised that it blooms in autumn, only that it blooms for such a SHORT time in Autumn, only a couple of weeks.

I was hoping for, you know..."AUTUMN" as in September, October, etc...

Anyway, I just can't stand looking at that solid tower of green all year any longer.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll plant but it will definitely be something colorful :+)

I might mention that Sweet Autumn clematis is extremely invasive in my area. I fight seedlings constantly in my garden where it comes in from neighboring areas. In these areas it is choking out large stands of wild blackberries and climbing into trees.

mysweetiepie, as I have written (too) many times on GW ;) SAC is one of my favourite late summer perennials. In my location it is easily kept in check by an often severe winter. As well I have it growing on a chain link fence in a fair amount of shade and the less sun helps in terms of overall (reduced) growth.

But it would quickly overwhelm any obelisk!

Here it is from a couple of years ago:

This post was edited by rouge21 on Mon, Jan 19, 15 at 11:46

It even survives un irrigated in Central Texas, It does not get huge like up north. Chili thrips like it though. If the winters n get warm for to many times in a row , I will have to pull it but the hard winter beats the bugs back.

Wow, Rouge, that's beautiful! A Generous DG'er sent me an Autumn Clematis; I did not realize it would grow/bloom in shade (I'm also in zone 5) but definitely going to root some and/or move as I have the perfect fenced area it could climb on!

valal11, I am looking forward to hearing how your SAC does in the shady spot you have in mind.

I finally killed ours dead, it took 3 years. It was a massive thing growing on a chain link fence when we bought the house and always looked ugly by the end of the year-- something was always eating it. Maybe it was chili thrips? anyway, it was hugely big, messy and ungainly, rather weedy looking to me and I gagged on the smell when it bloomed. The orange daylily's planted thickly in front of it made it over the top offensively ugly. For added charm, it always had vine milkweed growing up in the mess too twisting around the other green sloppy mess and into the chain links. It took some diligent whacking, picking out winding stems, digging and round-up but the whole disaster (including the gosh-awful row of messy daylily's in the forefront) is now gone.

This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Wed, Jan 21, 15 at 14:19

In addition to undertaking routine maintenance to keep them playing well together whenever climbers are combined in the same space you also have to be sure the kinds chosen are of comparable vigor.