Hi, I’m Karen Russ, a horticulturist with the Home & Garden Information Center at Clemson Extension. Today, I’m going to be talking about Clematis armandii, also known as evergreen clematis or Armand’s clematis.
I want to talk about one of my favorite vines today. This is Clematis armandii, also known as Armand’s clematis or evergreen clematis. It is very different from most clematis in that the leaves are fully evergreen. It has these beautiful flowers. They’re unusual in that they vary somewhat in the number of petals; sometimes they’ll have four, five or even six. They have a very sweet vanilla scent. It’s a light scent.
It grows very well throughout the entire state, in part shade and rich, woodsy soil. You can see they’re using a leaf mulch around it, which makes the roots very happy. It keeps them cool.
This vine blooms – depending on where you are in the state – anywhere from late February or early March into early April. One thing that’s nice about this vine is that it’s quite large. It can grow 15 to 30 feet tall, but because it’s limited by what it’s growing on you can limit the height that way. If it ever needs to be rejuvenated, you can actually cut it all the way back to ground level and it will grow back from the base. When it’s initially getting established, because it attaches by these little tendrils and hooks in the leaves it will need something to cling to. Their used to probably be some wires here. You do need to water it during drought. It has essentially no pests, which is just fantastic with this bold vine. Again, this is Clematis armandii, or evergreen clematis or Armand’s clematis. It will make a great addition to your garden.
