VIRGIN'S BOWER AND THE ASIAN TWIN
Eco-gardening is at its best in The Monday Garden
October 5, 2003, issue 80
VIRGIN'S BOWER AND THE ASIAN TWIN
Here's a tale of two vines: a Great American and its Asian twin. The picture taken in a Stamford churchyard is of the foreign twin, escaped from someone's garden and running wild on a privet hedge. It's called sweet autumn clematis (clematis terniflora or clematis paniculata).
The American twin is virgin's bower (Clematis virginiana) is a native clematis in the buttercup family. It ranges from Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia south to at least Florida. (There's a western variety Clematis ligusticifolia, with the Spanish name "yerba de chivat", so technically we've got triplets).