How to grow Australian native clematis by climate zone
Most gardeners know clematis through the exotic cultivars. These are the large-flowered purples and pinks bred from Asian species that cover trellises in European and American-style gardens.
The large-flowered exotic clematis most gardeners picture — cultivars bred from Asian species, in a range of purples and pinks that has no equivalent anywhere in the Australian native palette.
What is less known is that Australia has its own native clematis: a group of about six or seven species that climb by the same mechanism. They are among the most underused native climbers in cultivation.
Melburnian, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Native clematis in seed — the feathery, silvery seed heads that follow flowering are often more conspicuous than the flowers themselves and can persist on the vine for months into autumn and winter.
Unlike the exotic cultivars, there is no blue, pink or purple in the native clematis palette. The compensation is the seed heads: on a well-established vine covering a fence or pergola, the mass of silvery, feathery fruits that follows spring flowering is one of the most striking seasonal displays any native climber produces.
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How clematis climbs — and why it matters for cultivation
Clematis uses neither tendrils (like a passionfruit) nor aerial roots (like a climbing fig) nor twining stems (like a wisteria). Instead, it climbs by wrapping its leaf stalks around whatever support is available. As the vine grows, new leaves reach out and their petioles grip wires, stems, branches or trellis uprights and tighten progressively. The result is a hold that is surprisingly strong but also self-limiting: clematis will not strangle a host plant the way a twining stem can.
When establishing clematis on a structure, weave the new growth through the trellis rather than simply letting it lean — once the petioles grip they are committed, and directing early growth saves considerable effort later.
All Australian clematis are dioecious — male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. This means that to get the ornamental seed heads, you need at least one female plant. In practice, when purchasing from a nursery, sexing the plant before flowering is not possible; buy two or three and you will almost certainly have both. The seed heads form only on female plants but male plants flower just as prolifically — both are worth growing.
Old man's beard (Clematis aristata)
Vigorous spring climberTemperate to subtropical east coast
Old man's beard (Clematis aristata) in flower — the mass of cream star flowers in spring can cover a mature vine so densely the foliage disappears; the fluffy silver seed heads that follow are the origin of the common name.
Clematis aristata is the most widespread and commonly encountered of the Australian species. It occurs naturally in the coastal and tableland forests of QLD, NSW, VIC, SA and TAS, often scrambling through the canopy of established trees and shrubs at forest edges. In spring, it produces masses of cream to white star flowers, each with four petal-like sepals. The display can last several weeks and is followed by the fluffy, silvery seed heads that persist well into autumn. It is vigorous to the point of enthusiasm and needs a substantial structure: a large pergola, a mature established tree, a long fence line. In a garden it performs best with its roots in cool, moist, shaded soil and its upper growth reaching into full sun.
Forest clematis / headache vine (Clematis glycinoides)
Shade-tolerant climberTemperate to subtropical east coast
Macleay Grass Man, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Forest clematis (Clematis glycinoides) — smaller flowers than aristata but produced in greater shade; the most useful of the east coast clematis for gardens with established tree canopy where most flowering climbers fail.
Clematis glycinoides is closely related to aristata and the two overlap considerably in range and appearance, but glycinoides is a distinctly more shade-tolerant plant. It occurs naturally in rainforest margins, shaded gullies and the understorey of dense forest. The flowers are smaller and slightly less showy, but the plant's ability to flower meaningfully in positions of significant shade is unusual in Australian climbers. It is less vigorous than aristata — reaching around 5m rather than 10m — which also makes it more manageable on a modest garden structure. The trifoliate leaves are glossy and attractive year-round.
Small-leaved clematis (Clematis microphylla)
Dry-climate climberTemperate to semi-arid, WA and SA
Neb.st, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Small-leaved clematis (Clematis microphylla) — fine, divided foliage and small cream flowers through winter and spring; the most drought-tolerant of the Australian clematis and the strongest choice for dry temperate and inland gardens.
Clematis microphylla extends the genus into conditions the east coast forest species cannot handle. It occurs naturally in dry scrub, mallee, coastal heath and open woodland across WA, SA and into the drier inland parts of VIC and NSW. This is a much drier and more exposed habitat than the forest margins that aristata and glycinoides inhabit. In WA, it often scrambles through coastal scrub in company with banksias and hakeas, which gives a strong indication of the conditions it thrives in: full sun, excellent drainage and no supplemental water once roots are established.
Worth knowing alongside it is the slender clematis, Clematis leptophylla, which until recently was treated as Clematis microphylla var. leptophylla and is now recognised as a species in its own right. It takes the cooler and higher end of the range that microphylla occupies: forest, woodland, rocky ground and stream margins through the tablelands and the ACT, including Kosciuszko. The foliage is finer again, which is what the name refers to, and the plant climbs to around 5m or trails where there is nothing to climb.
WA clematis (Clematis pubescens)
WA endemic climberMediterranean WA
WA clematis (Clematis pubescens) — a mass of small white flowers in spring on a climber endemic to south-west WA; the soft, hairy texture of the foliage is the origin of the species name and distinguishes it from the similar C. microphylla.
Clematis pubescens is endemic to south-west WA, where it occurs naturally in jarrah forest, kwongan heath and coastal scrub. The foliage has a distinctive soft, downy texture (pubescens means hairy) and the flowers are slightly larger and produced in greater quantity. It scrambles through the understorey in a mass of white that is one of the more striking seasonal displays of the WA wildflower season. In cultivation it performs well in Mediterranean conditions with good drainage and full sun to part shade, handling the dry WA summer reliably once established.
Wildlife benefits of clematis
A clematis flower has no true petals. What reads as petals are four sepals arranged in a shallow open star, with the reproductive parts fully exposed. That open structure puts pollen within reach of short-tongued insects that cannot work a tubular flower. Native bees are the most obvious visitors and small flies, beetles and wasps work the flowers alongside them.
A mature clematis builds a dense, tangled layer of fine stems over its support and that layer is exactly the kind of cover small birds use for shelter and nesting. Because clematis grips with its leaf stalks rather than twining or rooting into surfaces, it builds that cover through a host shrub or along a fence without strangling the plant beneath it or damaging masonry, which makes it one of the few climbers that adds habitat structure without a cost somewhere else.
Tasmanian clematis (Clematis gentianoides)
Non-climbing perennialCool temperate, Tasmania
peganum from Henfield, England, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tasmanian clematis (Clematis gentianoides) — the only Australian clematis that does not climb; the erect stems to 45cm arise from a persistent rootstock and carry solitary white flowers through spring and early summer.
Clematis gentianoides breaks every expectation of the genus. It does not climb. It produces no petiole tendrils, makes no attempt to grip a support and forms instead a clump of erect, branching stems to 45cm that arise each season. It is endemic to Tasmania, where it grows in woodland on exposed, well-drained slopes and poor soils in the north and east of the island, often on rocky ground. Like all Australian clematis it is dioecious, with female plants producing the characteristic feathery seed heads that in this case sit low among the stems rather than draping from a climbing vine. It is a cold-hardy plant and does not tolerate drying out completely through the warm months.
Growing Australian clematis: what to know
ROOT-SHADE, SHOOT-SUN
The single most important thing to understand about clematis cultivation is the root-shade, shoot-sun principle. Clematis performs best when its root zone is cool and shaded while the climbing stems and foliage reach upward into full or near-full sun. This is the condition it grows in naturally. Replicating it in a garden setting produces significantly better growth and flowering than planting in full sun exposure from the base up.
Native clematis climbing its support — the leaf stalks wrap around thin stems and wires rather than gripping the surface, which is why fine supports work and smooth posts give the plant nothing to hold.
PRUNE AFTER FLOWERING
Cut back to a strong pair of buds and remove any dead or congested growth. The new stems that follow will be the flowering wood for the following season. Leaving pruning until winter is less effective with Australian species, most of which flower on growth produced in the previous season. The exception is if you specifically want to retain the seed heads, in which case delay pruning until the seed heads have finished and fallen naturally.
An Australian clematis flower at close range — the four white parts are petal-like sepals rather than true petals, and the exposed cluster of stamens at the centre is what makes the flower accessible to native bees and other small insects.
PLANTING AND ESTABLISHMENT
All Australian clematis establish most reliably from tube stock planted in autumn or early spring. Mulch heavily at the base to keep the root zone cool and moist through the first summer. A light application of native-specific slow-release fertiliser in the first season is sufficient. In the garden, the most common mistake is planting clematis against a structure that is too small — for aristata in particular, think in terms of a fence line of at least 5m or a well-established pergola, not a free-standing obelisk.
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