Clematis 'Sweet Summer Love' Proven Winners®

Sweet Summer Love Clematis (Clematis 'Sweet Summer Love') is treasured for its extraordinary floral display, producing hundreds of cranberry-violet blooms in a single season. The flowers emerge deep red, transition to purple-red, and mature to rich violet, creating a beautifully layered display of colour throughout the season. Bright yellow stamens at the centre provide striking contrast to the vibrant petals and, unlike most clematis, the flowers are deliciously fragrant. Their strong almond-vanilla scent with a hint of cherry makes them irresistible to butterflies and other beneficial pollinators.

The elegant, star-shaped flowers bloom for an exceptionally long season, beginning in July and often continuing well into fall, weather permitting. After flowering, this purple Sweet Autumn Clematis plant produces decorative, fluffy seed heads that add winter interest, while the fresh green foliage remains attractive from spring until frost.

Like most vines, Sweet Summer Love Clematis climbs by twining its leaf stalks around supports, making it highly versatile in the landscape. This purple fragrant Clematis quickly cloaks trellises, walls, and fences, reaching heights of up to 4.5 m (15 ft). Its abundant flowering makes it an excellent focal point or specimen vine in the garden.

An award-winning Proven Winners® cultivar, ‘Sweet Summer Love’ was bred by world-renowned clematis breeder Szczepan Marczyński in Poland and offers excellent cold hardiness to zone 4a (-34.5 °C). During the first year after planting, the vine typically focuses on root development; by the second year, it takes off as a vigorous grower. It is a well-behaved, non-invasive alternative to self-seeding Sweet Autumn Clematis and is resistant to both deer and rabbits.

Clematis 'Sweet Summer Love' is best planted in a location where the foliage and flowers are mostly in the sun, but the roots are kept cool and moist in the shade. Consider using mulch around the root zone in summer and fall. Pruning Group: 3.

Pruning Groups:
Group 1 – Flowers only on old wood (previous year). Prune after spring flowering.
Group 2 – Flowers on both old and new wood. Little pruning should be done for woody-stemmed members of this Group. If cut to the ground or pruned in fall or spring, flowering will be reduced or delayed, but not prevented.
Group 3 – Flowers only on new wood. Can be cut to the ground in fall or spring.