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Clematis or bindweed

Erica68Erica68 Posts: 65
in Problem solving
How can I tell clematis from bindweed?
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Bindweed leaves are heart-shaped. The stems wrap around the support in a spiral fashion. 

    clematis leaves are lobed. They scramble up supports by hooking the leaf stems onto the support. They don’t twine in a spiral fashion. 

    The flowers are different. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Clematis stems are also woody  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Clematis usually stay where they are planted altho C montana can travel a bit.

    Bindweed will grow far faster -  growing up, down and sideways.  If you have it, you will know about it before too long ;)
  • Erica68Erica68 Posts: 65
    I will now go and look closely with reading glasses on.

  • Erica68Erica68 Posts: 65
    I can see something wrapped around the weedy stems of the clematis but its leaves are not much different to those of the clematis but they are smaller.

    I had 4 purple clematis and they were splendiferous for some years but my health deteriorated and I have to have help in the garden. Two of my clematis were massacred by a strimmer. A few years ago someone cleared the bindweed from one of them and it promptly died. Yesterday a gardener sorted out my gardener and said that my one and only clematis had bindweed and that he had pulled some of it off. Today the whole plant is dying.

    Am I missing something here?
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I  think we need photos  :)
    Most clematis will come back from being cut back hard, but if there's a lot of other weeds or stuff round about them, that can prevent good new growth. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Erica68Erica68 Posts: 65
    Will try and do this tomorrow.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    The new growth you mentioned, may well be new shoots coming from below ground  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Erica68Erica68 Posts: 65
    I have now managed to take photos
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    I'd say the pale green, twining thing in the middle photo, winding round the purple clematis stem, is definitely bindweed.  

    If it were mine I'd prune the clematis hard next Feb-March.  The clematis will re-grow quickly, as will the bindweed, but at that stage it should be possible to encourage the bindweed to climb a bamboo cane instead of the clematis.  It would need regular "supervision" to make sure it didn't escape and climb the clematis again!  The bindweed could then be unwound from the bamboo, put into a binbag to avoid drift, and sprayed carefully with glyphosate.  (I'm not keen on using weedkillers but I don't think there's any other solution here.)
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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