Plant · P-1054

Texas Clematis

Clematis texensis

Scarlet leatherflower is a Texas Hill Country vine with flowers that skip petals entirely: four thick, leathery scarlet sepals fold into a small nodding urn from spring through midsummer, followed by silvery, feathery seed heads that stay decorative into fall. It climbs by twisting its leaf tips around a support rather than twining or gripping, so it wants a trellis, shrub or fence to scramble over and cannot climb a bare wall. It grows straight out of limestone rock and rubble, wants sharp drainage more than steady moisture, and shrugs off both hard freezes and summer heat. Because it flowers only on the current season's growth, the whole yearly care is cutting it back to the ground once frost has killed it down.