Filling spaces under and through our chaparral plant community, California native Chaparral Clematis, also known as Pipestems, is a delicate beauty. Its chubby cream-colored blossoms appear in spring, tumbling together with buckeyes, ceanothus, and any other woody stemmed buddy it can use for support. The mounds of 2" flowers are followed by fluffy, light catching seed heads which some say they prefer to the lovely flowers! Either way, Pipestems is a lovely native plant that should be grown more often.

Though it is a climber, it is not a twiner, meaning that it does not choke out its neighboring support plant like so many vines will do. Like the other memebers of its family, it climbs by wrapping its delicate leaf stalk around twigs and other things small enough to reach around. Also relatively small in stature, it will reach for the sunshine to a height of 10 to 20 feet, but will also settle for tumbling down a bank where it finds no support.

Chaparral Clematis can be found growing in some of the rockiest, most challenging places, but also tolerates rich garden soil and regular garden conditions. It is often seen growing near sources of water, but is quite drought tolerant once established, needing little to no supplemental water. As a matter of course, all clematis prefer their leaves in the sun, or partial sun where the sun shines hottest, while their feet rest in the cool of the shade. Planting with a thick layer of mulch helps accomplish these conditions and ensure your pipestems' lovley beauty for many springtimes to come. Beautiful on a garden trellis, as long as the supports are small enough for its leaf pettioles to get around (think wire or twine), where it attracts butterflies, and possibly most importantly, native bees.