Ground clematis with its dark-green leaves is like a perennial: it grows to over a metre in summer, flowers on that year’s shoots and dies back in the autumn. The stems are cut down before the new growing season. Ground clematis slowly spreads into a sprawling bush, forming a drift of little white honey-scented flowers, so that by the middle summer months the whole bush is covered with flowers. These are followed by silvery seed heads right up to the onset of winter.
Ground clematis tends to need staking in gardens. Though not a climber, it does need some support if surrounded by other plants. Neighbouring plants will do this very well if they are sufficiently sturdy. If Ground clematis has room to spread in any direction, it can be left to grow naturally, as on the Azalea Slope and in the Rhododendron Valley at Mustila.