How To Prune Clematis.
With regards to your question on how to prune your clematis is a tricky one. If you can remember when your Clematis flowered this will help.As you have probably seen there are three main types of pruning groups:
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Group 1
These clematis flower early in the year producing flowers on wood that was made the previous season. Amongst this group are the C. alpina, C. macropetala and C. montana types. These ones need to have dead and weak stems removed immediately after flowering otherwise you may miss out on flowers the subsequent season. Once they become established they do not need to be habitually pruned – only really to keep them in the allocated space.
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Group 2
These clematis flower early on the season around May June time.These Clematis need to be pruned during late February or March.First all dead and weak stems need to be removed and the remaining growth needs to be shortened by 15 to 25 cm to where a strong pair of leaf axil buds are visible.All old leaf stalks that still remain should be removed and all remaining stems should be tied into position immediately after pruning. Some of these also repeat flower later in the season but no further pruning is needed to achieve this.
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Group 3
This group flowers late in the season August onwards and flower on current season’s wood so need to be hard pruned in February,March to produce plenty of new wood to flower on.Amongst this group is C. jackmanii, C. viticella and C. texensis. This way of growing makes them perfect partners with climbing roses.
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