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No flowers on my clematis Montana

13

Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    No wonder they don't flower if you prune them every year! Leave them alone and they will be fine.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Don't prune C. montana ... you're cutting off the growth that will produce flowers. 

    The only time you prune it is if you need to control it (it's a very large climber) ... if you have to do that you will lose the flowers for the following season, as you've found. 

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





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Indeed. Give it a chance   ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 778
    Agreed! I used to cut it back before winter after listening to wrong advice. I didn't do it last year and it was covered in flowers by May.
  • catrealexMVlKQx6jcatrealexMVlKQx6j Posts: 2
    Hi some advice appreciated, I bought two clematis Montana this year in may. I intended to prune them after flowering as I heard that they should be pruned in the first year, I fell down a flower bank and badly sprained my ankle and was out of the garden most of the summer. Pruning the clematis was forgotten about. Is it too late? They have grown very tall and spindly already (~2-3m).
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    No, don't prune it.
    Unless Montanas get really overgrown they should not be pruned.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Just train the growth horizontally where you want it too, depending on where you've planted it. If you leave it, it'll just grow upwards and then flop, and you won't get the best from it. They're ideal for growing through trees or hedges, or over sheds and garages.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    2 -3 metres is nothing for Montana. They will be fine.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    C. Montana can be glorious but they are huge … have you really got room for two of them? 
    😊 

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





  • catrealexMVlKQx6jcatrealexMVlKQx6j Posts: 2
    Thank you all for your advice! I didn’t prune them, I have left them both. I do believe that I have room for the two, but I’m not sure. One of them is growing through a leylandi (which I hate, but does provide shelter and is relatively small), and the other through a Japanese barberry, (which I love as the bees love it, but the spikes are unreal). If they get too big I can move one, as I have plenty of places to cover (living in an old cottage with many garages and outhouses). 
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