This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Help please - would hard butting kill this clematis?
owlsland
Posts: 2
By the front door there's a lovely May flowering scented clematis. Its pretty woody, but strong and produces loads of beautiful flowers. But the house walls needs painted - if I cut this hard back now (August), will it kill it do you think?
0
Posts
sorry - that should read "cutting"!
When you say May flowering, is it a Montana? They flower on a woody framework carried all year round.
They can take a fair old bit of hacking back, without any issue, but you'll sacrifice flowers next year, and it may take another year for it to really get going properly. It can't be helped if you need access. A good feed, and water, and it'll soon spring back with new growth. It can do them the world of good to have a good shearing every so often.
In fact, any of the early flowering ones can be cut back without a problem. They'll put on some new growth into autumn, which will carry next year's flowers. They're might be fewer than before if it's a mature plant, but that's the only drawback really. You'd lose the second flush they often have at this time of year, but again, ot's not a problem. Any hard cutting back should be followed by a watering if necessary, and a mulch of compost or well rotted manure, just to encourage the plant to recover and thrive.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Montana can flower later in the year???
Yes Mary - although my comment was mainly about the early flowering, larger types which flower in late spring/early summer, and then have another flush of flowers later in the year. I was unsure what type of clem the OP had, so I was covering all bases
Montanas I had in previous gardens, often had another little show of flowers at about this time of year
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have 2 early flowering montanas. ....one is white the other pale pink. ....they've only ever flowered in Spring. I may cut them back after flowering next Spring to hopefully get a second flush. It does make sense what you say re not pruning after the later flush as they flower on the new growth.