This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Clematis pruning
Shenny
Posts: 127
Hello everyoneplease can you advise how to prune clematis voluceau ( group 3)
and clematis Darius ( group 2)
I know there is lots of info on internet but it’s confusing. I planted mine in spring 2018 but both only really properly flowered this year. Both did not flower from the base but were still an absolute delight. Photos attached
0
Posts
Group 3 are cut down to almost the base in the spring.
Group 2 you can treat as Group 3 or just cut back to where the stem has new leaves starting again in spring
Very few clematis flower lower down although you can but ones that are called top to bottom or is it bottom to top?
That way they will both produce fresh new stems and a wider spread of flowers all thru summer. Be sure to guide the new growth where you want it to go before it gets into an almighty vertical column of tangle.
However, if your prefer, the group 2 gets pruned after the initial blush of flowers in May/June to remove untidy growth and spend flowers and then, after a good feed, it should produce another flush in late summer. I always find that a faff so treat group 2s as 3s.
with regards to all the great advice above, I have just been into the garden and both the group2 and group3 clematis are growing new buds about 1.5m above the ground.
please advise. Thanks.
in 2019!
Group 2s can be cut back to the highest healthy bud as they will then flower from about May on old wood. They then need to be well fed and, once the flowers go over, tidied up and dead-headed and fed again and they'll produce a second flush at the end of the summer.
Group 3s can be cut back to about 9" or to just above the lowest healthy bud depending on how vigorous they are. Eg, viticellas such as Etoile Violette are fine to cut hard but I have found others such as Warsaw Nike do better if cut to the lowest buds.
In my last garden - rural central Belgium - winters were hard and I never had any live growth above ground on the group 2s so I always treated them as Group 3s like Warsaw Nike and that worked brilliantly, giving me one long flush of flowers in summer.
Plenty of mulching, some slow release feed and watering during dry spells improve performance no end and don't forget to train in new growth as it appears and before it becomes one big tangle that is impossible to undo.
One final question, can you grow a type 2 clematis on a narrow trellis next to a front door with a climbing rose. I am thinking of the variety 'Aloha' or is it be best to allow 'Fireworks to do its thing without competition from a rose.