Mystery climber

Posts

• Dovefromabove Posts: 88,147

  April 2023

  Clematis montana … possibly ‘rubens’. 

  
  

  https://gardenfrontier.com/4-clematis-montana-simple-pruning-advices/?amp=1#:~:text=CLEMATIS%20MONTANA%20PRUNING%20ADVICES%201%20%20Where%20space,one%20in%20three%20stems%20immediately%20after%20flowering.%20 
  
    
  

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

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• Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494

  April 2023

  I agree with Dove. Lovely climber but can be rampant.

  North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone

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• Robert West Posts: 241

  April 2023

  Vigorous grower in the right spot but can be cut back as hard as you like after flowering. I take most of mine back to about 2ft around the end of May. They put on about 10-12ft of growth by the end of the season. 
  
  Left alone they become bare at the bottom. 

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• victoryhamster Posts: 10

  April 2023

  Ahh this does sound like it got the right shape and  it’s got very woody stems, should the cutting back at the end of maybe on new or old growth should you cutback to old wood or would this stop next years growth? 

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• Fairygirl Posts: 55,117

  April 2023

  You can just prune back to leaf joints - anywhere suitable.
  They flower on the old wood, so you normally do it after they've flowered, so that they have time to make new growth for flowering next year. You can then train that new growth elsewhere if that suits you, and you have a support in place. I used to train part of one back and forth along a low fence, as well as up the side of the back door,  which worked very well. 
  They want to be large plants, and can easily cover sheds/garages etc, or can be grown through hedging.
   
  How well it flowers next year will depend on the site, your climate, and how hard you cut back. 

  It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
  
  
  
  I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...

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