What happens if you cut a clematis below buds, not above as one is advised to do, will it shoot from lower down or from the ground? The lowest buds on mine are already six feet up.
A couple of my group 3s were coming into bud but the buds were too high up so I just cut them down to a foot tall. They always grow new stems from lower down and from the ground. If yours are group 1 or 2 I wouldn't cut them now.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
It will shoot from the buds below the cut and the stem above may well die back to the point of origin. Not the best way to prune as the die back can lead to infections.
It depends on which pruning group your clematis belongs to.
If you prune a group 1 now you'll lose all this year's flowers as they flower on old wood. Group 2s are usually pruned after their first flush of flowers in May/June and, if fed, will produce a second flush in late summer. Group 3s flower on new wood so get pruned back hard. You can treat group 2s as group 3s and then get one flush of flowers, a bit later and usually a bit longer.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
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A couple of my group 3s were coming into bud but the buds were too high up so I just cut them down to a foot tall. They always grow new stems from lower down and from the ground. If yours are group 1 or 2 I wouldn't cut them now.
If you prune a group 1 now you'll lose all this year's flowers as they flower on old wood. Group 2s are usually pruned after their first flush of flowers in May/June and, if fed, will produce a second flush in late summer. Group 3s flower on new wood so get pruned back hard. You can treat group 2s as group 3s and then get one flush of flowers, a bit later and usually a bit longer.