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Clementis Pruning
Hi,I am hoping someone may be able to help me with our clematis.
We moved into a new house recently and the clematis was already covering a pergola in the garden. We left it last year as we weren't sure what to do but now know that it flowers around June to August with yellow flowers. At the moment, the top of the pergola is all bare woody stems with some old flowers heads. Should we cut it really hard back (i.e. remove most of what's covering the pergola or should we just tidy it up and remove old flowerheads etc. Its so pretty and I'm terrified of damaging it, yet know that doing nothing probably isn't doing it any favours either!
If anyone could give some advice, I'd be very grateful.
Many thanks.
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If it flowers at that time with yellow flowers then it is likely to be C. tangutica or one of its forms, like C. Bill McKenzie. There are a fair number of named ones. However all of them are pruned the same way. They are in Group 3 for pruning, if you want to check it out. Otherwise start at the base of the stems and look for the first pair of healthy buds and cut off everything above them. Brutal, but it flowers on new wood and you are encouraging it to produce new growth. We do ours starting about now when the buds are easy to see developing.
Isn't the saying"If it flowers before June,leave it alone"?
Your clematis will be a tangutica or orientalis and is a Group 3, BUT, it is best unpruned until about April when you should see some new green shoots on the plant, then cut it back to about 3 ft.
Most Group 3 are chopped back almost to the ground in February, but the yellows in my experience are best treated differently.
Also, you should still have plenty of seed heads on your plant, the birds love these for lining their nests. ( try sowing a few in a zippy freezer bag with damp vermiculite, they are easy )
" If it flowers before June, do not prune ", means that the atragenes, montanas, Early Large Flowered Hybrids, should not be pruned hard back as they flower on last year's wood.
Give all clematis a generous feed of proper clematis food as growth starts again in early spring. It helps them produce healthy new growth and plenty of flowers. They also respond to occasional liquid boosts of tomato or rose feed from spring to early summer.
Can I prune the top of my Montana now 10 ft tall, and very whispy, down to about 5ft, without affecting the production of spring flowers. I will feed it in early spring.
No, cutting a C. Montana back now means you'll lose the flowers for the coming season. Better to cut it back after its bloomed. You'll only lose ghe possibility of a second flush. In that way.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.