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Clematis - can I prune now to stop growth?
green fingered finch
Posts: 278
Ok so I have a clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchard' which has been in a pot the last 2 or 3 years. I prune it as it says I should in early spring down to 30cm from ground or lower even. However, it tends to grow very tall and leggy far beyond the trellis it is on. All the flowers end up high above eye level with ugly sparce stems below.. My question is can I prune out the tips now beffore it flowers to stunt its growth and encourage flowers lower down, or doesnt it work like that? Will I kill it? Any other suggestions? Many thanks
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i have three clematis and i weave mine in and out of the trellis horizontally as it grows, that way you get flowers at the bottom all the way to the top, mine is planted in the ground.
I do as snajy does . It takes some of the vertical energy out and also encourages side shoots.
Google, Apical dominance.
Unfortunately its too late for me to do that as it is already at the top of the trellis!
Hi green fingered finch.
I've managed to very gently detach a pot-growing clematis from trellis, got it out of its pot, transplanted it in the ground, stuck an obelisk on top and very gently wound the stems around the obelisk starting at the bottom. There was 5ft of growth and about a dozen stems - but doing it very gently I've managed to make the change.
I don't know if you'd want to try it - but if you can be careful with it - you might be able to do something similar and maintain successful growth.
I watered it with a bucket of water before doing anything and when I transplanted it and tied it in to the obelisk, I watered it, gave it a feed and after 5 days it looks very happy. Maybe more of a risk for you to try if you already have blooms - I don't know. Mine is just budding now.
Last edited: 27 May 2016 13:44:31
Just done several of mine, gff, chop them back to about 2 ft., they will still flower July to September, all group 3.
I'd go with Richard's advice. He's ACE!!
Yarrow you've probably done the best thing for yours. I've worked out that clematis HATE being in pots! However it is not possible to put mine in ground where I want it so Im giving it one last chance!
Richard, so you think I'll be alright to chop some off mine? Well I'll give it a go then and see what happens
thanks all
Hah - green-fingered finch - my record with clematis is NOT good! My latest exploits are pictured on another thread today - I think it was Garden photos 2016 or something - so you will see I have disasters as well. It's probably luck that the one I mentioned above didn't go into shock and is looking good now!
I should have consulted Richard on the others I think. Yes, I'm learning that my clems in pots aren't the best idea - though I know people who seem to have great success with them in pots. I just need to learn much more - which is why this forum is so valuable. It's great to learn of others experiences and also to know that we can all mess up sometimes and just have a go again.
I was exactly the same last year with my 'comtesse de bouchard' in a large pot with an obelisk in it.
I was advised on here to get it in the ground but had nowhere to put it so went with the second suggestion of "untangle and wind around". It was very fiddly and I snapped a few stems in the process.
This spring when I chopped it down it got tipped out of the pot and replanted in a very deep hole on one side of a garden arch. The roots completely filled the pot (there's a photo of it somewhere on the forum). It has a 'Dorothy Walton' on the opposite side for company and I've been weaving them side to side through the frame, this is producing lots of side shoots.
Just have to figure out where to put my sweet peas this year.
A few bedding plants, maybe a few trailers, on top of the pot will brighten them up and will also tell you when the compost is drying out.
These are a few of mine.