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Remedial pruning a Group 2 clematis

chickychicky Posts: 10,410
in Tools and techniques

i have a Group 2 clematis growing up an obelisk that has become a birdsnest of brown stems with a few flowers and leaves at the top.

Can I cut it back hard?  And would it be ok to do it now ?

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    If you want to cut it back hard, wait until late winter and cut it back to 30 to 90cm from the ground.  Doing that every 3 or 4 years is an alternative way of pruning group 2 clematis.  However, if there are any strong shoots you can cut back to just above those now.

    I once cut 'The President' right back to the ground in later Winter and was rewarded by it sending up 11 shoots from below ground in the spring!  image  Since then I've done this to quite a few large flowered early clematis to which I'd neglected pruning and nearly all of them responded in a similar way although I did lose one or two as I think slugs got the new shoots before I'd noticed them appearing.

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,087

    I've treated all my group 2s like group 3s for some years as they were repeatedly frozen to bits anyway with no live top growth left to produce the first flush of flowers.    It means they flower later but are healthy and don't have bare brown legs.  

    As Bob says you just cut the whole plant back to a few inches above the ground.    Remember to feed them generously once you've cut them back and taken off all the cut stems.  When new growth does start wind it round the obelisk rather than letting it shoot straight up.   You'll get better foliage and flowers.

    If you want to do some trimming now, cut back excess growth back to a few pairs of leaves and feed it some rose, tomato or specialist clematis food.   It should produce a few more flowers in late summer.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    I intend doing this with one of mine - Duchess of Edinburgh. It has a tendency to produce lots of growth anyway, with the flowers higher up, unless you get in really quickly and often to tie it in appropriately. I also want to move it to a better location for managing it, so I'm going to cut it back shortly and see what happens.

    I was sure it would be fine, so it's good to hear what others have done successfully. image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • chickychicky Posts: 10,410

    Thanks folksimage  will get out there next weekend for a bit of light trimming, then will take the bull by the horns next Februaryimage

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