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Clematis montana
autumnglory
Posts: 255
in Plants
I have a clematis montana growing on trellis that I think would look better on wire supports. If I prune it hard straight after flowering and replace the trellis with wires will I get flowers next year?
It was only planted in 2015, is it likely to die if I cut it back too hard?
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It should be fine. Try to maintain as many stems as you can. I know it's fiddly to untangle, but the plant will thank you for it. Have a good look and see if you can trace one or two.
If you have to cut it back, it'll shoot back and flower next year. Give it a good feed after you cut it back.
Thank you! I'll be able to keep some of the lower branches but the top is a huge mass of tangled stems that can't go anywhere because the trellis is too small.
This is partly why it doesn't look right, it's bare at the bottom and huge at the top even though I pruned it the first spring after I planted it. I think the only way to make it bushier at the bottom is to cut it back.
Another option is to give it a haircut at about 1m, then spread out what you have left in a fan before it's re-tied.
Is the trellis on a wall or fence? If so, train the stems up and down along it (on wires ) as they grow, to give you more flower power.
Montanas cover a big area, so if you only have it on a single trellis, and you're trying to keep it contained in a smallish space, it will be tricky to keep it looking good.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It's an L shaped trellis on a fence. I don't particularly want to keep it contained, I'm happy for it to spread across the whole fence. I wish I'd put wires up to begin with now along the whole fence but I already had the trellis.
I might just put wires up as well as the trellis and let it ramble over them too. I've had a look today and it does look like it's still shooting from the bottom so hopefully it might cover more of the trellis at the bottom as it grows. It just looks so top heavy!
Add some wires across your fence and prune a few stems back as well. You can do that throughout the year until you get it slightly more under control, rather than pruning it all back in one go. You might find that easier. Whatever you do, you'll lose flowers for a while, but it means you'll get a better plant over time. Montanas don't need pruning in the same way as a Group 3 clematis, for instance, but that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't prune them. They just have a different habit.
Keep tying in new growth up and down and across the fence, wherever you want it to go. Left to it's own devices, it'll just go up, and you'll be back where you started.
It'll reward with you with more flowers after a couple of years if you do that
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you! ?