PRUNING CLEMATIS 
19th January 2009

Largely the climbing clematis fall into three groups for pruning. The first group are the vigorous spring and early summer flowering species such as Clematis montana. These do not need regular pruning but if they become too aggressive and spread beyond their allotted space then, after they have finished flowering, they may be pruned. C. montana and its varieties are tolerant of hard pruning into old wood. Water and feed during the summer and they will romp away to flower the following spring.

All the large flowering clematis that flower before the middle of June are pruned in February. Cut the previous year's growth back to the topmost pair of healthy, fat buds. Take each stem and follow it back to healthy material and cut above the buds.

Those varieties that flower after June are also pruned in February. They will produce their flowers on growths made that year and they are pruned hard, cutting above the lowest pair of strong buds. Working up from ground level these may be within 30 –40 cm of the soil. All the material removed may be burnt or composted. As the new shoots appear they are tied in to the support.

Slugs and snails can do enormous damage grazing on the stems low to the ground and are the cause of most of the damage that is wrongly put down to clematis wilt disease.

When planting clematis dig a deep hole and mix in a handful of bone meal fertilizer and lots of old, well rotted farmyard manure or compost. Plant them 10 cm deeper than when grown in the pot. If the stems become damaged or diseased then they will be able to throw new shoots from dormant buds on the parts of the stems that are below soil level.
 

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Clematis
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