Clematis

[jeanowen]

Hi, Does anyone know what I should be doing with my clematis which has finished blooming? Do I cut them down at this time of the year (July)??
Many Thanks.

[YvonneM]

Depends on which variety it is Montana (small flowers) only needs pruning when it becomes invasive. We prune our large flowered plant in the autumn cos the chances are you may get some more flowers

[Hawkwalk]

http://www.gardenforum.demon.co.uk/clematis.ht m

some good advice here.

[Plocket]

It's a very difficult question to answer without knowing what pruning group it's in, but a rough rule of thumb is:

"If it flowers before June - do not prune"

Basically if it flowers in spring and has small flowers, don't prune it. If it flowers in late spring/early summer and has large flowers you should prune it back by about a half, and it should flower later in the year when you can tidy it. If it flowers in mid- to late summer and autumn then it probably needs pruning hard in spring which means roughly back to about 12 to 18 inches.

It sounds as though yours is possibly a group 2 clematis in which case you can prune it back by about a half.

I hope this helps!