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Pruning a clematis

#1 · 30th January 2022, 5:53 am

Hello!

My daughter lives in Iowa, US and has two clematis plants in her yard that grew quite big last year and had many flowers. When is the best time to prune the clematis? It is quite snowy right now!

Thank you,

MichelleD

#2 · 2nd February 2022, 8:32 am

Hello MichelleD,

Tricky question, I will refer to the UK plants, first of all there are numerous types of Clematis and these bloom at different times of the year, you can get Clematis type one, two and three, these require slightly different pruning, if my memory serves me correctly some bloom on new growth some flower on old wood, some on both.

I would not even think about cutting back or pruning whilst snow or frost is about, I live in Kent, the South East UK so here the climate is equivalent to USA Zone 9, I don't have a clue where Iowa is, or what zone it is in, one can prune Clematis right back to near ground level, leaving about a foot or so as long as there are buds on the stems, and or cut back to a new bud from the top of a stem, , personally I just remove old dead wood, if your not sure what's dead and what isn't just lightly scrape the stem, if under the surface shows a soft green, it's good and alive, if the stem is hard brown and brittle, it's dead, remove it.

I would suggest asking your daughter, if she knows the name of her Clematis, does she know what "Climate Zone" Iowa is in? I Know that some plants in the US have the same names as ours in the UK, so we may be able to assist once we have names and zone, all I can suggest at the moment is, as the plant is going great guns, just tidy it up a little and enjoy the flowers.

Bob

MichelleD has reacted to this post.

#3 · 3rd February 2022, 8:30 am

Hi Michelle,

I've actually got a Clematis pruning guide in the pipeline for this years gardening video content!

Just to add to the advice from Bob you have 3 groups of clematis and each needs a slightly different pruning approach.

Clematis groups and pruning:

Group 1 Clematis Pruning- Early flowering. Clematis armandii is an example. These flower on last years growth so prune these after flowering in spring. Light tidy up is all that's usually needed.

Group 2 Clematis Pruning - These usually flower twice in summer. Example Clematis Nelly Moser, Once around May and then again in July/Aug. They set buds in Autumn or spring so prune back any dead growth to a healthy bud (once they start to swell in Spring). Then prune these back after the first flush to the next set of healthy buds and then you usually get a second flush

Group 3 Clematis Pruning - Summer flowering clematis Clematis viticella & Clematis texensis as examples. These flower in late summer so prune these back to 20-30cm above the ground in late winter ie Feb in the UK.

I would never advise pruning when it's snowing or frosty this can lead to all sorts of damage to your clematis and plants.

You can find out more about pruning here in my guide.

Happy gardening!

Lee

MichelleD has reacted to this post.

#4 · 7th February 2022, 12:49 am

Thank you for your reply!! My daughter and her husband moved to Pella, Iowa (Zone 5) and discovered the house was known for its beautiful garden, featuring over 30 different plants and shrubs. This was very intimidating to a beginning gardener, so I sent over your video on beginning gardening. The previous owner left her with many tags of the plants they planted so I will find out which group her 2 different clematis belong in. It is too snowy and cold now, but it will begin to warm up a little in March. Thanks again for your help, and your help too Bob!!

Best to you,

Michelle