How to prune Clematis

Clematis is one of the most widely grown climbers throughout the UK. They are grown up fences and trellises, up and over pergolas and are even happy to climb through trees. And, if you pick the appropriate varieties you can have colour in all but the most severe weather months of the year.

Although they are not difficult to nurture, there is a right time and a wrong time to prune depending on the variety. Clematis is usually sold complete with all the pruning instructions but it is so easy to lose this information. However, even if you do not know the type you have in your garden, the flowering time of year will guide you to the correct method of pruning.

Clematis is pruned primarily to increase the number of flowers and the position of the blooms, at the height where they can be seen at their best. Clematis would continue to grow quite happily even if they were never pruned but they would tend to flower right at the top of the plant, some so high as to be out of sight. The variety ‘Montana’, for instance, can grow up to 30 feet. In a wild part of the garden, this clematis looks stunning if allowed to climb through a high tree especially when the vines reach the top and then start to trail down, covered in pink or white flowers.

There are three main types of clematis and here we cover the different pruning methods and time of year it is best carried out.

Group 1

These are the early showstoppers flowering mainly in April and May but some even bloom earlier. The flowers of these types of clematis produce their flowers on stems that have grown throughout the previous year. They include varieties such as C. montana, C. alpina, C. macropetala, C. chrysocoma and C. armandii. Prune these shortly after flowering to give the new growth plenty of time to develop and produce their tiny buds which form flowers in the following year. You only need to prune them to the shape you require or to remove any dead or broken stems. If you have plenty of space you could allow these to grow as they like but eventually you will find that the flowers appear higher up the plant than if they had been pruned.

Group 2

Varieties such as ‘Nelly Moser’, ‘Henryi’ and ‘Mrs. Cholmondeley’, flower in early summer, a little later than group 1. Many have large flamboyant blooms, some 6 inches in diameter. These are produced, as Group 1, on the previous year’s growth but prune them in February or March. Cut the stems just above a healthy bud anywhere up to 24 inches from the base. The length of the stem is not so important as much as the health and vitality of the bud. If you are lucky you can encourage the clematis to bloom once more later in the year by pruning again after the main flowering. Cut the stems to about 18 inches from the base.

Group 3

This group contains the easiest clematis to prune’ for example ‘Harlow Carr’, ‘Kiri te Kanawa’, and ‘Comtesse de Bouchard’. They flower from about June through to the autumn on the current year’s growth.  All that is needed is to cut down the stems in February or March to about 24 – 36 inches from the base.

Published June 16th, 2015 by Jordan. Article ref 3806

Tags: clematis

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