Pruning Types

Type 1:

Type 1 blooms only on last year's wood, meaning that the flowering shoots come off the vines that grew the summer before. Once it has finished blooming in mid-summer, prune it immediately, as hard as you want. Take off the wild shoots. Thin out the tangled vines. Create a good framework for the vine. It will then continue to grow the rest of the season and you should leave it alone to form a good crop of next year's flowering wood.

Type 2:

Type 2 blooms both on last year's wood and this year's wood. You can prune Type 2 Clematis in one of two ways. In the Spring, cut off only the obviously dead wood. The dead wood will not have any green sprouting off of it. The other option is to cut back, within a few feet of the ground, in the Spring. The Clematis will not have the first early bloom, but the fall bloom will be beautiful.

Type 3:

Type 3 blooms only on this year's wood. In early Spring, cut the Clematis back to the ground. This will not hurt them, since they bloom on new wood.

Planting

When planting your clematis, be sure to plant it two nodes below the soil. A node is where the leaves meet the stem. Adding Bumper Crop to your natural dirt will benefit the Clematis. Mulch about 2 inches around the base of the Clematis to ensure protection.

Shading the “Feet”

Clematis like cool feet and hot faces. This means that most Clematis prefer to be in full sun. However, they do not like it when their “feet” (roots) are in full sun. To shade the Clematis’ feet, be sure to give it a good mulch around the base. You can also shade the roots by planting a leafy plant in front of the Clematis, to create shade for the roots.

Feeding

Starting off your clematis with a small handful of Bone Meal each Spring is the best way to feed your Clematis. While your Clematis is coming up in the Spring, you can give it an application of all purpose (flower or vegetable) liquid fertilizer. Don’t get the leaves or flowers wet, just the soil around the roots. Once it has grown and before it flowers, you can give it a boost with some bloom booster. Do not feed it when buds have formed. All Fertilizing should stop mid-August. This gives the plant time to settle down for Winter.

Diseases

Clematis Wilt is when the branch of a Clematis suddenly turns brown and wilts away. This can happen at any time during the season. When you see this process starting, follow the wilting branch down and cut it 1 inch below the brown. Do not compost these branches. Bag them up and throw them away.

Dry soils can be difficult areas for plants, but the options listed below should tolerant drier conditions than most. Improving the quality of the soil by adding organic materials (such as compost, shredded leaves, etc) and mulching will help the soil retain more moisture. Please note that the plants listed below MUST BE WATERED regularly for a full growing season in order to develop a strong, thriving root system.