Clematis - First Year Prune

BennyC · 21 Mar 2020 at 12:48

Morning All,

I may have omitted to complete the first year prune on 3 Clematis that I planted last spring/summer.

They are just starting to shoot, show green leaves and continue to grow.

Is it too late to complete this now or should I still go ahead and cut them back?

Thanks.

niko · 21 Mar 2020 at 13:43

Depending on planting group. Are they 1, 2 or 3?

BennyC · 22 Mar 2020 at 10:52

niko said:
Depending on planting group. Are they 1, 2 or 3?

Two are group 2, one is group 3.

I'm conscious I might have missed the ideal window, so am wondering if doing it late will cause any harm?

niko · 22 Mar 2020 at 22:21

They would be ok to prune now mate, just less growth this year but better flowering than unpruned

BennyC · 23 Mar 2020 at 09:30

niko said:
They would be ok to prune now mate, just less growth this year but better flowering than unpruned

Thanks, I removed anything above 40-60 cm which wasn't showing signs of new life but have these two which I've left for now but I'll remove these too?

One of the left is already showing buds.

beachBOYken · 23 Mar 2020 at 09:44

BennyC said:
Thanks, I removed anything above 40-60 cm which wasn't showing signs of new life but have these two which I've left for now but I'll remove these too?

One of the left is already showing buds.

I always use this site for pruning advice, we have an established Clematis in a large pot, trailing up a fence. We have pretty much left it alone this year, the previous year we cut it right back but I think that's only necessary on younger/newly planted Clematis. This year we just lightly pruned it and removed any dead branches and it looks nice and healthy with lots of buds.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/clematis/growing-guide

BennyC · 23 Mar 2020 at 10:42

beachBOYken said:
I always use this site for pruning advice, we have an established Clematis in a large pot, trailing up a fence. We have pretty much left it alone this year, the previous year we cut it right back but I think that's only necessary on younger/newly planted Clematis. This year we just lightly pruned it and removed any dead branches and it looks nice and healthy with lots of buds.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/clematis/growing-guide

Thanks, I'm familiar with that site but my actual question is not how to prune but rather, is doing it late detrimental?

beachBOYken · 23 Mar 2020 at 10:47

BennyC said:
Thanks, I'm familiar with that site but my actual question is not how to prune but rather, is doing it late detrimental?

I think it shouldn't matter that much but as said, may just effect growth/flowering for the year ahead.

Actually just looking at ours and we did cut it back a bit, it had reached the top of the fence last Summer, and all the flowers were at the top, once Winter set in and it started to die back and go all crispy we cut that all out and its about half way up our fence now looking nice and healthy.

BennyC · 23 Mar 2020 at 14:22

beachBOYken said:
I think it shouldn't matter that much but as said, may just effect growth/flowering for the year ahead.

Actually just looking at ours and we did cut it back a bit, it had reached the top of the fence last Summer, and all the flowers were at the top, once Winter set in and it started to die back and go all crispy we cut that all out and its about half way up our fence now looking nice and healthy.

Thanks, I'll trim it back and if it forgoes any flowering this year, so be it!