We recently bought a Clematis cardinal wyszinski that we hoped would grow to fill a 4x4 foot grid. At the moment it just likes growing straight up in the air, though - way past up the end of the grid, it's getting a bit unwieldy. Can we just bend it back down and try to get it to grow back down and around? How can we shape the plant's growth?

Your Clematis is heading for the sun. You won't convince it to stay in a shady spot.

Oh! It gets sun down there, just not in the mornings (when the photo was taken).

The Clematis is saying not enough. Wind it into the grid and see if it blooms down there. If it doesn't, not enough sun.

Many clematis take several years to mature and fill out. If you want a clematis that fills in right away get something like Trikatrei or Dutchess of Albany.

If you guide vines laterally, then let them go up, a new stem should sprout from every lateral node, yielding many more stems to go upward.

Some Clematis stay alive above ground over winter and some re-grow from the roots each spring. Either way, it will be a few years until the crown and roots have established significantly.

For something extremely fast-growing this year, you could do sweet potato vines. You can guide them in any direction and they would definitely climb up this support.

There are various leaf shapes and colors out there.
https://garden.org/plants/sear...