Hi, all. I've got 4 clematis between 2 - 4 years old which look great every year while blooming and then all seem to dry out and wither. They're planted on the south side of the house and receive sun all day.

They're all Group 2 clematis. If I've identified them correctly: Miss Bateman & Elsa Spaeth on one lamp post and Piilu (Little Duckling) & Gillian Blades on the other. They were all planted in different years (I wasn't aware that they wouldn't all bloom at the same time). I also wasn't aware that they should be pruned until recently. So they've never been pruned. Yep - newbie!

Two questions (photos attached - while in bloom and what they looked like today):
Is the problem clematis wilt or something else? (Are they getting too hot? Do they need more water? )
Should I cut them all back to the ground now due to their current condition? Or leave them alone or try to remove the dead bits and prune them in early spring?

The earlier blooming Miss Bateman/Elsa Spaeth are in worse condition than the Piilu/Gillian Blades.

What would you do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

P.S. Third question - what can I do about their bare legs? Is this due to lack of pruning?

Thank you!!

Hi,
It doesn't look like the dreaded 'wilt'--with that, typically, the whole plant suddenly wilts and then browns.
They look pretty normal, really, for the post-bloom stage.

Can't tell if they are getting too hot or need more water
They do best with cool roots--which is why 'they' say to shade the roots. Often accomplished by planting other lower growing things, preferably with shallow roots, around the base. This also does double duty of hiding the 'bare legs'.
Pruning can, eventually, create a fuller plant, and a full lush plant can actually shade its own roots.
As far as when--for sure next spring as well as now, if you want to.
Sometimes I will get rebloom in the fall, from type II, if I prune after the first bloom, depends on our weather. Mostly, I have other, more pressing tasks and tend to ignore the clematises...

https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

dirtdorphins said:Hi,
It doesn't look like the dreaded 'wilt'--with that, typically, the whole plant suddenly wilts and then browns.
They look pretty normal, really, for the post-bloom stage.

Can't tell if they are getting too hot or need more water
They do best with cool roots--which is why 'they' say to shade the roots. Often accomplished by planting other lower growing things, preferably with shallow roots, around the base. This also does double duty of hiding the 'bare legs'.
Pruning can, eventually, create a fuller plant, and a full lush plant can actually shade its own roots.
As far as when--for sure next spring as well as now, if you want to.
Sometimes I will get rebloom in the fall, from type II, if I prune after the first bloom, depends on our weather. Mostly, I have other, more pressing tasks and tend to ignore the clematises...

https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

Thank you!

I have the exact same problem. I planted some of Clematis vines this spring- both type2 and 3.

Viva Polonia (type 2) is in a suspended animation. Rouge cardinal (type 3) after resting for a couple of months has finally started growing. Don't know whether there is a problem with Viva Polonia.

suchoudh said:I have the exact same problem. I planted some of Clematis vines this spring- both type2 and 3.

Viva Polonia (type 2) is in a suspended animation. Rouge cardinal (type 3) after resting for a couple of months has finally started growing. Don't know whether there is a problem with Viva Polonia.

So how are your plants doing now? And what region are you in? Mine seemed to do better when it cooled off a bit and a couple of them rebloomed a bit.

I am in Zone-7a, Central NJ closer to coast. One of my clematis did better in cooler weather. However, Viva polonia remains in suspended animation. It could be a fungal attack, my soil does stay wet quite a lot.

dbragas said:

So how are your plants doing now? And what region are you in? Mine seemed to do better when it cooled off a bit and a couple of them rebloomed a bit.