Great article, Chris.

It tells me everything I need to know about pruning these lovely vines. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

Great information! What would be your best recommendation for support for clematis that grow against columns? I have five, four of them are old, and one is new last year. I have wrapped bird netting around the posts and tried to encourage them to grow around them in a spiral (only moderately successful), and we have just tied them up as they grow (looks kind of messy to me...). The get really big, sometimes reaching the second story balcony. I'd love any suggestions.

Great article Chris!

Thank you! Brenda, I think I'd try to find some type of wire support to put around the columns. Chicken wire wouldn't look very pretty, but I think I've seen wrap around supports in some catalogs that would work. I'm surprised the weight of the vines hasn't pulled the bird netting down. Sounds pretty though!

Thank you for a wonderful article. My very first clematis purchase was two years ago and now I have three. My fear has been that I would forget what type of clematis I have and not prune them at the right time.

This was easy to read and understand, and the pictures are so beautiful now I want to find more places to grow this lovely plant.

Very clear and informative article. It is so true that it is hard to cut back the vine but you give us all confidence! Because I live in a southern climate, I even cut my type 3 to the ground again in July. It sometimes feels like a leap of faith.

My fear of pruning them wrong was what kept me from enjoying these beautiful plants a lot sooner. Once I learned how easy they are to care for, I went crazy buying them too.

Anna, do your zone 3 clematis rebloom again then?

Yes! It amazes me each time!

That's wonderful!

I love clematis and I have several. I have even trained them to cover a rock in my front yard garden bed. Thank you for making the pruning process seem less confusing and for letting us northern gardeners know that even if they die back to the ground almost every year, it won't hurt most any cultivar!

Hi Donna, and welcome to ATP!

They are an addicting plant, aren't they? Most of mine died back to the ground this past winter, and as of now, I think I only lost one. Who knows, that one may still come up. I've already had a clematis not come up for an entire year, then the following year it returned and was beautiful. Guess it just decided to spend a year making more roots.

My clematis tag said to prune it by method C. I still don't know which of your groups it belongs to.

If they're going by A, B, C, it's probably in group 3. What's the name of your clematis?

Method C is most likely group 3.

Jackmanii. Hope I spelled it right. Nursery folks say it is the best one for our climate.

Yes, that's a Group 3.

Thanks.

I'm so glad this was featured again. I have starred it this time so I can easily find it again!

Good idea - the star feature is wonderful and I have a bunch starred myself!

Great article!!! I have about 15 clematises now. All are two years or younger. I just can't get enough of them. Plus I'm out of space so growing vertical is my last option for adding plants.