Hi, I bought a clematis montana for my balcony back in the end of March, and it's growning like crazy - a good thing, it must be happy! It was about 2 feet high when I bought it, nice and bushy, with lots of flower buds. It has now finished blooming, I've dead-headed it, and the longest vines reach about 4 and a half feet up the trellis. My question is when should I prune it back? The books I've looked up seem to have conflicting advice. Should I prune it now, so that it will have time to grow again this summer, and so I'll have lots of second year growth next year for lots more flowers? Or should I wait till the end of the summer? Also, how much & what should I prune back? Also, a house down the street has a much larger clematis, which seems to be blooming for much longer. My flowers came out pretty much all at the same time, and lasted about 2 weeks, theirs seems to be blooming for a month or more. Is that simply because theirs is bigger? Thanks for any advice! PS: For anyone who happened to read my tomato query a few weeks back - they're doing great! There are even 2 tiny green tomatoes - I'm very excited!!! Can you tell I'm new to all this!!
Hi Marjan, Generally the Montanas aren't pruned except to clean them up. They are in pruning Group 1 or Group A, depending on who is giving them either a letter or a number. http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/clematis/clemindx.htm You can prune this group if you want to, but do it right after bloom. From this site: http://www.rainyside.com/ornamentals/clematis_care.html "Group A or Group 1 This group is the early-flowering species that produces flowers on the previous year's growth. Prune within a month after it is done blooming. This allows the vine to make new growth that produces next year's flowers. Prune out damaged or dead wood, or cut back overgrown shoots to keep it in bounds of the space allotted for it." The montanas will grow to 30', so I hope you have a very large trellis. It can take a Clematis 2 to 3 years to establish thier root systems, so give yours time and it will get larger and bloom longer. Glad to hear your tomatoes are doing well! Newt
