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  • Home
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  • Amanda's Garden Blog
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  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
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    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Hardening Off Plants
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
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    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
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    • Soil pH
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
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    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
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    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
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    • Fall Veggie Garden Clean-up
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Raspberries
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
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    • Cloches
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    • Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
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    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
    • Christmas Wreaths
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Azaleas, Deciduous
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Catalpas
    • Chinese Windmill Palm
    • Columbine
    • Chrysanthemums
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    • Dahlias
    • Dawn Redwood
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Doghobble, Leucothoe
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
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    • Evergreen Clematis
    • English Daisies
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    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
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    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
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    • Hardy Fuchsia
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Heavenly Bamboo
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Hydrangeas, Mophead & Lacecap
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Snowbell
    • Japanese Spirea
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Kale, ornamental
    • Katsura Trees
    • Kousa Dogwood
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
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    • Oregon Grape Holly
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Pruning Clematis 

Amanda's Garden Consulting Company
A brilliantly white Montana clematis should be pruned right after flowering.

When To Prune Clematis

how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Clematis don't need to be pruned to flower. If in doubt when to prune, just let them do their own thing.
Clematis montana 'Rubens',how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Allow deciduous clematis to scramble through trees. This pink beauty is Clematis montana 'Rubens'.
​Clematis don't need to be pruned to flower, but without it they become overloaded with old dead stems and bear fewer, smaller flowers. There’s also some that need taming like the overly rambunctious and fast grower, evergreen clematis, C. armandii. When to prune depends on whether they flower on new or old stems and if they flower in spring, summer or fall: Group A: early flowering, Group B: mid-season flowering and Group C: late flowering. 

Since pruning depends on the type of clematis, keep those name tags! If you don’t know what kind you have, note when they bloom. If you don’t know when to prune, leave the plant alone and it will flower on its own. Or experiment and cut half of the stems while they are dormant in winter. If the cut stems don't flower, then you know not to do that again! On the other hand, if they do, remember to cut all the stems next year. Do your own experiments for those unidentified clematis, but remember to record all the details. Feel free to allow deciduous clematis to scramble through trees. Don't do this with evergreen clematis as they are just too aggressive.
Jackmanii clematis,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Jackmanii clematis is a late flowering Type C so prune before the new shoots form in spring.
Most clematis can be cut back to 6 inches, especially if they are overgrown, however, only do that at its designated time of year and not after it has just grown its spring foliage. It takes lots of energy to produce all those leaves and once they are removed it has no more foliage to produce more food for itself.
​
 If you want flowers at different levels, vary the heights of each stem. Always cut just above a bud, not between buds to eliminate unsightly stubs. When pruning, remove all old non-productive stems, dead, diseased and broken stems. 
. 
Montana Clematis,pruning Group A,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
The Montana clematis belongs in pruning Group A and should be pruned back right after flowering.
Clematis Armandii,evergreen clematis,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Prune the vigorous evergreen Armandii clematis (Group A) right after flowering in spring.
Group A: Early Flowering Clematis
Give evergreen clematis (C. armandii) room to grow!

Group A: Early Flowering Clematis

These clematis flower in late winter to early spring on last year’s stems. Prune them immediately after they finish flowering. Don’t prune them any other time or you will be removing their flowers.  Cut vigorous, overgrown ones down to 6 inches. For weaker and less prolific clematis, cut their stems back by half.  Ex: Clematis alpina, C. armandii, C. cirrhosa, C.macropetala, and C. montana.
Nelly Moser clematis,pruning Group B,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Nelly Moser belongs to Group B so prune in late winter or early spring.
Passion flower clematis,Clematis florida sieboldiana,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
This gorgeous Passion Flower Clematis, Clematis florida sieboldiana can be pruned if necessary while dormant.
Princes Diana clematis,Clematis texensis,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Princess Diana clematis, C. texensis, flowers in summer and should be pruned in winter, Group C.

Group B: Mid-season Flowering Clematis

Includes large flowering hybrids that flower from early summer to late summer on previous year’s shoots. Bloom again later on current season’s growth. Prune previous year’s stems to different lengths to prolong flowering.  Not necessary to prune, but produce smaller erratic flowers if not clipped. Prune in late winter or early spring (February, March) when the buds swell. Remove dead, weak stems, shorten some of the remaining stems by 6 to 10 and others to 18 inches to healthy buds. Includes: Clematis   'Nelly Moser,' 'Miss Bateman,' 'Lasurstern,' 'Duchess of Edinburgh,' 'Mrs. Cholmondeley'
Clematis viticella 'Flore Pleno',Lady's Bower clematis,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Lady's Bower clematis, C. viticella 'Flore Pleno', needs old wood removed while the plant is dormant. Group 3.

Group C: Late Flowering Clematis

Flowers from midsummer to autumn. Prune before the new shoots form in spring to avoid removing current flower buds.  Prune to restrict plant’s height and to prevent a woody leafless base. Needs regular annual pruning to remove old wood. In February, March remove all dead and damaged stems to healthy buds 6 to 8 inches above ground level. Includes: Clematis ‘Ville de Lyon’, ‘Jackmanii’, C. texensis, C. flammula, C. tangutica C. viticella, C. terniflora. ​
sweet autumn clematis,Clematis terniflora,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Flowering in late autumn with fragrant flowers, the sweet autumn clematis (C. terniflora) is Group C, so prune in late winter, early spring.
Piilu clematis,how to prune clematis,clematis pruning,clematis pruning groups,types of clematis,The Garden Website.com,the garden website,Amanda’s Garden Consulting,Amanda Jarrett
Piilu clematis belongs to Group A and should be pruned immediately after flowering.

More on Pruning

  • Pruning Basics 101
  • Pruning Tools
  • Winter Pruning
  • Pruning Grapes
  • Pruning Clematis
  • Pruning Roses
  • Prune Your Own Garden Registration

    Pruning Clematis

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  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Amanda's Garden Blog
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Hardening Off Plants
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Soil pH
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Fall Veggie Garden Clean-up
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Raspberries
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Cloches
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Critters in the Garden
    • Black Sooty Mould
    • Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
    • Christmas Wreaths
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Azaleas, Deciduous
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Catalpas
    • Chinese Windmill Palm
    • Columbine
    • Chrysanthemums
    • Crocuses
    • Dahlias
    • Dawn Redwood
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Doghobble, Leucothoe
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Elderberries, Sambucus
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • English Daisies
    • Fawn Lilies, Erythroniums
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Hardy Fuchsia
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Heavenly Bamboo
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Hydrangeas, Mophead & Lacecap
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Snowbell
    • Japanese Spirea
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Kale, ornamental
    • Katsura Trees
    • Kousa Dogwood
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pearl Bush
    • Persian Ironwood
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Photinia, Fraser
    • Poinsettias
    • Primroses
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Saucer Magnolia
    • Shrubby Cinquefoil
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Solomon's Seal
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Variegated Wintercreeper
    • Viburnum, Pink Dawn Bodnant
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Winter Daphne
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tours & Such
    • NW Horticultural Society July Garden Tour 2024
    • Burnaby in Blooms
    • Burnaby's Century Gardens
    • South Delta Garden Club Tour 2023
    • Garden Club Events
  • Website Index
  • May Garden Chores 2025
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?
    • Gift Cards