How to Prune Clematis – just follow these easy steps

Clematis is a wonderful plant. It comes in an array of colours and forms. It’s brilliant in containers, and borders or scrambling over sheds and fences. I also think it’s a lovely companion plant, particularly with roses. Clematis is pretty low maintenance, though some do need pruning at this time of year. Indeed, I did mine yesterday. So I thought I’d cover how to prune clematis in today’s blog.

Why Do They Need Pruning?

If you don’t prune some clematis they can end up being a woody jumble of stems, with all of the lovely flowers happening above eye level! I know this as when I first grew clematis I didn’t prune the one I had, and that’s exactly how it ended up. This was so frustrating.

In fact, it put me off clematis for quite a few years. However, my love affair with clematis is now fully resumed, helped by the fact that I now have a much better handle on how to look after them. I still have some distasters with them – as my blog charting the problems and possibilities with clematis will testify! But I also have some triumphs.

The Pruning Groups

Clematis fall into three pruning groups. But let me say here and now, if you are at all unsure which group your clematis fits into, simply google your clematis’ name with the word group. You will find out pretty fast.

Of course, if you are not sure what your clematis is called, (we’ve all got plants like that) hopefully the way I describe how the different clematis groups grow, will help you identify what group yours is in.

How to Prune Clematis in Group 1

Group 1 clematis are the early flowering types, their flowering happens on stems produced in the previous season. You don’t have to regularly prune the clematis in this group. This makes sense if you think about it as if flowers are produced on old stems you aren’t going to get the problem I’ve suffered in the past of a heap of woody stems and not much else.

If you are going to tidy them up with a prune, do so in mid to late Spring, just after flowering. You might do this if you have dead or winter damaged bits. Simply cut back to a pair of healthy buds.

You may also want to prune fast growing members of this group like Clematis Montana, if they’re running riot over your shed or fence! In which case I’d take some shears to them – after flowering of course!

How to Prune Clematis in Group 2

These are the large flowering clematis like the beautifully stripey Nelly Moser and handsome purple variety The President. They flower in May to June on short shoots developing from the last year’s growth. Some flower again in late summer on new growth.

You want to prune these beauties twice – in February and then later after the first flush of flowers in early Summer.

In February, prune from the top down – stem by stem. Don’t go mad or you’ll affect the amount of flowers you get! Simply remove the dead or weak bits. You want to trim back until you reach a pair of healthy buds. That’s it for February.

How to prune clematis in group 2 after flowering? To encourage a second wave of flowers you can prune this group a second time in the season after flowering. Simply cut back some of the stems to the large buds or strong side shoots which are immediately below the blooms.

How to Prune Clematis in Group 3

Clematis in this group flower on new growth made that season. So you can understand why this group in particular needs regular, firm pruning. If you allow the old growth to grow up and up, year after year, you end up with nothing at eye-level that is going to produce a flower, and all the flowers happening on the new growth that’s well over your head!

This group produces new growth from the base each year. So can be cut back hard. You prune them in late Winter or early Spring typically February or March. I do mine in February as by then I’m ‘champing at the bit’ for gardening jobs to do!

With group 3 clematis you need to be bold. Even if they’ve got lovely juicy looking growth at the top, you need to cut back to a good pair of viable healthy buds about 6 inches – 18 inches above soil level.

I know this sounds extreme, I remember the first time I did this I had my heart in my mouth as all those lovely healthy looking buds at the top came off. But it does work, trust me!

How to Prune Clematis in Group 3 – Some Extra Tips

All of my clematis are in group 3. That’s because I like to keep things simple for myself by having only one clematis pruning regime to remember! So let me share an extra couple of tips when it comes to pruning clematis in this group.

Start at The Top

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If your clematis has grown well the previous year, you will have a fair bit of clematis to sort out, and it may be tricky to see where the best pair of buds to cut back to are. Indeed it will be quite a tangle and look quite overwhelming. For instance, take a look my Clematis Bernadine which I have planted in a pot, with the spreading rock rose Helianthemum Lawrenson’s Pink. The picture on the right shows how lovely it was last Summer. But on the left you can see how it looked yesterday before I pruned it! What a nest!

With group 3 pruning, it’s not just the tangle that you need to deal with, it’s also hard to be brave. Especially when you see lots of seemingly strong growth on the clematis and you remember how wonderful it was in the previous Summer. You’re scared you can’t possibly have that level of beauty again if you cut it all back.

So I give myself a chance to get my nerve. I start at the top, taking stems back to what I think is a decent pair of buds that are reasonably low down. I get the whole plant to that point and then I give it another look over. Have I gone low enough? Is there a pair of fat juicy buds a bit lower down? It’s much easier to be properly strict once all that mass of seeminly promising growth is out of the way.

Don’t be a Wimp!

It really pays to be disciplined. I know this first hand as only yesterday when pruning one of mine, I found a stem which I’d left a bit too long last year. It probably looked lovely and lush with buds when I was pruning last February and I felt I’d been firm enough.

Sadly I hadn’t! This year, that length of stem is quite woody. It hasn’t got any buds on this woody bit which I can cut back to. They’re all much higher up. Fortunately for me, this woody stem is surrounded by others which I wasn’t such a wimp with last year. So they will produce flowers lower down and hide this woody bit. But it was a salutory lesson to me. Clematis in group 3 need taking back – don’t be afraid to cut back to a pair of healthy buds that are just 6 inches up from the base.

Common Sense

Obviously, if you are going to have a group 3 clematis scamble over something like a pergola, you can decide not to prune it. As pruning will restrict the height it reaches. But the flowers will be on the top.

Scissors

I know everyone says use a sharp pair of secateurs for pruning, but mine are never sharp enough. So I use sharp kitchen scissors. They work perfectly well, indeed I think they work better, as secateurs can crush or squish fibrous clematis stems. Scissors are also so much easier to handle. And when you have a tangle of clematis before you to sort out, you want to make things easier for yourself.

Pruning a New Clematis

This is pretty much all you need to know in terms of how to prune a clematis, except if your clematis is new.

If left unpruned, a young clematis may simply produce one long stem, with the flowers just on the top. I think we’ve all had one of those in the past!

So if, when you buy a clematis it hasn’t got three or four healthy stems growing from the base, the experts recommend a hard cut back. Do this the first Spring after planting (Feb or March). Prune to just above a strong pair of leaf buds – about 1ft above soil level. You do this no matter what pruning group your clematis is in.

Thinking about it this makes a lot of sense. It will encourage your young clematis to form a strong root system. It will reduce the amount of leaves that young root system needs to keep alive while it establishes. Lastly, this initial prune will encourage new shoots to form below soil level. And the more stems you have, the more flowers – hurrah!

Clematis Inspiration

Well that’s it! If reading about pruning has put you off (I really hope it hasn’t as I don’t think it’s that tricky) then let me end with a small gallery of lovely clematis. Which proves, there really is a clematis out there for everyone – enjoy!

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