Do not sweat the problem of pruning clematis – do what seems right following these guidelines if you must.

Easy Clematis Pruning Tips

• Prune all Clematis in Spring, early Spring for late flowering Clematis that flower on new wood and late Spring after flowering for Clematis that flower on old wood.
• The later in the year it flowers the harder you should prune it.
• Treat your Clematis as a flowering shrub.

Clematis Montana Group 1 Spring Flowering

A very vigorous Clematis with a short flowering season but may be scented in sunny positions.
Cuttings can be taken in late summer from semi ripe wood or propagate by layering.
As this plant is often used to cover old trees pruning will be based on a light trim after flowering (if you can reach they can grow 15 feet tall)
Similar but less vigorous Clematis species are C. vedriensis or C. chrysocoma

Clematis Rouge Cardinal Group 2 Summer Flowering

A stunning 4in wide flower of velvety crimson colour with a satin sheen to the petals surface.
Roots should be kept cool, shaded and uniformly moist. Blooms occur on the current year’s growth.
Prune back hard to approximately 6-9 inches from the ground to strong leaf buds in late winter to early spring before growth begins. As with all the late-flowering clematis this pruning is easy and makes these clematis useful for training up shrubs, trees and climbing roses.
Needs an adequate supply of nutrients during the growing season to support rapid growth.
Very free flowering habit although the plant’s structure is rather weak and needs supporting.

Clematis Viticella and late Hybrids Group 3
These Clematis flower even later in the summer so they should be pruned early in spring.
Prune to a couple of buds 30 inches above soil level.
If there is too much top growth they can be partially trimmed in Autumn leaving the final prune to spring

Seed Head

See also Tips on Growing Clematis