Find Your Ask the Expert: about Clematis
I have a clematis that is 2 or 3 years old, it bloomed beautifully this past month. Now that it is done, do I cut off the spent bloom and will it re-bloom again?
Thanks, Mary
Make My Clematis Rebloom.
May 20, 2008 by
Mary,
Pruning and re-blooming all depend on the clematis variety in which you have. Clematis that blooms off of old growth needs to be pruned right after they bloom. Usually those are clematis that are called Montana “something”. These clematis only bloom in May and June and will not bloom again until next year.
Another group of clematis bloom off the ripened stems from last year and only need the old dead stems cut off. These clematis are multiple month bloomers and really don’t need de-heading to encourage the re-blooming process.
A third group bloom off of new growth and need to be trimmed in February and March as the new buds begin to show. These clematis are also multiple month bloomers and don’t really require any extra effort to bloom again.
For a detailed break down of the pruning and blooming cycle of clematis, you can read the information that Donahue’s Clematis has on it’s website. Donahue’s Clematis is the top clematis propagator in the nation. They have been supplying nurseries and landscapers for years with quality clematis and have an extensive amount of information about them.
thank you so much for the information. i am plannig to plant clematis infront of a trellis and i had no idea there were so many different varieties to choose from. i definitely don’t want to do a lot of deadheading, so i’ll have to look into it.
I just brought house how do I tell which variety I have? Cause they are ending.
Hi Ozawa,
Can you send me a photo to jamie.woods@flowershopnetwork.com? This will help me better determine what variety you have.
Sometimes you can trick your Clematis to rebloom by deadheading the spent blossoms as soon as they are dropping their petals, and then feeding the plant Bloom Booster plant food that has a high middle number, which is phosphorus. Happy gardening.
Great tips, many thanks for sharing. This information is useful for us. keep it up!! higherpositins.com