It’s not rare to see some beautiful clematis flowers bloom even on warm fall days, but if we don’t prune these wonderful plants during early winter the lower part of the plant can easily lose its leaves.

Unfortunately often we don’t even know what we really bought, how many times it flowers in a year – and the tag that comes with the plant is not always helpful either.

It is worth doing a bit of research about the specific type at hand – so that we can chose the right way of pruning.

The plants that are in flower all summer and the ones that bloom twice a year have to be pruned at different heights, e.g.

The first pruning should happen at the beginning of summer, followed by another one at the end of it. The plant needs to be cut at the height of about a meter. Clematis hybrids should be cared for in the same way – like the Clematis asao, this beautiful plant that at the beginning of the summer sports beautiful, large flowers while at the end of the season these are followed by smaller flowers.

Most Clematises bloom only once a year. These only have to be pruned once a year, at the height of 20-50 cm. These types include the Clematis integrifolia, Clematis viticella and the Clematis hearacleifolia.

Clematises that do bloom in the spring, like the Clematis alpine or Clematis montana should be pruned only at the end of May or at the beginning of June.

When you buy your plant make sure to ask about its flowering time(s) and get instructions for its care, since the time of the pruning heavily influences the success of next year’s blooming.