How Much You Should Trim & Fertilize a Clematis

We have Paula in Canton, who asks, ‘Hey, I have two clematis plants that I usually wind around our lamppost and they bloom all their purple flowers. They bloom all summer and I was wondering should I usually cut them down? I read somewhere where you should leave them. It’s probably been seven or eight years since it was planted.’

Especially with those varieties, I cut them about halfway back in the fall just to help keep their shape, because they can get kind of leggy. If you leave them they will bloom on that older wood, but it is best to kind of give them some sort of a trim. So I wouldn’t go all the way down, but I usually leave about 8 to 12 inches from the bottom.

And then in the springtime you can see what has died back if anything, and then go from there. It sounds like you’re well established, sometimes first year plants, with the ornamental grasses it’s the same way, we kind of let them fully establish and trim them in the spring if we’re going to tighten them up a little bit. But after they’re fully established, then it’s less important when you do the trimming.

I think that is one that blooms on new and old wood. If you do it that way you and give it some good fertilizer in the spring. It’ll produce well for you. Hollytone is actually a pretty good all around fertilizer, but it doesn’t last as long. So with Hollytone you do have to apply it more than once, where the all season fertilizer is a one and done. Either one would work though.

Questions? Email us at [email protected] or call one of our two locations: Portage (330-499-0101) or Everhard (330-492-1243).