We talked about including some relevant topical advice on the website and our first tip comes from Tigger on clematis.
Before March comes storming in next week, time to prune your clematis. There really isn’t a mystery about what to do. If you know when the clematis flowers, you will know how to prune it.
If it flowers early (the Montanas etc), if you were to cut it back now, it won’t have time to grow and flower, so only prune delicately after flowering – these clematis are called Class 1.
It if flowers May/June (many of the big flowering types), it has a couple of months to grow, so find some good buds about waist high and chop. Class 2.
If it flowers later, it has all spring to grow, so cut it to two feet – the shoots will come out of the ground and you can trim it later.
Give them all a good feed – if you can use bone meal without the fox population going berserk, great – if not, try and drill holes near the roots and pour in slow release fertiliser. Add a good water and a good mulch – anything up to 6 inches round the stems. Make sure the new growth is not waving about in the wind – tie-in gently until well established.
De Beauvoir Gardeners 