I have a Duchess of Albany clematis that I prune down 6 to 8 inches high in the spring. It grows so thick that it is hard to control. My question is can I thin it by removing some of the vines? The vines get so thick that I have to tie them to the arbor or the wind will start tearing parts of it down. You can see that the vine is, from the side, already 5 feet deep so many of the vines are only supported by other vines. How else can I fix this?
Hi 2ofus,..i have two Clematis,..a Dorothy Walton and a Clematis Freckles,..both i prune,..in Spring,..despite this the growth by mid summer shows as in your case,..vines supported by others and getting more dense with vines ready to be caught in the wind,..so i start another pruning session but leaving the main vines intact,..just cutting the outer and side growth but keeping in mind i want blooms,..there is a lot of info on Clematis and Pruning so i found a link which might help,..its a long page. Clematis: pruning /RHS Gardening
Thank you, Philip, that's the information I needed. I'll trim some of the vines that aren't attached to the trellis now and try to keep it under control. I love planting 2 vines on each trellis but I seem to plant an exuberant clematis with slower, tamer ones each time. Somewhere in that mass of 'Princess of Albany' is a 'Jackamanii'. It is a beautiful combination but I'm afraid the princess is going to overpower jack.
2ofus: I love love love your combination of 2 clems!! Beautiful. I do see what you mean about the Princess though. The look is great, the Jackmanii looks like highlights in the pink cloud of the Princess, but you don't want the Jackmanii to be totally overwhelmed. Here is another idea: what if you root pruned the Princess in the spring? Just on one side, to slow it down. Frankly though I would be afraid to take this advice unless I first checked it out with a nurseryman.
2ofus,..that is a beautiful sight,..awesome best describes it as its a stunning combination Cayuga Morning has a great idea to reduce the growth of one Clematis by a spring pruning,..the pruned Clematis would eventually catch up and you would have the effect you have in your picture,..but before this there may be a wave of blooms below the Clematis which isn't pruned before the catch up,..in theory this should work,..however the pruning would be tedious,..i love ideas like this
