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| What am i not getting here?i have a potted B.C. that is a brown mass now. if it blooms on new wood, don't i cut back all that brown to allow for new wood? but this says to do that if you want to keep her shorter. I do not; i want her to go FAR!! what do I do? and thank you:
"Clematis �Betty Corning� blooms on new growth so pruning is best done in winter while the vine is dormant. If you wish to reduce its overall size, cut it back severely in about March just above a healthy pair of buds, about 18 inches above the ground.
p.s. Happy Spring everyone :-)
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Wait until you see if there are any new buds swelling in the brown vines before you prune. My clematis die way back to within a few inches of the ground or to the ground. In other zones there will be less die back so the vine can be pruned higher. Be aware that you will not get blooms on the old wood which might make a difference in how high you want the vine to be after pruning. My clematis are already budding. |
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| Mindy - 'Betty Corning' is a group 3 clematis, which means it should be pruned hard above the first set of viable buds; it blooms on new wood so if you don't prune it, you won't get flowers... I saw that wierd statement you quoted on Great Plant Picks and I am not sure what they are getting at. The plant will still grow to its full size (by its third year in the ground, probably) each season if you prune it - it is a vigorous plant - and by pruning it you will get flowers all along the length of each vine. Anyway, that is what I would do; I don't have this particular clematis so hopefully someone who does have it will chime in. There is also a forum here on GardenWeb that is devoted to clematis, should you not get the info you need from folks in this one... Holly |
Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis Forum
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| I think what they may be getting at is that you don't need to cut group 3 down as hard as is routinely done. They do bloom on new wood, but new wood grows from anywhere along the vine. If you don't cut it low to the ground, the new wood will be higher up. That may be where you want it. Many people say 'ah, but then you get bare stems at the base...' Sometimes that doesn't matter, or you can cut a few stems lower to provide cover at the base, while leaving most of the new growth higher up. I regularly do not cut back group 3 hard. I just selectively trim some lower stems and leave a lot of the rest fairly long. If there are more/longer stems, there are more places for new growth to rise, making more places for flowers to emerge. More expert clematis growers pooh-pooh my approach but it works for me and I'll keep doing it. I planted a Betty Corning last year so I don't have any relevant experience with that one yet. I know it's supposed to be very vigorous and long-blooming. A few pictures of group 3s not hard pruned: Jackmani Superba that had never been cut back hard for seven years: The clematis on the chainlink fence on the side is also a Jackmani Superba that gets cut back to the top of the fence (4') each year. I'm not sure what the clematises on the copper fence are - they were supposed to be Huldine, but clearly aren't! They are only two years old in that picture (2010) so are still a bit skimpy. I prefer not to have to do a lot of pruning so most of my clematises are group 2. Last summer we replaced the New Dawn rose swag with clematises. They are a mix of group 2 and 3 but I intend to treat all of them as light/no prune. It'll be a couple of years before I can see if that will work well or not. My experience to date has certainly led me to believe that one does not have to rigidly adhere to the pruning 'rules' to get a showy display and happy vines. |
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| Interesting thoughts, woodyoak. I have all Group 3 clematis or bush clematis so I don't have to remember which ones need to be pruned way back and which don't. Maybe I will experiment this year and not hard prune some of them to see what happens; still, when the plant is just establishing, I think a hard prune may help it to develop its root system - course, I could be wrong about this. :-) Holly |
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| I have been growing Betty Corning for over 10 years now, on a trellis next to a fence, in part shade. I regularly prune mine back to about one foot from the ground in late March/early April. It is very vigorous and grows right up the trellis again and flowers profusely for a long time. Actually it grows above the trellis and into the branches of a small cornus mas tree. Without this regular pruning I think I would just have a somewhat tangled mess of branches on this clematis. |
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- Posted by gottagarden z5 western NY (My Page) on Sat, Apr 16, 11 at 7:04
| I've had one on an arbor for years. I cut it back to 1 foot high every spring and it grows 8 feet every season. |
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- Posted by buyorsell888 Zone 8 Portland OR (My Page) on Sat, Apr 16, 11 at 11:28
| Betty Corning is a monster. I cut her to six inches every winter and she grows to the top of a nine foot trellis and flops half way back down. She is less than five years old too. She also sends fairly stiff vines out in all directions. There is no way to keep her shorter unless you are going to keep pruning her all season long. She is genetically predisposed to be a big grower though not as big as sweet autumn clematis or any of the montanas. Pruning is a huge issue for many with Clematis. Despite the different pruning groups please keep in mind that Clematis don't read, they don't know what pruning group some man stuck them in and you can't kill them by pruning. In general they respond very well to pruning. They grow more vines up from the crown and they are bushier with more flowers. If you have yours trained up into a tree, you may not want it bushy at the ground or by the trunk so you cut it back to the top of the trunk or not at all. Clematis pruned "wrong" will still bloom. They just might bloom later or way up at the top of the trellis or whatever rather than at eye level. Un-pruned Clematis can become big tangled messes with dead or dead looking stems and few flowers. There is not a Clematis alive that can't be rejuvenated by a hard pruning. Even type I's the so called "no pruning" group. I routinely hard prune my type I atragenes. I hard prune my type II's as well. It is much easier than picking through. Sometimes I just crunch out all the dead stuff and don't really prune much. It depends. You do not have to pick through the vines looking for buds though you can if you want too. A good whacking at six to twelve inches does wonders for a long scraggly Clemmie with few blooms. Sometimes they might sit for a few months after a hard pruning and sometimes they just explode with new growth. Fertilizer and water really help them explode. |
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- Posted by arbo_retum z5 WinchstrMA (My Page) on Mon, Apr 18, 11 at 0:51
| buyorsell, you had me at 'whack'. I knew you were the one for me. :-)) she said, grabbing those snippies (for which she has so accurately gained the moniker, Miss Snippy) and heading out to do them ALL. THANK YOU!! best, mindy www.cottonarboretum.com/ |
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