Montana Rubens Clematis

Hope it thrives, sure it will! Glad I could help out with this Steve!

Oh it should do. It's on the middle trellis so it's got the whole fence left & right to grow on.

It will cover the top of your fence with blooms in the spring in years to come! lovely!

Thats good then. When it finishing flowering this summer, do i cut of the buds or just leave it all?

Just leave it all. It will be fine...does it have buds on, I can't see from this picture. it should flower April-May time.

Not at the mo and can't really see it flowering this year. But just in case it did was wondering what to do. Is this the same case for all clematis's?

No Steve, basically there are three groups. Group 1 (they flower pre-june - no need to prune) have to be pruned immediately after flowering as they flower on old ripened wood, but only prune if you have to because they have outgrown their space, as you will lose a lot of flowers the next year. Group 2 (Large flowered and early flowering - like Josephine for example) lightly prune if you want/need to - back to a good growing bud in the late winter when they start growing - and group 3 (viticellas and herbaceous clems) can be cut right down to the ground in late winter as they will regrow from the ground every year. It's not complicated really although some books make it seem as if it is. You don't 'have' to prune any clematis and you may not need to, but the large flowered ones are pruned so as to keep the flowers in view, otherwise the plant will grow really tall and all the flowers will be at the top. I don't prune mine much because they don't grow as vigourously up here. Sometimes I prune them in the autumn (the group 3s that is) so I don't have to look at the old dead stuff over the winter. It works fine for me. If you google 'prune clematis' you will surely find a good guide to pruning, or just get a book out of the library. Every clem is sold with it's group number on the label as a guide. Montana is group 1, Josephine is group 2 and I can't recall what your others are off the top of my head! The group 2 ones are the ones with the biggest flowers, although some group 3s also have lovely big flowers, but not as big as say, Josephine. Hope this helps!

Thanks for that Karen. The only other clematis I have thats flowered so far is The president which has got some big flowers. Also got some buds appearing on Gladys Picard and Hagley Hybrid. All the others won't be flowering this year I don't think.

Gladys Picard is a beauty! She is group 2, so only needs a light prune. Hagley Hybrid is one of the lovely large flowered but group 3 clematis, so it can be hard pruned. Most of the group 3's are smaller flowered, like the viticellas and the integrifolias, but a few, like Hagley Hybrid are large flowered. It is most often the group 2 clematis that suffer with wilt, where suddenly the whole plant just dies, overnight with buds and everything just collapsing. They say that because of all the over hybridising, the plants have become susceptible to this fungal infection. I have noticed though, that wilting is more often caused by wind damage - the stems are so brittle so need tying in regularly - and also by lack of water and slug/snail damage on the lower parts of the stems. So, do keep them well watered Steve and keep tying them in so the wind doesn't snap the stems. If you do get a case of sudden death and it's not slugs, snails, wind or drought; cut the dead parts down to the ground level and if they are planted deep they will most likely come back from new shoots under the ground. Hopefully you will have none of these problems...but best to be prepared....!

Ah, i've just removed the 4 bamboo sticks that was supporting the rubens as thought as its well attached to trellis it wouldn't go anywhere. Should I put them back?

N/o, they should be removed when you plant the plant and replaced with ties or string to keep the plant safe on it's new support. You did the right thing removing them.

Steve, I've never heard of a Montana being attacked by wilt, so don't worry. It is really the group 2s you need to watch. You did the right thing removing the plant from it's canes. Montanas are very strong growers. I'm sure the plant will thrive....:))

~Phewwww