By Tosh
Essex,
United Kingdom 
Its been 10 months since my last visit....................feel a bit cheeky asking for help now but I'm stumped! Clematis alpina Constance has grown like Topsy but has not a single flower bud. Was told to cut it down to knee height in the late autumn by the chap who sold it to me. Lost my nerve and cut it at 5 foot. My Miss Bateman however has flowered but not very well. Being eaten by something......snails I think, and is a lot paler than last year. Last year was its first and I'm sure there was more pink in it but this year is a snowy white - even the little fronds in the centre are very very pale. Was told to feed in the spring, which I did, but did I give it the right stuff? Just gave it some generic plant foody stuff? Another clematis that I bought in the market without a name on it has also failed to flower. As its flowers were similar in shape to the Miss Batemen I didn't cut it back but just fed it. No flowers, no buds - lots and lots of leaf growth. This one's in a pot. What am I doing wrong chaps?
17 Jun, 2010
Answers
Your alpina should not have been pruned last year - you've cut off all this year's flowers, unfortunately. Any pruning you need to do on this one should be done after its flowered, to allow it time to regenerate for next year.
Are you growing Miss Bateman in a sunny spot? Because that can bleach the flowers back to pure white and unless you're growing it in a container, feeding isn't an issue really.
As for the nameless clematis you've bought, you do need to know which one it is in order to determine when, or if, it needs pruning.
17 Jun, 2010
Thank you Dido - I'll be checking out the website. Bamboo - I pruned the alpina after it flowered last year - did I leave it too late by pruning in the autumn? Should I have done it as soon as the last flowers were gone? And as it hasn't flowered, when should I prune this year? And how brave should I be? The Miss Bateman is in part sun/shade but does get full sun for a couple of hours each day so maybe that's the problem.
17 Jun, 2010
Your alpina should be pruned, as I said above, immediately after flowering, so that would make, most years, pruning in what, May? So a bit late for this year, so if you need to take some off, as little as possible.
17 Jun, 2010
Thanks Bamboo - what would I do without you guys!!
17 Jun, 2010
Previous question
Hi Tosh welcome back, If you go to www.gardenaction.co.uk/plantfinder/clematis there is a step by step guide on the 3 groups of clematis, diagrams on where to prune and a list of the veriaties each group belong to. hope this helps
17 Jun, 2010