Hi Ginny
I would cut-em and not look back. The more you prune the more stems in the future you will have. I have 25 or more any where from 2 years to 10 plus years and I am the queen of pruning. I have been know to cut some down to ground level on purpose, and they do nothing but come up with more and more new shoots. I have a polish spirt that is probably 3 or 4 years old and it has been in a pot up until I planted it late October last year.It had done great in its pot and was 10 feet or more tall last year and was covered in blooms. It had about 6 vines on it when I transplanted it last year and I cut those down to about 6" and then I buryed most of those when I planted it deeper during transplanting. Looked at it over the weekend and I has 10 or more new 2" tall dark green health stems coming from the ground now.. It should be gorgeous this year. I have a group #2 some times I will cut 1/2 of it's stems down to the ground just to make it put out more stems and leave the other 1/2. I have a Ramona that is probably 10 years old and she is a group 2 and she has 20 or more vines on her right now. I have an Asao which is group 2 and she always puts out new shoots from the ground wether I prune her of not. I Always try to prune some of the vines and I also try to leave some on the 2's for the early blooms. My Ms bateman is coming on strong right now, I just clean her up a bit, not much pruning required on her and she will have probably close to a 100 blooms on her, she's a early girl for me. My Jackmanni right now probably has 15 to 20 new stems come up as well as Nelly Moser, Ms. Thompson has probably 6 new stems on her.

Hi Sandy,

I Hope that's your first name :)

Thanks for the wonderful feedback. I will definitely go prune The General.

I also have Ramona and will remember what you said.

Do you wait to see the buds plumping up before pruning your established clematis?

I sure do love this plant!!

Ginny

Hi Ginny.
I prun when I see buds but not necessarily plump buds. I prun late Feb to med March and or when weather permits. Last weekend I fertilized all mine with aged farm cow manure I gathered from here on our cattle farm. Here is a link from a post where I had posted with pictures:The pink one in the pictures is Sprinkles, blooms from the bottom all the way up to the top, I didn't realy like it at first but now five years later it does wonderful and is full of blooms early spring right up til summer and then I prun it down and it starts over for a later bloom. In fact I have two of the sprinkles and they get large. Sandy http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tngard/msg05172823522.html

Hi Sandy,

Thanks for your note back and the link to your beautiful pictures. There are some lovely clematis on that site. I wish the red one "Rebecca" was really that red but I have read that Clematis does not come in a true red. It's tempting to try it!!

Ginny

Ginny, I love Rebecca! If you plant it in full sun, it does fade to almost a true red. I gave my sister, Rebecca in 2010 and this is it blooming in 2011:

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Rebecca in my garden:
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I agree, prune the General, do it now :)

I always used to cut the General back every year, and he was beautiful...until he succumbed to clematis wilt. I was devastated! He's by far my favorite clematis. You were clever to pin down the vines, too--that's the way to get him nice and full.

Would you give the same advice for a Group 1 (montana Mayleen)?

Steve