I wonder if you dug her up and tilted her root ball slightly sideways, the way Silver Star Vinery suggests, if you will get more stems. The 'tip' on their website says: Try Laying your plant in hole at a 45 degree and you will get more shoots!

I wonder that too. I didn't do it with Crystal Fountain though and that's growing like gangbusters. No clue... I guess it's worth a shot. But, I might wait until after she blooms one time first. Won't that set back the clock though? I mean then she'll be back in her "sleep" year again?

Josephine has also behaved this way for me. I have whacked her over and over and she was planted deep and on an angle. She is still scraggly and pathetic and going on five years old. I am very unhappy with her garden performance. She was a full one gallon pot when I bought her too, not some two inch baby.

She's lucky she's still in my garden! I was going to shovel prune her last season to make more room for some other clems that I planted. I thought what the heck I'll let her go where she will. She's at this point an afterthought so to speak. So she better straighten up soon or else! lol
Maybe she's better as a container plant? :)
I have one more thing to try too. I'm going to be trying alfalfa tea on my garden when the weather warms a bit more. Maybe that'll help her out.

I posted a couple of pictures of Josephine. She is doing pretty well in my garden. Maybe the climate makes a difference to her?
kay

I have given her alfalfa meal but not alfalfa tea. She is in a spot for me that doesn't have the best soil but the alpina 'Helsingborg' next to her isn't scraggly.

This is so strange. My Josephine has acted as if she were on steroids from the first year. I never even bought her - she was supposed to be HF Young, which I can't seem to grow. She just shot up more vigorously than any clematis I've ever grown, and I couldn't get rid of a plant with that much will to live. I don't even like her all that much - to me she's blowsy, but boy does she grow!

I have worse clems! My Franziska Marie hasn't bloomed yet and I've had her now 3 years! At least Josephine put out a couple last year. Of course, that also might be because I pruned her quite a bit the first couple years to help with her roots, but she never even gave me a second bloom either! I am leaving her alone this year to see if she'll bloom at all if I stop pruning her. It's worth a shot I guess.

Tell her that you hate her, that you can't wait for her to die so you can put a REAL clematis in her spot. Then she'll grow just to spite you...
-B

lololol! That'll probably work! Hmmm if it's not raining tomorrow I'll go tell her off!

I have Ms. Jo too.After pruning her low, when growth started I pinched out the second set of leaves just as you many times pinch back plants to get them to bush out and she has slowly.A new stem came up from the ground. The following season I did the same to the 2 stems for more increase and so on. It worked so well I do it to most of my Clematis. Good luck she is worth it.

You can see how hard I've pruned Josephine (on the right) in this picture:

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This isn't this year and I see I've got two stems and she has bloomed but not as lush as I'd like.

I prune literally right to the ground, and haven't had anything not give me multiple basal shoots, including lots of the type-2s people have troubles with.

I did that accidentally to Crystal Fountain in her first year. I chopped her when I was pulling out weeds to a 6 inch stump. NO Leaves, No nothing was left but that stump. I just kept watering the stump lol. She hasn't given me any problem since and is my best bloomer. So, I think after all my clems bloom for the first time this year, I will NON-accidentally chop them down far like that too lol!

Hard Pruning is your friend!!..your clematis will appreciate it so much the first few years of their life...well done..Jeanne