All your type two clematis should be treated as type III clematis for the first year or two after you plant them. That means each winter/earlyspring they should be cut back to within a few nodes of the ground. As they come up, you can pinch the growing tips out after 4 to 5 leaves have developed.

After having done this the first two years or so, I would not be pinching them out since they bloom on older wood and you might be pinching out blooms.

Of course don't know if you can do this in your zone or not since I don't know the length of your growing zone, but in my zone I treat all my type IIs as type IIIs and hard prune them all every winter. I have Proteus, Piilu, Sunset, and Blue Light all up and over 4 feet tall after treating them as type IIIs last winter.

Hello Kenstar and Miguel,

I have to agree with Miguel completely on the pinching of your type 2's. I have many and am also in Northeast Ohio and have had great success with them after treating them as type 3's. They will be happier be fuller as you are hoping for. My Proteus is practically a shrub now, that is how full it has become. LOL!

Tracy

Tracy, glad to see the ranks of those advocating the pinching and pruning back technique are growing, even for those in the northern tier of states as well.

Following are pictures of Blue Light which is now well over 6 feet tall after being trimmed back down to ground level this winter and my Proteus and Piilu which were trimmed back to 4 inches or so this winter and are both back up close to 5 feet tall. Blue Light currently has one open bloom on it as does Piilu and Proteus but they are loaded with buds waiting to break.

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Miguel, your clems are looking lush this year. How wonderful! I just added Blue Light last summer, I kept it in a gallon pot and kept pinching it back to promote the root growth. It is healthy and vigorous looking and ready to plant out this week. I just need to finish getting my beds cleaned up a bit more. Proteus is putting out tons of buds. I thought last years show was a big show of blooms, this year may put it to shame.

Happy Gardening
Tracy

Stunning..what growth..how old are your clematis now?..Jeanne

Wow! I only dream that my clems were that bushy! Beautiful! I will treat as type 3's and prune back well in the spring again. But, should new ones that I plant this spring also be pruned back again? You know, I got them from Brushwood and they looked pruned back already.

Thanks Tracy.

Jeanne, all three of them were planted in the spring of 2004.

Kent, you probably don't need to prune them this growing season, but you could always pinch out the growing tips as they grow to induce the axillary buds to develop and give you more branches which would yield more leaves and stems and therefore more photosynthetic area. This will allow the plants to produce more food and help them out in the long run.

Ah, I got it lol! Good idea! Thanks much.

kentstar