Clematis Niobe Pruning

Question: We have a clematis Niobe, which we have had for 5 or 6 years, it has never been cut back hard as the original label said to just trim. We now understand that it should have been cut back hard each year. At the moment it has pairs of healthy buds high up, with no pairs of healthy buds low down, any suggestions as to how to treat the plant now regarding cutting hard back. I tried cutting one hard back once before without any low buds, thinking new ones would sprout out low down but the plant never recovered, it was a ville de leon. Answer: Clematis Niobe is part of the Jackmanii Group of Clematis which flower April to October. The usual way to prune is to remove any dead or weak stems in late winter or early spring and cut the remaining stems back to the highest pair of strong-growing buds. As your strong buds are near the top of the plant I suggest cutting just above these in the hope that buds may develop further down the stems in coming years. If they do then cut just above the lower buds to try to get more, new healthy growth higher up. If you can, try to unravel the stems and spread them out across the support to try to encourage more buds. As new growth appears train them to fill any gaps. I have pruned this type of clematis to about a foot high and have been successful in getting lots of new growth and flowers, however, it can be risky so it's up to you.

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