Karl Foord, University of Minnesota Extension Educator Clematis
is a genus that is best known for its vining members that
produce large, colorful, showy flowers. This is at best only
half of the truth. In fact many of the cultivars do produce
spectacular flowers with colors from almost all 360 degrees in
the gardener’s color wheel. In addition there are varieties with
smaller nodding flowers that add a certain delicacy to the
garden as well as some herbaceous types that are more shrub-like
and die back to the ground each year. Clematis require a certain
effort to make them thrive but it is well worth the effort. The
dizzying array of cultivars can be intimidating, but this can be
simplified by categorizing plant types by when they set their
flower buds. This will then determine when they will flower and
how they should be pruned. As such, the categories are often
labeled as pruning groups. In this group flower buds are
initiated on this year’s vine in July and then produce flowers
in the late spring of the fo