whats your soil type..

will you be able to take a gob of soil..

or will you end up bare rooting.. like i usually end up.. in my sand???

in my z5.. fall is a great time to move anything.. and the plant will barely know.. if you can take a nice big clump of soil

whereas.. if i were to bare root it .. i would probably favor ground thaw in spring..

but that is just my gut .. not any clematis experience ... per se ...

ken

No sand. I have good loamy stuff.

With one plant, I can take as much soil as I want. The other one, I should be able to do the same HOWEVER, there is a good sized tree seedling right in the middle of the clematis which I somehow missed, so I want to remove that before I replant the clematis. That will probably involve a bit of messing around with the root ball.

Kevin

Kevin, moving clematis is easier than many other plants. I cut back to under 12 inches and provide shade until new growth starts. I've just moved 10 summer blooming clems about five weeks ago so they have plenty of time to reestablish before winter. It was still really hot so they stayed under shade until cooler weather came. Their all growing just fine again. Think they are enjoying the nice fresh soil. I have also rinsed the soil off the roots several times so that I could get a good look at them. Then just plant as if it were new.
Good luck, Pat

Thanks. I'm going to do it this weekend. Today should be our last 90 degree day for the season (HA!), so I want to wait until some cooler air moves in. In general, I've been holding back on dividing or moving anything because this stupid summer just won't quit. Some rain would be nice too, but it looks like that isn't happening anytime soon. For the moment, I'll take cooler temps if that's all I can get.

Kevin