Hi, the type 1, 2, and 3 refers to the pruning group it is in. Type 1 blooms on old wood and needs little pruning. The type 2 blooms on old wood and new wood and needs light pruning. The type 3 blooms on new wood only and is hard pruned. These are just general pruning tips and pruning can vary with variety and with what the grower wants from the plant. Usually the type 1's bloom first from March until June. The type 2's from April until June, some will rebloom in Sept. The type 3's usually bloom from July until frost for me. I am in the Pacific NW also and have had wonderful luck with clematis. They do very well in our mild climate. If you choose a couple from each pruning group you can have clematis in bloom from March until frost. I too have a small yard and have managed to find room for over 60 varieties. There are so many thousands of varieties to choose from in all different sizes and shapes and colors. I think you will really love them if you give them a try.

Hi BC, welcome to the most enabling forum you could possibly have chosen to leap into. Here you will find out that you cannot have just one, two, or even three clems in your small backyard because you will discover that there is always room for one more. The more you know, the more you will love and therefore the more you 'just cant live without'. That being said, your question is directed at the types. This applies to the pruning methods that the particular plant performs best with. A lady by the name of Edith Malek, president of the American Clematis Society has, in my opinion, a much more sensible way of dealing with clematis pruning. She says 'I would like to suggest you abandon pruning your clematis by letters or numbers. Instead, adopt a more sensible approach which is to simply name the pruning methods "light", "hard", or "optional". Do not be concerned when it blooms but rather when the leaf buds swell and what USDA zone you live in..... usually occurs sometime in February or March in Zones 4 - 9 and as early as November in Zones 10 and 11' Light pruning is achieved by removing all the dead or damaged wood to the first pair of healthy leaf buds. Hard pruning is to take back all the stems to a lengh of twelve to eighteen inches. Cut just above a pair of healthy leaf buds. Optional pruning combines both. Promoting blooms at various heights throughout the plant. If you dont know what type your clem is, this is the best method. This is from the ACS book written by her, called Simply Clematis, Clematis made Simple. A great book, I think. She does not cover evergreens but no matter, I wouldnt recommend one for a small garden anyway. Other folks might disagree. A word of caution here, if you are falling for a double flowered beauty, and you probably will, you dont want to hard prune her as the double flowers are borne on last seasons wood and so you would only take the stems down about 2/3rds after the initial bloom and it will usually rebloom with single flowers. These types are usually type II's and therefore optional or light pruning. Type III's are hard pruned and this means that they are taken down to some nice looking fat leaf buds close to the bottom of the plant, the flowers are borne on new seasons wood. Alot of the large flowered clems are in this group. There alot of folks on this forum who are going to chime in here and do a much better job of explaining this, but it is not difficult and you will get the hang of it really quickly. Good luck and may the Clematis Gods be gentle with you, goodness knows they have taken many of us down a long and winding path to incredible lovliness.... Kat

Flowerfan and KitKat, your replies are amazingly helpful. I've printed them out so I can refer to them when I go 'clematis shopping' I can hardly wait for spring. I've seen some gorgeous blooms on other folks properties and now I want some. I will be back for more help I'm sure after I plant a few. Thanks again for helping me.

Sometimes I think the published world of clematis is intended to discourage folks from growing them rather than to promote their growing.......most of the info seems to be unnecessarily complicated :-) With only a few exceptions, they are not that tricky a vine and although sometimes slow to get going, once established there's very little you need to do to keep them happy. And you have a big plus going for you by way of location. Most clematis do wonderfully well here in the PNW.

The grouping designations you see are primarily associated with pruning guidelines but they also offer some other characteristics that are very helpful to understand.

Group I clematis bloom early - before May - on growth that was developed the previous season. Pruning is generally not required on these unless to control size but if desired/needed, should be accomplished as soon after blooming as possible to allow sufficient time for the new growth to mature for next season's flowers. Group I clems tend to be all species as well and seldom, if ever, troubled by clematis wilt.

Group II's bloom from May through June/July, often (but not always) with a later summer rebloom. These tend to bloom primarily on old growth as well, so pruning should be light. In our climate with a long growing season, you can get away with a harder pruning but more on that later. Group II's are typically all large flowering hybrids (LFH's) and are the most prone to clematis wilt. For this reason alone, they are sometimes NOT suggested for the beginning clematis grower -- it can be very discouraging for the newbie clematis grower to devote all that time and energy into a vine that suddenly ups and looks like its dying! It is seldom a fatal problem and there are ways around it, but it is still disheartening.

Group III's are late season bloomers - June/July to frost, depending on selection - and bloom on growth that is produced that season. These can be pruned back hard and in many cases, that is highly recommended. These also tend to be primarily species clematis or hybrids very close to the species and therefore much less susceptible to clematis wilt. They are generally large, tough, hardy and very free-flowering vines and often recommended for beginners for that reason.

A couple of issues regarding pruning from a longtime grower of clematis both personally and professionally: the pruning recommendations are intended as guidelines only - it is not necessary to ever prune an established clematis (although the appearance of a totally unpruned vine may not be what you like). Conversely, pruning at the wrong time or harder than recommended will seldom seriously damage the vine but could impact flowering for at least that season.

In my old garden, I grew too many different types of clematis to be bothered about the specific timing and degree of pruning recommended by the books. I either pruned or I didn't, generally based on flowering time, and if I did prune, they ALL got the same treatment. In our climate, hard pruning a Group II just delays the flowering until a bit later.

Instructions are a bit different for newly planted vines. ALL pruning group types benefit from hard pruning the first couple of seasons in the ground (I'd still wait until after blooming for the Group I's). This practice encourages the development of both a strong, healthy root system as well as encouraging the development of additional shoots from the root crown, rather than just a single vining stem. Both of these features can reduce the incidence of wilt in those clematis that are susceptible to it. As does the preparation of a large, deep, enriched planting hole and deep planting.

The important thing is not to be discouraged by what looks like very complicated instructions for growing clems. They are easier than you think! I'd suggest starting out with a Group III (I's are good also) and be sure to have a bit of patience......it takes about three seasons after planting before the vine really takes off and starts to produce.

ps. As many here can attest, these plants can be somewhat addicting.....what starts out as planting one or two vines to add interest in the garden rapidly develops into huge collections!! Just a word of warning :-)

I agree with what has been written here although one thing that Pam (aka gardengal)said needs to be expounded on if you are just getting into clematis and are unfamiliar with the type IIIs. That one statement is that "it is not necessary to ever prune an established clematis(although the appearance of a totally unpruned vine may not be what you like). ." While it may be true that you don't have to prune an established clematis, failure to prune a type III clematis will result in a plant that gets very woody with no greenery on the lower stems of the clematis. Also, since type IIIs bloom on new wood, failure to prune will result in a plant that blooms only on the highest and possibly unvisible parts of the vines. Just adding this as clarification to her statement.

Also, another point to consider since you live in zone 8 is that you can prune type IIs as type IIIs and still get blooms on your plant, albeit the blooms will form later. The only type IIs you may not want to do this to would be type IIs that form double blooms only on older wood.

You may wish to get Edith Malek's book since her approach makes your pruning chores more amenable to a newbie growing clematis. Good idea bringing that book up Kitkat.

Well, I tell you...I couldn't have received better help if I paid $$$ for it. Thank you all so much for guiding me in the right direction. What are some recommended clematis's for a beginner? I am going plant New Dawn climbing rose in the spring along my red cedar fence, the posts on the fence are painted an olive green. So far, I like the purple jackmanni, suggested to me by bboy. Any other suggestions. I'm going to see if I can find the book recommended by KitKat. Thanks KitKat and everyone here for all this wonderful information on Clematis. I can see me getting addicted. They are gorgeous.

Miguel, thanks for the clarification :-) That was precisely what I meant by "the appearance of a totally unpruned vine may not be what you like". However, if one is growing a III up though a large shrub or tree, like the lilac issue in a previous thread, leaving it unpruned may be exactly what is called for.

C. jackmanii is not a bad choice for the beginner......although what one most often finds for sale under that name is really C. x jackmanii 'Superba'. This is a Group III vine and any other group III choice should be equally easy to grow. If you like that deep purple color, C. viticella 'Etoile Violette' is another excellent, heavy flowering, easy-to-grow selection.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:574502}}

Gardengal: Thank you for the link. 'Etoile Violette' is really very pretty. I bet it will go nicely with New Dawn climbing rose too.