It's a Type 2 or Type B, 1's are Montanas and alpinas.

It is recommended that plants be cut back when they are planted. I don't always do this but I am a sucker for a clematis that already has a bud.

Katie

yep, I never cut back a clematis immediately after planting :-) Let it bloom and then cut it back......or alternatively, you can leave it to be cut back until the end of the season.

Forgot to add that I've encountered a couple of popular west coast suppliers that have incorrect group or pruning instructions on their plant tags. Some times these tags are mass produced so it is quite possible this info is not accurate. Always a good idea to check your clematis against published sources to confirm what pruning group it belongs to.

Or you can guesstimate from flowering time. Type 1's bloom early on old (second year) growth so these require minimal (no) pruning after establishment. If you need to prune for size, do so as soon after bloom as possible.

Type 2's bloom on old growth (mostly) and in mid to late spring so only need a light prune to tidy up. Some type 2's will rebloom later in summer on new growth so often a light trim after the fist bloom flush is suggested. Many growers will treat 2's like 3's as far as pruning is concerned - it just tends to push the bloom season back a few weeks.

Type 3's are summer bloomers that flower on new growth. These receive a hard pruning each season to keep the size manageable and keep the flowers distributed throughout the plant.

Thanks very much Katie and Gardengal.

So my Guernsey cream is a type 2, and that means I can prune it just like I do my Jackmanii? This is really good information for me to keep so I'm going to print it out for reference. Thank you so much.

Jackmanni is type 3. You can prune 2's as 3's though.

Thank you buyorsell. That is good to know.
Gardengal. I am just going to leave it until I do the Jackmanii at the end of the season. Thanks for your help.