Hi Rosheen,

To prune hard is to prune away all of last year's foliage, to the crown. There are three major classes of clematis and they should be pruned according to their class. To provide you with a lot more information than I can provide, here is a link to the GardenWeb clematis FAQs that can answer a lot of your questions. If you visit HelpMeFindClematis, there is a listing of many clems with some information on each, and pictures of many posted by individuals.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis FAQs

To me and from what I have read over the years, pruning hard means pruning a plant down to within 2 or 3 leaf nodes of the crown of the plant. I can honestly say I have never heard of anyone hard pruning a plant all the way down to the crown nor is it anything I would ever do.

Elgrillo and Nckvilledudes, Thanks SO MUCH for answering my question! It is really appreciated! Elgrillo, I will check out that FAQ link you sent me on clems...

Thanks again..
Rosheen

I prune all of my integrifolias to the crown/soil line. All of the left over stems die totally back on them.

I had several type 3's also die totally back though I had not planned on pruning to the crown but to a foot or so above it.

btw rosheen, reading your original post, i wanted to make sure to clarify that pruning hard does NOT mean you should prune your new clematis plants hard now. usually pruning, if required, is done in early spring before new growth.

Right now, you should be pinching the tips of your new clematis plants to encourage branching.

The type of pruning that nature does and what man does are not one and the same. While integrifolias generally self prune themselves to ground level, other type IIs and IIIs don't do so unless they suffer some sort of die back. In this case, it generally takes the plant one to two seasons to regain its normal vigor. As a result, I stand by original assertion.

Oops also meant to say prior to hitting submit, is that I always plant my clematis deeper in the ground than they were in their original container. This is the general advice for planting any clematis since it buries dormant nodes that can be called into play should it suffer dieback or get cut back by any means. Hence, any clematis if planted thusly will never be cut back to the crown.

I wasn't contradicting you, I was adding my experience and was not trying to tell the OP to prune off at ground level.

Though sometimes one finds one's last two active growth nodes 6' in the air and pruning far below that is recommended.