Did you hard prune her?..She is a pruning group 3 and will bloom on the new vines grown this season..did you fertilizer her?..these are all very important to her performance...each year you should see new vines emerge from the soil ..and hard pruning accomplishes this...Jeanne

Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis Ville de Lyon

Thanks jeanne- yes I pruned it back this winter- what I would like to know is why its flowering at such a short height? And will this be it for the year. I did fertilize too. It just looks odd to have buds on such a short plant- hardly much of a plant as of yet. Frank

It's not unusual whatsoever to see early blooms appear at the bottom before the vines get tall..(it's just happy to show you her stuff !) & no that won't be "it" for this year..you have more to come..just water and wait..I see we are in similar zones..so just hang in there and later on ask me about hard pruning 3's once again after their full "Flush" of blooms are over...being in warmer zones we can get 2-3 bloom periods from our threes...Jeanne

Hi Jeanne & Frank,

I'd love advice on when to prune in z8. I'm in 8b Alexandria, LA, & I'm brand new to clematis. For pruning group 3 what's the earliest I can prune? Do I wait so long after the last bloom or for a certain low average temp or until it's a certain month? Any advice much appreciated!

Hi River...I prune my clematis the same time I do my roses usually around Valentine's day ( or wait till you see the first leafbuds begin..then you can see how far down to prune..right above the 1st or 2nd leaf bud from the soil) ..for other zones they can calibrate their time to prune when the Forsythias are in bloom....Jeanne

Thanks, Jeanne. Valentine's an easy date to remember!