Your clematis Needs something to "Climb on"..They will lie and tangle up growing like that if you don't..I deadhead mine to remove the seedheads...Your Clematis "H.F.Young" will bloom again later in the season..I would provide it with something to climb and untangle it and deadhead...If you can't get it untangled and tied to its new structure then you can prune it by half...give it some Rose & or Tomato fertilizer and water in a couple TBS Epsom Salts...Jeanne

You can always let clematis sprawl on the ground or over low growing groundcovers. I do that myself with some clematis and they do fine. It is better however that they grow on something rather than the bare ground since being in contact with the ground makes it easier for earwigs and other nasties to get to the flowers and chew them to bits.

If you want to collect the seeds and grow them out then allow the flower heads to remain. If you like the decorative effect they give the plants similarly leave them. If neither of the two foregoing comments apply, then whack the plant back and either train it on a structure or allow it to remain growing on the ground!

I prefer to put them up on a structure and cut off the stamens, trim it back where necessary. Is it ever prudent to prune them to the ground?

I tend to do that if 1)the whole plant wilted, 2)the plant was a tangled mess and it was difficult to trim out deadwood from new growth or 3) you wanted to reinvigorate the plant if it was a type III and the plant had bare lower legs (brown branches with no leaves on them) you did not like the look of. I would do this however only if I had originally planted the plant in the ground several inches deeper than it was in its original pot since doing this buries dormant nodes that can resurrect the plant if it is cut to the ground by either man, nature, wilt, or critters.

I would think letting them tangle up and grow like that would be a breeding place for mildew?..Would it not?..But then again I've Never had mildew on my clematis..that is why you never see me answer that stuff except what I've learned from People like Miguel..but then again..aren't certain varieties more susceptible?..LOL..just reading this shows how my mind is rambling on..please fill me in Miguel..hugzz...Jeanne

Jeanne, there are some varieties of clematis that tend to be more susceptible to mildew than others, but so much depends on individual gardening conditions that I would be hesitant to say without a doubt that any specific variety is worse than others. With proper air circulation, you can have plenty of plants and still not have mildew issues. I have way too many clematis planted too close together that get no mildew and others that are more sparsely planted with plenty of circulation that do get mildew. Go figure! LOL