As clematis on the web says Ernest is a group 2 which is often treated as a group 3. I treat him as group 3.

You can treat him either way but After hardpruning him for a couple of years..I now treat him as a pruning group 2 and I was Amazed how HUGE his blooms were this year..mine is 5 years old...Jeanne

I don't have him but have seen him up close and personal and his color is sure pretty. I just happened to have that album open on Photobucket so here he is. These flowers were pretty big but not ginormous. :)

{{gwi:590420}}