I bought an Etoile Violette, in flower, about three weeks ago, planted it into the ground, and decided that it had a substantial root system which could support the vine. The plant is flowering like mad and there are so many new buds that I'm glad I left it alone.

I know people will say, prune it after flowering, but if I understand correctly, that is so it can bloom again. It's doubtful in our climate that we will see a second bloom. You can always try though, but depending on where it is sited, it might look better just to leave the vine alone than to cut it down and hope for a few more flowers.

My first clematis was a bareroot from Fleet Farm. lol
I knew little of clematis, so I stuck the tiny little root mass into amended soil. It grew and had a few flowers in it's first year. I didn't deadhead because the seed heads were so pretty. The rabbits would trim it down in late fall. I moved the plant a couple of times, planting it deeper each time. It never wilted. Four years later it had over thirty shoots. In other words - I treated the clematis pretty much like I treat all my perennials.

Since my first clem, I have more information now and a lot of it is conflicting, so I've decided that the clematis (nature) knows better than I do and will prune itself if it has too much vine. I'm not going to preemptively cut down a newly planted clematis anymore, and I'm not going to try to get another bloom. I'm just a gardener, not a collector as well, I think that makes a big difference with my attitude.

That said, I cut about half of my new clems this year, and left the other half alone. Maybe I will notice a difference, maybe not.

Yardmartyr, it really depends on what your clematis looks like now. If it is healthy, has multiple shoots coming out of the soil, and a good root system, I would say leave it alone. If you do any pruning now, it would be to pinch the growing tips out to encourage more axillary buds to become active and produce more vines.

If however, the plant's root system is very small, there are one or two vines that are long and lanky, I would suggest cutting it back to within 6 inches or so to the ground. Doing so will allow the plant to develop a stronger root system, develop more stems coming out of the crown, and produce a healthier plant in the long run. Even if you do so to this clematis now, I bet you get flowers by this fall!

Good luck.

Thanks to both of you! My Etoile has 3-4 shoots coming out of the ground and about a half dozen vines. It was slightly rootbound when I took it out of the pot, but when I freed the roots the system looked pretty extensive and healthy. I think I'll take advice from both of you: I'll leave it alone for a while, and if it starts to look hinky I'll cut it down to six inches. I'm new to clems but I hear they're tough. Thanks again!

I have had an EV for about 5-6 years now, one of the dinky Park/Wayside bare root jobbies that somehow managed to survive. I have been a real wuss about cutting back, and last year it did finally climb enough to reach the lower branches of a Loenard Messel Magnolia which is as tall as a small tree now. Just new growth coming off the 2 stems though.

After a nice showing of blooms, which were deadheaded, there were a few intermittant flowers through the season.

This spring I got a bit more daring. Didn't prune as low as I should, but now the new growth is in the tree and there is a new stem coming from the ground. I am in the process of clearing the iris, tall phlox & daylilies etc out of the bed that EV is at the East end of, in order to make a new clem area with a bench, so I haven't wanted to encourage EV too much this year.

Marie