If you still have healthy looking leaves above..I wouldn't be cutting them down..some clematis have brown-out on the bottom from the lack of water especially during the hot summer..how old are your clematis?? If they are new in your gardens you'd want to prune them back to help their rootsystems get stronger..especially since they've already bloomed..but if they are older I wouldn't because they are all pruning group 2's..I also would fertilize them after their initial bloom cycle is over...Jeanne

Thank you for your advise jeanne texas. I put a slow release fertilizer on at the beginning of the growing season and 6" of compost mulch 2 or 3 weeks ago. What other feeding do you recommend?

I top dress all my beds each spring with some compost and composted cowmanure then I give my clematis either Rose Fertilizer or Tomato Fertilizer with some Alfalfa tea in early spring (Around Valentine's Day when I prune them) and then fertilize again after their first bloom period...Jeanne

I'd prune them if they were mine. I'm pruning all of my type II's after they bloom to encourage more stems and more growth lower down. We had a sudden hot spell and many of them browned out and look awful.

I would put a big pot of a tall perennial in front of the bare legs to hide them, and maybe cut back some of the stems a little.

Marie in ME