Hello Randy-someone more learned than I will have to tell us about pruning him-I have H. F. Young which has been dug out,moved him 2 yrs ago from the t.v antenna tower to a lattice near the house and now I have 2 of him!! What-ever roots I left behind he has rewarded me with a surge of growth and a wonderful, healthy vine with new flowers. He does well in both places! One of my favs-I prune him to keep him neat after he blooms,he rewards me with tons of flowers! Both places! Unsung hero in my yard!

I think HF Young is a great clematis! No, it doesn't need to be pruned. I've had mine for years, never have pruned it, and am thrilled with an abundance of 7 1/2 inch blooms each spring. Sit back and enjoy your HF Young!

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I'd enjoy mine a heck of a lot more if it would grow. This is the 3rd year and it is all of a foot high. It was covered with bloom, couldn't even see the plant. I don't know how to cut it back, it has such spindly stems. I was hoping this was leap year, but I guess not.

Daisy, that is great to hear! It sounds like a fantastic plant.

Blondie, wow, that's a beautiful looking specimen you have. 7 1/2 inch flowers? I had no idea. I can't wait. I'm also very glad to hear there is not much, if any, pruning involved. My kind of plant.

flowergirl, a foot tall and covered with blooms? I can think of worse things, lol. Hopefully, after this third year, yours will begin growing more. My one clematis, 'Jackmani', was a scrawnly thing for three full years before it transformed from an ugly duckling into a full-fledged swan. It's one of my prized garden possessions now. Maybe your H.F. Young will do the same as my 'Jackmani'.

Randy

Randy, although you don't have to prune HF Young, you may find in your hotter zone that it will get severely browned out in the middle of the summer regardless of how much water you give it. If this happens, then you can cut it back by at least half, keep it watered and fertilized and you will more than likely get a totally new flush of blooms late in the summer.

Last year, with the drought in the southeast, most of my type II clematis, which the President falls into, were severely browned out by the end of the summer. In January, when I prune my clematis, I treated all of my type IIs as IIIs and cut them back almost to the ground. They all came back up and bloomed just wonderfully for me this spring.

Clematis don't read books and often do things that defy the rules about pruning that are written about them. Use your common sense and learn to experiment with your clematis and you might be surprised to find how many times you can get your type II clematis to rebloom. I know that Jeanne who lives in Texas and does this can support this idea!

Randy, I do the same thing as Miguel and Jeanne. I treat them as type III's when I prune them in January and then cut them back by half after they bloom and I have had clematis blooming into December here by doing this.

Carol

Miguel & Carol, I am relieved to hear that. My 'Jackmani' is so easy to care for, and I'm glad to know I can prune my 'HF Young' way back in the same manner when January arrives.

Thank you so much!

Yup...Miguel is right..I also hard prune them the first couple of years..just so they can get a larger rootsystem. I find also in doing this regime that I rarely have clematis that suffer from wilt ..I can't stress enough how much you need to water them during the hot summer...I am thankful for my Sprinkler system!!..I have some pruning group 2's in partial sun that are climbing up my pergola where we sit out and BBQ that I am not hardpruning anymore because I want them to fill up the posts with my climbing roses..My "Ramona" which gets a bit more sun is having some brown-tipped leaves...I am watering her more and she is producing more new leaves and blooms...Jeanne

Thank you for your comments, Jeanne! I will be sure to give them plenty of water. It's already hot as haddes here.

Randy