Hello all. I am new to gardening, this forum, AND clematis, so bear with me. I have already gotten lots of good advice in the hosta forum, so I think I've found the right place to be.

At any rate, I love the way clematis look and picked up two of them today at Lowe's for $4 (4" pots).

The first is an H.F. Young. I put it in the ground already, in new topsoil (my yard is hopeless) atop a newspaper base, which I read about on the soil forum. Tomorrow I'm getting compost from the city and will be adding about an inch depth on top of the bed, as well as wood mulch. I tried to gently spread the roots so they weren't bound and buried it just over the roots. I also have a Ramona that's going in the front tomorrow.

Now, questions. Both have some old-growth wood on them, and the H.F. Young has rather more foliage than the Ramona, which doesn't have much but does have a couple of BIG ol' green leaves. Neither is blooming at present. Should I prune them back now? If so, how far? I want the roots to become well-established so I have vigorous plants.

I plan to train them up a laundry pole and my front porch support, and from reading it looks like I'll need to add some support for them. Would a relatively fine-gauge wire spiraled around the posts, but with a small gap, work?

Thanks, and hopefully I can share photos of some nice looking plants in the near future. If you could see my yard now you'd cry.