The only way you will find out if it will work for you in your zone and gardening conditions is to try it and see what happens. If nothing else, it should stimulate the plant to produce new growth and perhaps more growth from the crown.

Your description of the browned out lower leaves sounds like most type IIs in my garden every year. I have earlier this summer cut both HF Young and the President back and they are reblooming as I type.

That technique has been very successful for me.

I cut my type 2 back in early spring one year and it didn't grow nearly as vigorously for me that season. I only cut it back to about 10" from the ground though. This spring it reached it's prior years growth and stayed relatively neat for me. Handled training very well. It is on a 10' x 8' trellis and only takes up 1/3 of the width. I am in Ohio so we probably have similar conditions.

Tracy how did you treat the clematis the first one or two years in the ground? All clematis should be treated as type III clematis the first year, at least, in the ground to allow the plant to concentrate on root development. Top growth is not what you want when you are dealing with clematis and their first few years in the ground.

Jackie, if the clems in my garden flower early, I cut back to the ground and usually get a second flush.

This year I have tried dead heading and found it extended the bloom period.

I try diffent things each year, but cutting back early always has worked.

Carol

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think I will try it with Crystal Fountain next year since it it such a monster of a clem.
None of my others put out such growth as this one.

Hi Carol. I did try to deadhead most of them. Multi-blue is blooming again for me and Crystal Fountain and Empress are starting to bloom too.

I thought I read that CF doesn't produce viable seed. Is that right? I haven't bothered to deadhead it except to get rid of the "fluff" from the centers that doesn't look good after a while.

Good point Jackie. Some clematis do produce what looks to some people as seedheads but all you have are the fluffed out ends of the unfertilized seed tails. You should see real seeds forming if the plant was fertilized. Also a fertilized seedhead may have large viable seeds and seeds that are smaller and generally not considered viable for propagation purposes.

Don't know that much about CF since it is a type II and they are not my favorite class of clematis.

Deadheading works to help extend the bloom period for some clematis but it doesn't work for all clematis. Experimentation with the clematis in your garden will help you find out which ones it works on and which it doesn't.