Yes you leave the newgrowth..Clematis "Jackmanii" is a pruning group 3 which means you Hard prune in late winter/early spring..or the same time you prune your Roses for Spring or when the Forsynthias are in bloom...Your "Jackmanii" will perform better for you next year (Your planting it so late was why you didn't get much out of it this year)..remember to fertilize with either Rose Fertilizer or Tomato Fertilizer the same time you prune....Jeanne

I've seen all the advice for hard pruning Jackmanii and I took the advice last year, cutting it back hard after not having cut it back for 3 years. What they didn't tell me was that after that length of time the stem gets woody and doesn't have any growth points left, so it had to regrow from the ground. Since my Jackmanii is growing on a deck and I want it up at the top on the railing 8' high to bloom this is impractical. After it had to regrow it took it until late fall to start blooming that year, but it was kind of nice to get the flowers in October when no other Clematis were blooming. In future I am ignoring the advice and letting it grow up on the deck railing without cutting it back hard, like my type 2 Clematis, just cutting back to some strong buds.

When you "hard pruned" it..did you prune above a leaf node?..You have to do that ..so your clematis will have somewhere for the vines to grow from...sounds like you didn't leave any leaf nodes so it had to regrow from the ground?...Jeanne

Many of us want our clematis to bloom low and like to get rid of the low growth when it gets unattractive. If you want it to bloom above the deck and are not particular about how the part below the deck looks I suggest you prune it even with the deck floor. That way most of the new growth will be above the deck and that's where the bloom will be.

Jeanne texas- no, I was too ignorant about clematis to look for a bud, so I got what I deserved. At least I won't make that mistake again. The woody base is fine for me when growing it on the deck, as there are plants in front that hide the base, and I am just interested in flowers at 5-8' off the ground. I have a viticella type next to the Jackmanii which I do cut way back and which grows like gangbusters all over the deck railing and blooms a lot. I don't get that kind of coverage from Jackmanii, though.

Nancy..this is what Hardpruning looks like:
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You see the leaf node..where the new leaf buds are starting to form..you prune one inch above that...and you can do as Bob said and prune higher if you want..My "Jackmanii" Blooms from the ground up for me doing this and fertilizing...Jeanne

Thanks for the photo, Jeanne. I looked at the FAQ's on Jackmanii and they do say that not pruning results in a woody base, and since that is what I want, I will prune Jackmanii to just above buds in future like the ones in your photo. I was just glad to see it come back from the roots last year after cutting it off in the woody part where there were no buds left, and this year it bloomed OK but didn't seem to climb on the rose enough to see the blooms mixed in with the roses, which is what I was wanting. I just got a bunch of type 3 clematis so I will have to cut them back every year. they will be growing on rose trellises in the open so won't have the shade of a deck to contend with.

Nancy..you are so welcomed hon..and your type 3's will get better each year using this type pruning regime!!...Cheers...Jeanne

Hi Jeanne, I wish I could see the picture you posted of hard pruning. All I get is an "X" in a little box (?). Not sure where to prune. This past March, I just cut everything about two thirds of the way up. My preference is to get my clematis to grow 7-8'. Thank you.

This is a 7 year old thread - the photos never hang around that long :-))

Jackmanii is a group 3 - hard prune, meaning you can cut it back to the second set of buds or about 12-18" from the base of the plant. It should regrow each season to somewhere around 8-10 feet.

Other types of clematis may need different pruning techniques and grow to a different size - the above info pertains only to Jackmanii. If you have other clems you need to know about, you may want to ask your questions in a brand new thread all of your own...... instead of one that's 7 years old and stale!