first one looks like Multiblue.

second might be Kathleen Dunford or Vyvyan Pennell or possibly Proteus.

Marie

Marie..are you sure the second one isn't "Josephine"?..Jeanne

I'm not sure of anything, Jeanne.

It may be just the picture, the lighting, or my monitor, but it looks too bluish to be J, altho, there can be many sports of J, so it is a possibility.

I can't see any midline stripe, but my almost open 2nd bloom on a baby Dr Ruppel seems to have lost his stripe, or maybe the stripe is so wide you can't see the outer margin lighter color.

This is probably not the best time of the year to take pictures for us northerners. I'm so surprised that anything is flowering at all.

Marie

Multi blue is a sport of the president and some blooms on my multi blue look so much like the president that I can't tell them apart, even side by side. Unless you get some blooms that are double on your first plant above it could be the president.

Thanx Bob, I had forgotten abouth the Prez, since the one I had died several years ago without blooming.

I guessed MB because I had a mystery clem that looked like Maryanne's picture before it developed the ruffles in the middle.

Marie

My Multi Blue is always double, the form like the second picture although the color is like the first.

I'm thinking the first one is The President or Daniel Deronda, My DD often gets greenish or light streaks in the blooms.

thanks everyone.

proteus sounds familiar, so i am thinking the second one is that. i just can't find the tags, or the little dog ate them too.

as for the first one, none of those names are sounding familiar to me, but it could be that my memory is failing me.

thanks so much for all your help.

now, one other question, if anyone is still checking. do i need to cut these down this year for the winter or leave them be? this is the first year they took off for me and i don't want to ruin a good thing.

thanks so much
maryanne

Don't cut them now, they flower on old wood. In early Spring you can cut off what is obviously dead after you see green stems coming off the old ones. If you want a bushier plant you can cut off some of the old vines to force more new stems from the roots. But I would leave some old vines long if you want heighth.

One of the things I do to help me remember what clems (and other plants I have) I have bought is to save a picture from the web of the plant, according to year. Someday I might even get the time & ambition to make a database, similar to what I had started years ago but lost when changing computers.

Marie

I would cut them both down in Spring after you see green new growth. I cut all Clems, regardless of pruning group, hard, the first three years or if they need rejuvenation.

I started doing this after years of letting the 1's and 2's stay straggly and they've never been better.

"I would cut them both down in Spring after you see green new growth. I cut all Clems, regardless of pruning group, hard, the first three years or if they need rejuvenation."

Zones are key to pruning. If you prune a group 2 in a colder zone 6 and up, you will likely NOT see a good flush during summer at all. I have tried and never been successful in doing this with over 200 clematis. People who live in slightly warmer zones are adamant about pruning group 2's as group 3's, and rightly so, because it works great in THEIR zone, however they seem to have had no experience with performance in colder zones. Pruning group 2's has not worked well for me here in zone 6-A at all. Where you live is key to how we all should prune our clematis.
Warmer zones = hard prune and colder zones = soft prune.
I just want to make sure that people living in colder zones don't get the wrong message about pruning group 2 types.
Suzy

Suzy - So great to have you posting again!

I'm glad that you said that Suzy. I was getting all hyped up about hard pruning all my new clems come Forsythia time. But if it doesn't work for you, it most surely wouldn't for me north of you. I will do the type 3s tho. And maybe trim a tiny bit off of some of the 2s that have multiple stems.

Marie

I would hard prune Group 2's and 1's the first three years in any zone.

I am more concerned with getting good branching and a good root system the first three years rather than flowers.

thanks everyone for your assistance. it is greatly appreciated.

maryanne