you need to start training the plant.. early in the spring.. to grow where you want it .. couple minutes every few days ...

waiting just long enough for the vine to mature a bit.. so you dont snap it off ... but before they start getting to long ...

depending on where you are.. weird spring weather... may have affected bloom this spring ... or even winter weather ....

if you get some pix of the flowers.. perhaps it can be ID'd .. for guidance on the proper time to prune heavily ... i see that one flower.. but i cant focus on it ...

i used to use a 3 foot strip of bird netting.. attached to the gutter with xmas light hangers ... and come fall i would cut the clem back hard in fall .... and then just throw away the netting and all ... just an idea for you.. since i dont see a gutter just above ... here is the general idea: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vines+on+plant+support+mesh&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

ken

Thank you so much, ken and gardengal! Ken, this is exactly the info I was looking for. I was going to add a wood trellis to the side of the house, but then I decided netting would work better. But I couldn’t figure out how to attach it. Sounds silly, but I didn’t realize I need to train it upward. I’m going to hack it back today and I already ordered netting that should also be arriving today. 🥳

Oh, and I’m pretty sure it’s “The President” clematis. Large, showy blooms with 6 petals, deep blue/purple.

Thanks to those who helped with this. I was afraid, after cutting this to the ground mid-summer, that maybe I had killed it. But @ken_adrian etc you were right. I cut it down and shoots started to re-emerge. And now it’s even going to flower again (albeit sparsely). I made the trellis nice and high so it would have somewhere to go. There is nylon netting that goes all the way to the left-side roof eaves.

I was afraid, after cutting this to the ground mid-summer, that maybe I had killed it.

==>> have no fear ... who is in charge anyway .. lol ...

not much dies from pruing ... in fact.. nothing with an otherwise healty plant ..

and even if it does.. so what.. its an empty space for something new ...

it is said.. you arent a green thmb.. until you have killed every plant 3 times .. lol .. so get to it.. and NO FEAR ...

have a good day ...

ken

ps: one other definition.. of a greenthumb.. or hardcore gardener.. is that you have 100 pots to plant in fall ... so get those pots on the porch planted this fall .. and who cares if a few of them die ... youll have 100 more next fall .. lol

Lol Ken I gotta know—did you come up with that definition independent of this thread, or did you notice all the pots on the porch in the edge of this pic? 😂

And if that’s the definition, yeah... I guess we qualify as hardcore gardeners around here 😅

Really, though, those parts on our porch are evidence that we got hard-core into propagation this summer. I was even selling plants on Facebook marketplace for a while

*pots, not parts

yeah.. i spotted the pots in one of the update pix .... but its a very old definition ...

part of it.. is the corollary ... that just because you get your grubby mitts on a plant.. doesnt mean its planting time ... so you hold them over until the next proper planting season ... which means after all the summer bargain sales.. you have to plant them all in fall ... or worry about them all winter ....

besides... wintering over pots is a hobby in itself ... especially where i am.. where the pots can freeze solid ... the plants dont care about it ... but other variables become problematic ...

ken

Very true