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tj

Can you get a close up pic of the flower? Clematis are vines that can grow off of new or old growth. What that means is you can leave it and it will still flower next year. But it is very over grown and since you are trying to manage it, you can prune it down to within a couple of inches of the ground and it will start growing like crazy next Spring. Then you guide it where you want it. Or you could trim it back to where you want it now and it will still grow. It’s a vine so however you want to cut it is fine. I must say I have never seen a bigger one. There are many different flowers so a pic would help ID it. By the way, the ”hairy heads” are just where the flowers were. I think they are fun. Good luck!

debra

Lordy!! That looks like it has never had an encounter with pruning shears!! And does not appear to have a very good support system either.

With an overgrown and unkempt vine, it really doesn't matter how or when you prune. I would take it back now. Not as severely as a couple of inches, but certainly back to where it starts to lead off from the vertical support showing in photo #3. I find it easiest with a vine like this to start at the outer ends and work backwards. I would avoid cutting too far back into bare wood on any of the thicker stems as that can sometimes be too much of a shock at this time of year.

Once cut back nicely to the support post, work out some sort of more stable support system along the overhang eaves.

And we really do need a pic of the flower to ID properly.

Just the other day they were all purple flowers now there are none.

Wow what a monster!! I bet its beautiful in bloom...

They can get a lot more monstrous than that!! This is a montana growing nearby that just recently finished blooming.......that long horizontal arm extending to the left is a 4' tall chain link fence underneath (to give you a sense of scale)

😳

Found a pic from last year

The seedheads were a clue and now we see the flowers it appears to be either a macropetala or an alpina. Both are pruning group 1 ie they don't need routine pruning, just a bit of trimming and training. If very overgrown you can chop it right down and let it start again. Info here: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=109