My experience differs. I treat ALL my type 2 clems as type 3's or a hard prune every year. All that happens is that the bloom is delayed a few weeks. Another GW member living in New Hampshire routinely has her type 2's die back to the ground in winter (effectively being hard prned by Mother Nature :-)) and hers bloom each season as well, although later than advertised. FWIW, all type 2's will respond similarly so no real substitute if this really doesn't work to your satisfaction.

Waow, I did not expect this. It leaves me with no solutions.

It gets plenty of sun in that area and I fertilize too...

I bought Duchess of Edinburgh to see what it will do but it may be the same situation. Literally, when the season is over, all of it is dead so, just like you say, Mother Nature automatically prunes it down to the ground.

I would not mind at all some delay if only I could get a significant amount of flowers at ANY point in the season. But I never do. One puny flower here and there. If I see 5-6 the entire season I am lucky.

I am downright baffled. I successfully grow roses in the same area ...but Cleamtis doesn't work?

I have no idea...

My best white is huldine. How old is your Henryi? All my clems take several sears before they bloom a lot (think 4 years at least)

@dianela7analabama

At least 4 years. It's not normal, to wait this long and get virtually nothing out of a clematis?...Even the fussiest rose would never do that to me.

Much as I love the flowers, I can't seem to grow one. I am doing something wrong and I don't know what that is.

I think I am going to leave it untouched this year: no pruning at all except a tad at the top. No flowers to deadhead since it doesn't produce any.

If Mother Nature culls it to the ground than so be it. Because as soon as I touch it, all the dried up canes force me to take it back down to the ground and I always start over with a new plant, never enough foliage as I see in pictures.

Very disappointing.

Ok, I'm in England so may not be relevant to you, but I've grown Henryi twice, and did not experience your issues, in fact I grew it up a row of conifers in one garden. It didn't die back at all. It also flowered quite well as a young plant first year. So I'm not sure what's going on there.

Perhaps you might like either of these.

'Miss Bateman'.. this is gr.2 but I treat as gr. 1.. never gr. 3 as it flowers best early on old wood from previous season. It repeats later, to a lesser effect. Red stamens.

..this is 'Guernsey Cream'.. this has a green hue and greenish stamens. It starts to flower earlier than 'Miss Bateman', from late April, but does not repeat that well. Another that I treated like a gr.1, and not a gr.3 as the best flowers are early on. So you want to keep all the growth from last year.

@Marlorena

Thank you for the suggestions. For whatever reason, I have a feeling it is something related to culture and that replacing it would not solve the problem.

I think it is because I prune it down to the ground and the next season it must start all over with building stems, hooking onto the trellis etc.

But the problem is at the end of the season there's not a single healthy stem left so it's basically begging you to take it down to the ground.

I will just not touch it this year no matter how bad - see what it does.

If hard pruning (by whatever means) in both colder and warmer zones than yours results in a typical if delayed bloom, there is no logical reason why your vines should not act the same. Late freezes could have an impact I guess. Also, the new growth on the old wood (topmost portion of the vine) can be slow to appear in spring and IME, intermittent as to where it pops out. It is challenging to remove much of the dead vine material from last season, leaving viable new growth buds intact. tbh, this is why I hard prune mine.....I have too many to have to take the time to "lightly" prune away the dead. I whack it all down.

The only reason I can suppose for your lack of flowering, if not related to climate (which I doubt) would be cultural issues, including the timing of any pruning. I'd question planting depth, soil condition, fertilization and root protection as well.

The suggestion of Huldine makes a lot of sense. It is a type 3 or hard prune (flowers on current year's growth). It starts blooming later in the season than do the type 2's (July) but should continue well into fall.

Yeah I know what you mean, very frustrating when that happens. I have one that some years it dies right back, and others it retains most of the wood.

Still, it's surprising that you don't get much bloom on it after regrowth. Here's hoping for a better year.

It sounds like you are dealing with clematis wilt. Almost all my clematis die back as you described by late season, but clematis in the viticella and texenis group are less effected by wilt. Huldine that Dianela suggested is in the viticella group and likely perform better for you.

I doubt it is wilt. Wilt occurs during the growing season, typically just as the vine is about to bloom, not at the end of the season or over winter.

The more I ponder this perplexing situation, the more I am convinced that the OP is cutting back too soon or somehow missing the emergence of the new growth buds. I'd suggest waiting before deciding to cut back or not cut back at all, as Marlorena suggests.

I will leave it as is this year and will let mother Nature do whatever it wants with it.

I will also try Huldine for a type 3 although I already ordered a Duchess of Edinburgh, but this one ios a type 2 as well.

How far from the roots of a rose should a cleamtis be planted?

I think it is probably the heavy pruning also since I don’t actually prune my type twos much. I also want to take it a step back and ask (how much is very little blooming to you artist? I think expectations matter here. When I said I get very little blooming my first 4 years I mean this.

all these clematis are on their 2nd season after being moved from my other garden. to me this is not profuse but it is normal for what i get until my clematises have been in the ground like 4 years. they seem to get a more blooms as they get bigger roots. Honestly I have never had the issue others have of the clems growing so much they overwhelm my roses. I don't know if they don't love our soil or what but mine aren’t huge fast.

Huldine on top of the rooft with peggy blooming now, 2nd year. forgive the ladder

Also being on the southeast our clematis seem to behave a bit differently my Huldine is blooming since April here with the roses even tho it is a type three and supposed to be later. My early bloomers bloom since late March.

To me this IS profuse. I have never ever gotten this unless my plant had been in the ground for several years at least 4 to my recollection at the pther house and it was polish spirit who bloomed the best and Margot coaster. The type 3s are easiest and I prefer them

Artist the Dutchess is beautiful and I love it, that was a great choice for an earlier blooming variety.

@dianela7analabama

Thank you for posting pictures for comparison purposes, it is very helpful. While I would not call yours profuse, you definitely have a lot more than I ever see from my Henryi. If I get one flower once in a while it's a miracle. I never have more than one at a time and I often have none - during season.

I will have to try a type 3 and see what happens but I also want to go a year without touching this one, no matter how dried up and ugly it is looking in January, as if begging to be cut down down.

I find it very weird.

I will also plant the Duchess next to my Don Juan climber but since they seem to take so long to establish I'm not holding my breath any time soon.

The last picture you posted is breathtaking. Only in my dreams. :)

@dianela7analabama

Thank you for the recommendations, including the source to buy! I am taking notes.

I love the color of the one in your first picture - but all three have that lovely idyllic look, even if they don't cover the bush profusely. I wish. :)

I do think that the dried up, desolate look of the main canes in January/March misled me to believe all of that is dead, and to cut down parts that should not have been cut (meaning all).

I had read that any damaged parts should be cut out but I could not tell the clearly damaged from the "not so much."

They all looked damaged to me so I hacked them down.

Learned my lesson, won't touch anything more than the tips this season - if at all.

Always learning...