I pruned my clematis a couple weeks ago. I was afraid to cut all the growth back because I thought it might be a variety that blooms on old wood. I just read that I was supposed to hard prune it in late winter or early spring to avoid it looking leggy on the bottom. It is looking leggy and I was wondering if it's too late to hard prune it now. Will it still bloom this summer if I do this? Will it just bloom later?
Thanks for any info you can provide.
Do you have leaves growing further down the stem? If so you can cut to just above the lowest ones and it will still flower this year. I doubt it will delay it much if at all. I forgot to do one of mine a couple of years ago and pruned it late. Flowered better than in previous years as we had a late frost and the others were knocked back but the one I forgot wasn't 
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JPlovesflowers
- Senior Member
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:36 pm
- Location: Northwest Arkansas
You didn't mention how old it is. I found that after the third year you can just about abuse them as much as you would like and they will bloom like crazy regardless. Also if you give it a light pruning after all of the blooms are gone, you are likely to have a nice flush of late summer/fall bloom depending on what zone you are in. Or you can choose to let the flowers set seed and provide for your bird friends. Both choices are a win!