Late flowered clematis are supposed to be pruned hard in late winter or early spring, starting from the bottom up. I pruned this one as suggested, but it only grew 4 feet before producing a few flowers, several months ahead of schedule. I'm going to treat it as if it were an early flowered clematis (light pruning) if it keeps this up.
This clematis is climbing over Rosa 'New Dawn'. They both flowered in late May this year, although the clematis is supposed to flower in late summer and the rose in June.
Then disaster struck. The clematis collapsed and died back to the ground shortly after this photograph was taken (clematis wilt?) and has yet to re-emerge.
