My Jackmanii Superba blooms for a fairly long time in the spring/early summer and then reblooms in the fall. Of course, it is several years old, maybe that makes a difference. I'm pretty sure it blooms as long as my other clematis. Carol

Hope your right Jeanne - By the way I love your style of pruneing - lol. Scissors in one hand - Martinis in the other - lol. Mindu - I could just loose a finger that way. Your funny :0) When I do something I do it big - all or nothing By the way Donnas - one of the books I have been reading by Linda Beutler titled Gardening with Clematis - Linda states (regarding pruning) "If you want a generalization that will carry you right through the entire genus, here it is: When all other logic fails, the best time to prune any clematis - to whatever degree you wish - is right after it has finished its first flowering of the growing season. You wont have to worry about disrupting the flower timing, and there will be more growing season remaining for the plants recovery. Carry this pearl of wisdom with you always" She also says " If your vines have become unsightly they are sending you a message: Prune me this very minute. So because my plants looked unsightly underneath (really twiggy and sticky looking) - I decided to go for it and see what happens. I will let you know what happens - I decided to try it on 2 of my clems - Jackmanni and Dr ruppel which is a group 2. Golden :0)

Thank you Jeanne. Actually I have 4 climbing roses already and I really love them. They also have a much hardier stem system. Yes I have put 3 inches of mulch over the jackmannis and placed big rocks down near their roots. I water them very deeply, knowing how much they love their water. All of my clematis that are planted along the back deck get about 7 to 9 hours of direct sunlight but the light gradually increases whereas the suinlight on the jackmannis is from none to the hottest time of the day. I thought about an Armandii but it is a spot that also gets the most amount of frost. It is directly facing west. Thank you so much for your comments Jeanne. It is much appreciated.

Make sure you are fertilizing your clematis. Decrease in flower size occurs over the growing season since each successive bloom requires more and more nutrients in the soil. Most clematis do not require dividing to bloom with larger blooms. Nutritional needs are often the cause of decreasing flower size. Generally speaking, organic fertilizers are best since they are timed released and do not supply the plants with a large shot of nitrogen at one time. This can be supplied via time released synthetic fertizers or with organics such as blood meal, compost, composted cow manure, alfalfa pellets, compost tea, or even grass clippings or many other types of organic fertilizers. Keeping the plant supplied with ample moisture during the heat of the summer will also help with nutrient uptake.