If the sun isn't that great there, I'd think you would want to stick with less double flowers as they require less light and heat to form and open. They don't last as long as more double flowers, but they rebloom faster, usually earlier and later than heavily petaled types, too. You might also want to look at shrubs which grow large and can be trained as climbers instead of a traditional "climber", to keep your eventual size controlled. Most "hybrid musk" types should work about as well as Lyda due to their shared genes. If you want things which are readily available, it sounds like a perfect situation for types such as Sally Holmes and Icebergs. If you're willing to start with smaller plants and grow them into what's needed for the spot, check out hybrid musks available from the specialty sources of your choice to see what looks interesting. Many of them will eventually grow into fairly large plants with rather thick wood, but they will produce flowers as they do and can be pruned to keep them in check. Good luck. KIm

In colder zones, it is best to leave clematis pruning for the spring. Pruning encourages growth and if your temperatures are still quite warm, pruning now can stimulate new growth that can be damaged by winter cold. Type II clematis - which is what Duchess of Edinburgh is - require only minor pruning. Just remove the top portion of the plant - the first 12-18 inches or down to the second or third set of fat buds from the top of the vine. Since the majority of type II flowering occurs from second year growth, too hard a pruning can remove the major bloom flush. Once it has completed its first flowering, prune lightly again to tidy and encourage a later and usually lighter second bloom. In warmer climates that have a long growing season, many clematis growers do hard prune type II's. The initial flowering is delayed but the vine will still flower nicely. The very general rule of thumb for pruning most clematis is in spring at the same time one would prune roses. The exceptions are the very early flowering type I's. These should be pruned - if any pruning is required or desired - immediately after flowering.

Winter 2013/2014 was a brutal winter for Asian wisterias! Neither my Japanese or Chinese wisteria 'trees' bloomed last spring and the Chinese one, which usually has a smaller secondary summer bloom, produced only a couple of wimpy summer blooms. This winter has also been hard so I fear there may be no bloom this spring either - although it's to soon to tell yet.... Mine are much younger plants that yours. I've never had any dieback of the woody branches like you are describing - I wonder if that is due to the age more than winter kill...? They are known to be able to live for hundreds of years so I think it's likely to be able to survive a reasonable amount of damage! If the graft union a visible bulge? i.e can you tell for sure that some of the new growth came from below the graft? If so, I'd definitely get rid of the stems arising from below the union. The concrete patio would certainly be a limiting factor in trying to get rid of the vine if it is dead. I'd be inclined to wait to see what is alive or clearly dead this spring. Anything clearly dead I'd cut off as low down as possible. Anything living but of dubious origin in relation to the graft, I'd also remove. If that means the vast majority of it is gone, then I'd remove the rest as best I could - and probably replant with something else entirely - one or more of the vigorous and hardy clematis perhaps. If I still wanted a wisteria, I'd plant one (on a very sturdy upright support) as a free-standing tree. It is much easier to prune and control them when they are kept short in a tree form than it is to climb up on a pergola to prune IMO! I'll keep my fingers crossed for the survival of both our wisterias....:-)

Thanks! I was just out on my balcony and...I guess I am getting so excited with signs of life that...I went ahead and trimmed off the old growth before seeing your reply. ;-) The plant already looks much better now. As mentioned, this is now my first Spring with this plant and one thing that strikes me is how 'hardy' this plant seems to be. I could see lots of new growth at the base. While I'm a pretty experienced gardener from a city/balcony garden/potted plant perspective, most of my plants have either been shrubs/small Japanese maples where all the growth dies-off and new buds appear in the spring, or they are flowering plants where the individual stems are very obvious and so all the dead stems are cut back and new ones appear in spring. But with this heuchera, it's just one big 'mound'. I'm not really familiar with how such plants normally function but I'm guessing that....older or 'dead'/rotted growth from over the winter simply dies back...eventually becomes dessicated...and new growth simply takes over...and that any pruning I want to do of the old growth is more for aesthetic purposes...but that either way the plant as a whole takes care of itself. Would you agree? Tx!