Afternoon! Last summer, I got a piece of clematis that someone basically ripped out of the ground for me and threw into a pot. Amazingly, the thing lived. It's lucky, because I was too busy/lazy to trim its brown stem back over the winter, not understanding that new growth would come from that stem as well as from the base. At any rate, it's growing like crazy and I'm full of ideas as to where it can go. But I have no idea how big it will be because I don't know what kind it is. And I've never grown a clematis before, so I've got lots of questions. 1) I have it planted now at my foundation and I have a rather small trellis that I will use to encourage it up to the top of my porch. How do I get it from the ground up to the trellis, though? The trellis is perhaps 5 feet above where the plant is now. New growth is just laying on the ground. 2) Once it gets to the top of the trellis, can I use wire or line or something to train it along the top of my porch? And over my garage? Can it grow sideways wherever I want it to go? And I must admit I'm a bit afraid that it will try to get up under my roofing shingles or siding. Are they aggressive like that? 3) Lastly, how do I know what type this is? I have no idea when or if it should be pruned. Any pointers would be appreciated. I don't even know what color this thing is going to be! Karen

Bobbygil, the easiest thing to do is not to prune at all this winter and then watch them next year. Check to see when they bloom, when they do bloom do they bloom on old or new wood, and take pictures of the clematis. If they bloom later in the season and bloom on new wood that comes out over the course of next growing season, they are probably type III. If they bloom on older existing wood from this year, they are either type I or II. Posting pictures of the blooms and the foliage will allow others on this site to help narrow down exactly what clematis you have.

You should have started off with the hard pruning the very first season!! Hard pruning early on for any type of clem encourages a strong root system and additional basal stemming (which is always encouraged). Type 3's flower on the current season growth and some are very vigorous growers. And flowers will always be produced at the terminal ends of any stems = flowers concentrated at the top of the vine. Prune established 3's back in winter to the second set of leaf nodes from the soil line or to about 12-18 inches. And for a fuller look, you can prune down some stems even after leaf out so their growth will not be as tall that season.

Since type 3 clematis are typically hard pruned, it should be fairly easy to untangle from a trellis system.......at least I find it to be. Once the clematis vines have been cut back to the low level, you are free to cut or pull the remaining upper vines free. I grow mostly type 3's and this is a pretty normal routine at this time of year before the vines start budding out too much. By the same token, I find type 1 and 2 clematis less easily managed on a trellis because actively growing vines will be present as well as dead vines that need to be removed and it becomes harder to differentiate between the two.