Thank you buy, it was just a box thingy from wally world. I remember thinking for that small price like 2.98 I'd try it. for a couple of years I didn't prune, then I started researching it and it sounded like I should start pruning. I treated it like a type 3 because not knowing what type it was, it sounded like,from everything I could read about it,that treating a type 2 like a type 3 wouldn't hurt it in fact just the opposite, it would make it flourish. So this year I was starting to get concerned after that small flush,it was supposed to be doing great this year! Previous years it has actually done a little better. Thanks again for your input, you seem very knowledgeable about these ol' gals Kim

Jeanne, I have mixed in alfalfa pellets in the soil when planting clematis and really like doing it that way since then they are in direct contact with the soil and decompose in the root area of the plants as the soil is wet. I have also taken some of them, put them in a bag and pulverized them with a rubber mallet. Makes them decompose that much faster. I do have several drip irrigation systems and soaker hoses Jeanne. However when the ground is as dry as it is here, the surrounding soil wicks the moisture away from the areas you have watered and you end up having to water that much sooner. Working at night also doesn't help since I have to run the systems during the day instead of during the evening. What we really need is the remnants of a tropical storm/hurricane to come through and get the soil ground water level up.

Jeanne, Thanks for your reply. I will try your suggestions next spring. I don't mean to argue with a signpost and take the wrong way home, but I still find it puzzling. Take Nellie Moser, for example. I planted it in 2001, so it's now 5+ years in the ground. Until this year, I pruned it by the book -- cut it back to about 12-15" in late winter. It sends up vines and blooms in late April into May. The first 4 years, I did not cut it back after it bloomed in May. I did deadhead the spent flowers and fertilize again. The vines grew to 6-8' and didn't grow much more through the summer. In fall there were a handful of blooms, but not a big show. Ditto for H.F. Young. He blooms repeatedly when I cut him back, but with only a spring pruning, there's no repeat bloom and just a few in the fall. I would ask other gardeners in my local area about their experiences, but clematis aren't widely grown around here and I seldom see any that look good.

I have found the type 3 pruning group to be best for my climate (hot and humid long growing season with very little real winter cold), and the viticella group to be the best of those. The viticellas are often referred to as small flowered, but their flowers aren't too small in my opinion. I also like the simplicity of hard pruning all of my clematis - no worries about what parts stay and what parts get pruned. If I prune again (usually by half) after blooming, I can get three bloom cycles in my garden per year. If I am lazy about summer pruning, many will still produce a second bloom cycle for me in the fall anyway (although the vines will be much longer then). Some of my best performers and favorite clematis are Black Prince, Little Bas, Pendragon, Etoile Violette, The Prince, Emilia Plater, Little Nell, Walenburg, Galore, Betty Corning, Venosa Violacea, Madame Julia Correvon, Huldine, Mienie Belle, Duchesse of Albany, Zoin, and Minister (this latter I purchased based on Brushwood's praise for "health and vigor", and while technically a type 2 pruning group, I treat it as a type 3). If you like to buy books to inspire your gardening choices, I can highly recommend John Howell's book "Trouble Free Clematis The Viticellas". It can be purchased used on Amazon, but it is now more costly than when I purchased my copy some years ago. Trouble Free Clematis The Viticellas While a couple of Amazon reviewers have posted negative reviews for blurry photos, I can only say that my copy has only a few photos which are not as sharply defined. Since it was printed in the late 90s, it doesn't have the super sharp digital images of today's new gardening books, but the photos are by and large still quite good. This book goes in to great detail about the viticella hybrids, and it has a short section on the recommended varieties in the other clematis groups. For each viticella entry in the main section, there are 4 - 6 photos which show a close up photo of a flower, a photo of a group of flowers, a close up of the leaves and sometimes a photo of an opening bud or the backside of a flower. Another feature that I like about this book is that the author has about 10 photos showing similarly colored flowers side by side so one can see the color nuances. An example would be a photo containing a flower of Blue Angel, Kasmu, Emilia Plater and Prince Charles. Another compares one flower each from Cosmic Melody, Kermesina, Royal Velours, Madame Julia Correvan, Ville de Lyon and Sodertalje. Some of these photos only have two flowers, such as one containing Tango and Minuet. This book also talks about the care of clematis, different types of supports, and it has photos of clematis combinations and even a couple of bouquets containing clematis.