Jeanne, Freckles and the other cirrhosas can get quite large. Mine has not however since I did not know whether it would be winter hardy here and therefore planted it in a pot and placed it against a south facing brick wall to serve as a heat sink for it. Works great in the cooler months but wreaks havoc in the summer. Sachow, don't worry about not being clear. I just wanted to make sure that I was understanding what you were trying to explain. As I said previously, I am no rose experts so didn't know about climbing roses and their pruning habits. In that venue, I am a newbie! :) As for Allanah, it is listed as a type II on COTW (linked below) and as a type II on Chalk Hill's website, and to be quite honest I have treated mine as a type III in my garden. In our zones, we could probably treat it as either and still not have an issue with it. As for your pillar, I think either Allanah or Solina would look great and contrast with the purple one you have already on it. Huldine would also contrast nicely with it so the choices are yours. As far as having a third one on the pillar, you are definitely talking to the wrong person since I tend to cram as many plants together as possible! Here is a picture of Allanah in my garden and the color in the picture is pretty true to its color. It is in a westerly exposure and doesn't seem to fade for me. I also have Solina but last year was its first summer in the garden so my experience with it and fading is limited. Here is a link that might be useful: Allanah

The clematis that I have received from Jerome over at Koi Gardens were in 2 1/2 inch pots but they had much larger root systems than I've received in the same size pot from other vendors..the roots were grown so much out of the bottom of the pot that I had to take a pair of scissors to cut the pot away..thank God those black pots were thin and I could..I then tease apart the roots at the bottom and planted them about 2 inches deeper at a slight angle towards what I wanted them to grow on and put about half a handful of bonemeal in the hole...I've planted those baby clematis that have smaller root systems into my gardens this time of the year BUT...I am anal about daily sticking my finger in the soil to check the moisture and water as neccessary...it's so important that clematis stay moist during their acclimation period..I also hard prune all my pruning group 2's clematis the following year and then I treat them like pruning group 2's after that...I've found in doing so not only do they grow stronger root systems and get established but RARELY have I had a 2 to suffer from wilt....Hope this helps...Jeanne

The montanas, alpinas, and macropetalas, along with a few other types of clematis, are the clematis that fall into pruning class 1. The LFHs are the ones that fall into pruning class 2 and that is the group that HF Young falls into. The viticellas, the native US species, and a variety of other clematis fall into pruning group 3. In spite of all this classification, clematis don't read the articles that put them into the classification groups and to be quite honest, other than the differences between which specific cultivars are put into groups I and II, both these groups are generally ones that bloom on older wood that can be produced on last year's growth/or on wood produced during the current year's growth cycle and are generally pruned after blooming to control size or remove deadwood. They can also be pruned in late winter to remove deadwood. All that being said, most of the type IIs can be pruned in late winter and still have blooms later in the spring than if they are not pruned. In the warmer zones, the type IIs can also get rather ratty looking by midsummer. Pruning them back then and keeping them watered well during the heat of the summer will normally give rise to a second flush in the late summer or early fall. My HF Young has always been pruned back in the early winter and given me the original flush of blooms by mid spring and then pruned back in midsummer to give me a second flush of blooms almost as big as the initial spring flush in late summer/early fall.

No need to be confused. The pruning group question is one that I, BorS, gardengal and various other posters here have said time and time again is not written in stone. Many of the new varieties are being introduced without the pruning class specified. The pruning groups, especially the type IIs, are general guidelines that are not written in stone. Clematis don't read books and will often perform in conflict with what is written about them. I will say this one more time: Most type IIs can easily be treated as type IIIs. The only exceptions that I can think of are the type IIs that bloom double on old wood only. Even them, if I had them, I would put to the test in my garden to see if that is really true or something that is repeated time and time again and assumed to be true. I challenge all clematis growers regardless of the zone they garden in to perform a simple test. When planting a type II in your garden, treat it as a type III the first two years it is in the ground. Cut it back for two springs after it is planted so that the plant can concentrate on root growth (this is recommended by many clematis gurus). The third spring, treat it as a type II and don't prune it back. See how it blooms, see when it blooms, and just take general notes on its vigor. The fourth spring, treat it as a type III. Prune it back hard and then observe the same things that I noted previously: when it blooms, how many blooms it has, etc. Decide then if the particular type II you are growing does best being treated as a type II (no prune or just to control size or remove deadwood) or a type III (hard prune to within several inches of the ground). That is the only way each and every clematis grower will know best how to treat their purported type IIs. End of speech on soapbox!!