I have received two "Guernsey Cream" from Birdsongfarm.com, they may be sold out now also. They seem to be very popular at the moment. I have never ordered from Wayside Gardens because the prices do seem high to me compared to other online nurseries. I did purchase two from a Ebay seller, they were very small, and so far are not showing alot of growth, I'm hoping they are just growing roots. They are healthy looking plants though small. The two from Bird Song Farm had an incredible root system and have bloomed beautifully this past month. If you are not in a big hurry, I would wait until they are back in stock at Brushwood or Birdsongfarm. I have no experience with gardenerdirect. Debra

First, ignore the B1-B2 designations :-) These are just unnecessarily confusing for what are essentially just pruning group 2 vines. Second, pruning instructions are guidelines only. You can just as easily omit pruning as you can adopt other group pruning recommendations. If your type 2 clematis need heavier pruning (and they sometimes do, for the same reasons you outline), then they can be treated as a type 3 or 'hard prune' variety (like 'Arabella'). All that does is push back the bloom period slightly. Most type 2's produce a later rebloom on new growth, so a light, "grooming" type pruning after the initial bloom flush is often recommended (ie. 'Dr. Ruppel'). Not doing so in no way affects the rebloom. In most cases, pruning should be done in late winter/early spring just as new growth begins. Type 1's are typically pruned immediately after flowering, if necessary. Pruning these is usually only done to control size. These bloom on old wood and the after flowering pruning allows sufficient time for next year's flowers to develop. And the second, "grooming" pruning of type 2's should also be done immediately after the first flowering.......if you choose to do it at all. Not a requirement :-)

I have guernesey cream for many years and it has never done well for me. It is in mostly shade, but it does get some light. It has wilted, refused to climb, I had jsut about given up entirely. I was going to dig it out this spring as I had bought some new clems and I discovered it was growing like a weed. It's had only two blooms, but it is growing and as long as I keep up with it and tie it to guide it, it seems to be climbing upwards. I fertilized all my clems this spring with tomato fertilizer and I beleive it has really helped. If it doesn't get much taller, then I will move it next spring and put it somewhere where it gets more sun, whever that is.

Sorry - not sure why I got a double post. This one is partial so please ignore it. It won't let me edit it or I would.