Yes, they are growing roots. It takes a lot of energy to flower.

Unless I was misreading the posts, it seemed like the issue was not about obtaining a rebloom on hardpruned type II's but even any significant first bloom. In particular, both BorS and flowerfan, who live in warmer but rather mild zones, reported insignificant flowering on these vines that were hardpruned. And the OP as well, who should have had at least a initial bloom flush. As stated, I tend to hard prune most of my clems - at least those that need annual pruning. And while I sometimes don't get a rebloom on my hard pruned type II's, I always get a pretty impressive if slightly delayed initial bloom season from these vines. Why this procedure doesn't offer similar results to others in similar climates is a bit of mystery to me and I have no good answers. FWIW, my wholesale nursery cuts back their potted clematis on a fairly routine basis, just for management purposes (if you've ever seen an entire growing field of 1000's of tangled and intertwined clematis vines, you'd understand :-)). Almost without exception the type II's will rebloom and even some of the type I's - type III's are a given. So I'm not sure if establishment or maturity of the vine plays a large role. It must be climate and summer warmth that ripens the new growth rapidly but that just makes the previous results from several posters even more confusing.

I wonder if one of the old Albas might work better as a climber for this zone. You'd need one of the taller ones, like 'Alba Maxima' or one of similar habit. If you don't have to pull it down and cover it for Winter, you can keep a Type-2 clematis in there. Here, I notice that the clematis get kinda brittle by the end of Autumn, and moving them around will likely end up in snapping them. By Spring, parts that look dead will surprise me and leaf out, and I don't snip off dead tips until I KNOW they're dead -- by snipping off anything above the highest set of leaves that develop. With the Type-3s, you wouldn't have to worry about snapped stems if you're pulling down the rose to cover it for Winter -- you just snip them down low and let them start all over again. Of course, you don't HAVE to do that, if you want it going up a tree or something. But if you do this to a Type-2, you'll lose the early wave of blooms in Spring, which come on growth that went through Winter. I've ordered many plants from Bluestone Perennials and have yet to be disappointed. As long as you understand that they come small, you'll likely feel the same. But they're bursting out of their pots when they arrive, and really take off well for me. I try to take advantage of their frequent sales, including their 50-50 Fridays through Winter. Another source for perennials I've frequented is Joy Creek Nursery. They don't seem to have sales, but their normal prices are pretty good -- higher than Bluestone's sale prices, but lower than their regular prices. So when I'm shopping for perennials, I usually start with Bluestone sales, then go to Joy Creek for anything else I wanted but didn't get. Brushwood Nursery is my go-to for clematis -- and honeysuckle and passion flowers, whenever I get around to getting some. :-) ~Christopher

Since Raymond Evison is the breeder/developer, I'd be inclined to take his opinion over the others :-) Although he does disclose in the patent application that "seasons growth attains 3 meters in height. Average spread is 50 cm." so I'd expect some flexibility in ultimate size. Any of his Boulevard Collection clems can be treated as a group 3 for pruning purposes. They were developed specifically for container culture so quite compact in size