My first bloom this spring was pathetic! If I remember right I only had two or at the most three sporadic very small blooms. I discovered this year that this is a Type 2 and I've been cutting it to the ground every spring. Also learned this year that when you do that it may not bloom at all or only with small flowers. I guess what I've been doing is called a hard prune. Not doing that any more! In years past when I neglected it all together I used to have so many blooms covering these vines you couldn't even see the leaves.

So, I babied it and fertilized it well, both soil and foliar, this summer. All of a sudden I started getting now growth on the plants and they started setting buds! This morning I had six big blooms on the plants with at least half a dozen buds coming on!

Let me show you some pics. The first picture is from its heyday back in 2009:



So to finally get six big blooms again makes me happy! I learned this year that Clematis are heavy feeders! If you want good blooms, feed them! And whatever you do, DON'T cut them down to the ground!

This year's bloom late in the season:

After doing some research and with the help of Calif-Sue and Frank Richards, I discovered that what I thought was Clematis 'Rhapsody' is in reality Clematis 'H.F. Young'. They are so similar in appearance. But, hey, who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks! It always pays to be teachable.

I edited the title

I think H.F. young is much healthier than Rhapsoy, my Rhapsody has already disappeared. Out of the 6 clematis plants that I purchased from Brushwood nursery, only 2 survive. Now I buy the cheap clematis like Jackmanii and they do well here.

My H.F. Young has been in that location for 14 years! When that planting bed was overplanted and crowded it was in all of its glory! However, through neglect almost lost it. There were 3 plants on that trellis but now there are only 2. I'm babying them so they will come back in their glory. I love Clematis vines. But it's really important to know when to prune them if you want flowers. Cutting back to the ground, I've learned, shouldn't be done often.

I rarely cut them back, hence that's my problem. I cut them down, but not to the ground.

I've been cutting mine to the ground every spring. NO WONDER I've been getting so few flowers! Next spring I will leave them alone! I want to see what will happen. I think the pruning all the way to the ground has even affected the number of petals on the blooms. This used to always have eight petals. now it is only six. Again, we'll see next year.

GardensJohn said: I think the pruning all the way to the ground has even affected the number of petals on the blooms. This used to always have eight petals. now it is only six. Again, we'll see next year.

Yes. More specifically, I think it has to do with whether the flowers are growing on "old wood" or "new wood". The former seems to produce semi-double flowers, whereas the latter produces single flowers.

How does your clematis look this year?