Hi Everyone!
I have a 12 year old, Comtesse de Bouchard. I have made some pruning mistakes. We live in a rather harsh environment at 6000 ft in the Sierras. It's high desert, yet we got over 4 feet of snow this past winter. I didnt prune it much for the 11 years because I was afraid it would not come back, so I had 6 feet of hard woody stem with blossoms up high. This spring, 3weeks ago I tried to prune it farther down, now I have 5 feet of woody stem, it looks dead, no buds.
Did I kill it? Is there anything I can do?
Thanks !

Clematises can recover despite what humans and nature can do to them. Try scratching the bark and see if it's green (good news) or not.

I doubt if you killed it. You can prune it as a group/class 2 or 3. I'm uncertain why you left the 5' woody stem. If it was in my garden I'd cut it back to the ground and give it a big drink of Epsom Salt - one tablespoon to a gallon of lukewarm water. It will encourage more stems to sprout. Please add mulch to keep the soil evenly moist.

I've never gardened in your area so contacting your local Cooperative Extension Service could be helpful if they're familiar with the plant.

Here's more about it here: http://www.missouribotanicalga...

Let us know what you do. Good luck.

The woody stem is still very pliable. I will trim it back to the ground and Thanks for the tip about the epsom salt. My viticellas do quite well here (east facing for morning sun) in our harsh climate 100+ in the summer and feet of snow in the winter.
Thanks again!

Keep us posted and take photos, before and after.

Here's the before picture of my Comtesse de Bouchard. It's only been a little over a week. It's green when you scratch the stem. How often can I give it the Epsom salts?
Just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit so it can grow!
Thanks for all the help!

I'd limit the Epsom Salt application to once a month. Seems there should be growth by now. I would move the rocks back by about a foot.

It's back this year!!! My beautiful Comtess de Bouchard didn't grow at all last year after I pruned it too hard, just a dead stick. This past week I was cleaning up the garden and under the leaves I found 3 new sprouts, 2ft, 1ft and 6 inches!

SierraMom: Very glad your clematis is back! I have a lot of clematis plants, some forty years old. I have read a ton of articles, bought books, and after all these years, here is my respectfully submitted opinion on pruning same: Just don't! It is really a "neatness" thing, in that a lot of gardeners can't stand to see the old clematis canes there! In fact, your Clematis will use those old canes as a trellis, and will readily climb same. Note: Once your clematis is in full bloom, then one can trim away at the old canes, that now, can easily be discerned to be dead. I just looked at a number of my clematis, and depending upon the "class" , there are tons of buds on the previous year's canes-no way in the World I am going to prune those off - half the blooms gone right there. Do you know I would do in your case: Buy a purple Jackmanni Suprba and plant it right at the base of the one you have. Then, pink and purple entwined! Would be beautiful! Hang in there!! Cheers!

Great news, @Sierramom. I'm glad you didn't do anything drastic, like digging it up.

Frank - As I age, I prune my clematis very infrequently.

Thank you! ❤️ Great advise fwmosher! And pirl!
It is growing like crazy, it has 4 strong shoots and looks like it could be forming buds. Is it silly that this makes me so happy? 2 years ago my 10 ft tall Viticella, Polish Spring died because of the drought, and it came back last year too. Maybe, that is the great hope of spring? New life❤️

My Comtesse de Bouchaud is back from my hacked over pruning! Oddly the flowers are now purple instead of the rose shade they were before, but none the less beautiful!!!

That's living proof we should never give up on a clematis.