How to Prune Evergreen Clematis

Evergreen clematis is a flowering vine, also commonly called Armand’s clematis. It smells like vanilla, and comes in shades of lavender, yellow, white, powder blue, purple and mauve. Gardeners may position this plant in pots or directly in the soil. They thrive best when they receive at least four hours of sunlight daily. To encourage more flowers to bloom, prune your evergreen clematis every spring. After pruning, help your clematis recover with fertilizer and mulch.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You’ll Need

• Garden shears
• Fertilizer
• Mulch

1. Wait for the flowers to bloom. Evergreen clematis tends to bloom between March and June, according to Orchard Nursery.
2. Prune immediately upon flowering. Doing so will create new growth that will produce additional flowers the following spring. Remove the dead or diseased stems first. Cut close to the base of the plant with your garden shears.
3. Prune overgrown plants back down to fit their containers or growing space. Trim the outer stems to cut the growth back.
4. Check the clematis for signs of clematis wilt. This condition causes the tips of stems to blacken. The plant may have a collapsed appearance. Prune these diseased plants by cutting all of the top growth back down to the ground, as recommended by BBC Gardening Guides. This allows new shoots to grow and revive the plant.
5. Sprinkle the base of the evergreen clematis lightly with an all-purpose fertilizer in granular form. This helps the plant form new growth after pruning, according to BBC Gardening Guides.
6. Apply two to three inches of leaf mulch to the base of the plant.

Tips & Warnings

• Many gardeners support long clematis vines with a trellis or fence. After pruning, re-position the remaining stems to climb the supports.