Aaargh! Or "How Not to Prune Clematises"

Phew!  I think I have just had a gardening rite of passage.  I have pruned clematises and lived to tell the tale!  Do note that, at this stage, I am not making any similar claims about the clematises.  So far my pruning activities have been limited to buddleja and clematis montana - both of which you could prune with a flamethrower and they'd still come back -  so I have developed a rather slash and burn style of pruning.  When applied to my other, Group 2, clematises this led to some pretty nerve-wracking moments.  The first trauma was that my clematises in their unpruned state Did Not Look Like The Picture In The Book. 



This is because, I now realise, I left it way too late to prune my clematises.  I might have been mired in a seasonally affected slough of despond since January, but my garden has been very busy.  I was really surprised when I got down to it yesterday how far on everything was.  This meant that when I came to prune my clematises I ended up cutting off lots of new growth, and even some buds which made me feel like a murderer.  I am somewhat reassured by the fact that afterwards some of my poor denuded plants did look like the "after" picture in the book, but I fear that I might have killed my lovely Clematis Seiboldii - which my mum bought me from the Chelsea Garden Show, probably at huge expense - as I accidentally cut off the only stem which had any buds on it at all, below said buds.  We shall see (incidentally, note to self, have just googled "Clematis Seiboldii and it's a Group 3.  Oh well). 

On a brighter note, I was heartened to see that something planted next to poor Clematis Seiboldii - I have totally forgotten planting it and I have no idea as to its identity - might have looked like a dead stick but on closer inspection had buds on it.  Any ideas anyone?!

Finally, this was my first real proper gardening session of the year, and it was just gorgeous to be out in the sun - it brightened up beautifully yesterday afternoon - listening to be birds and smelling the earth.  I even heard a woodpecker drilling while I was pruning (or was it the sound of tiny clematis roots stampeding away from the carnage...?!). 

The baby lupin leaves were beautiful.

I have learnt some lessons today and so, in the spirit of this blog, I am recording them for posterity.

1. clear away all the dead stalks and leaves in the back end next year, then you will be able to see all the new growth when it happens.

2. prune earlier next year.

3. prune earlier next year.

4. prune...you get the idea.

5. label things.  You will forget what you planted where, and what colour it was, and, in extreme cases, what species it is. 

6. label things.  You can't look up how to prune things if you don't know what they are.