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Following some advice I read on a forum, last year I cut a couple of my group 2 clematis back by a third to a half after it's first bloom. Not only did I not see any new growth nor any additional blooms that season, the plants looked ugly. Maybe I did something wrong, but I suspected that it was too much shock to the plant.
Here is what is posted on the British Clematis Society website about pruning group 2s:
Category 2 (or 'B'): light pruning
This category includes the early large-flowered forms including the double and semi-double cultivars. These plants produce their main flush of flowers in May and early June on stems made in the previous year so pruning is limited to cutting out dead or weak shoots in February. This is best achieved by working your way down from the top of each stem until you reach a healthy bud and then pruning just above it. Refrain from heavier pruning or you will have no early flowers. After the early flowers have finished you can prune back some of the flowered shoots to encourage new growth. This is also the time to cut back a plant that has outgrown its position or which has become an unsightly tangle at the top. Again, be careful. Reduce the plant over two or three seasons rather than in one brutal prune.
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