Caring for Clematis

I have just planted a few clematis against a fence/post/wire/trellis arrangement. They've been in there a couple of weeks and already they've grown considerably (they were about 2 foot when we bought them).

Apart from watering them regularly and removing any dead leaves / stems do I need to do anything to them? Cut them back? Feed them each week?

Thank you very much for your help in advance.
Carl.

 

You don't say what type they are Carl so can't advise on pruning. However, during the growing season (now) all clems benefit from a feeding with tomato food every week or two.

 

Another important thing to remember is that Clematis like their heads in the sun, but their roots cool. You can put pebbles, stones or gravel round their roots if the roots are in full sun. This also helps protect against slug attack.

 

Hi Carl - we have just planted three new clematis - all montana varieties - as Liz says, they like cool roots so we made sure that we planted them quite deeply, and popped a few stones around them - seem to be thriving and shooting fast too!

 

Susannah. Montana grows like the clappers anyway.:D

 

Hi Susannah - as Sarraceniac says Montanas can get very big. I have one that is just coming into flower and after 6 years it's 20 foot wide. But they can be very impressive.

 

Hi Guys - anyone know when I should cut back my montana? - I seem to remember you should cut it back for the first couple of years. I planted it a few weeks ago and it has just finished flowering, it has already put on quite a bit of growth. Can I cut it back now then leave the subsequent growth to flower on next year?

 

Hi Ellie. I think the general view is that you don't need to prune C montana. Though they often recommend cutting back all Clematis fairly hard after flowering in the first year to promote branching lower down.

 

Thanks Peter, I haven't trained it particularly well or provided very good support so I think I'll cut back and train it properly. I can't wait to see it next spring x