Group 3Clematis

Hi All.
I may be panicking a bit but all my Group 3 clematis (4) as of yet have no sign of lower buds so I can cut them down to about 1 foot. The Huldine has some buds way up the stems left over from last year; about 4 feet up on stem but none at all lower. The Comtesse de Bouchaud has buds 2-3 feet up stems, same as the Vienetta non lower,Triternata Rubromarginata no buds at all.
Is it still too early and hopefully come March they will bud lower so I can cut them down.

I purchased a Ooh La La 2 seasons ago. I made a mistake of buying one just too small. It did not grow much the 1st season but did ok. Last season it had a lot of flowers and grew very nice but I still have only one stem although this one stem has branched into 2 stems about 6" up.
This was kept in the garage over winter and is in container together with a Picardy in separate container. These are both budding and I have cut down the Picardy to different heights but the Ooh La la has just has one bud on each stem around 12" up so I cannot trim any lower.

Is there any way to encourage new stems or just let it do it naturally as the Ooh la la is being stubborn and sticking to the just one stem for 2 seasons? Trouble is with only just the one stem and a lot of weight it is carrying I only have to have one breakage and it has gone. Thank you for any help
Peter

 

I am no expert on Clematis trogre but I think they'll all be fine. It's just been a hard, cold, damp Winter and I think they are just being cautious. I have one or two you have named and none of mine have ever sent up those precious new growths from below the soil so I'm on single stems too. I just try and make sure they are given as much support as I can muster and some blood,fish and bone feed forked in before they all get going.
Find it quite theraputic - tying in,
Jenny

 

I think they'll all be fine. They are obviously not dead. I tend to prune them back to a bit lower than I'd like them to be rather than down to a foot, or what seems natural to the plant.

My Comtesse de Bouchaud also buds at 2-3 feet.

One way of forcing them to sprout from below is to prune very hard, but I'm nervous of that as my feeling is I haven't had very good results from hard pruning.

 

I have been known to prune Viticella types at ground level, to force lots of new shoots from below. It works.

 

Thanks for your help

I was just wondering when you have formed buds lower on stem would you then cut these buds that are higher off or would you if you have more than one stem leave them so you have different heights of growth?

 

Christopher Lloyd once recommended cutting half the stems of these types back to the ground and leaving half of them to grow. That way you got a tall plant which flowered all the way down. The other method he suggested was to plant 2 of a variety together an then to prune one down and leave the other. The following year the grown on one was cut and the cut one left.
It is a please thissen situation really.

 

I have about 3 main stems on it and I just cut above a big healthy bud at varying heights. It's climbing through a rose tree so I leave them at a height where they can still be threaded through the rose.

 

Thanks for the info Madahhlia, I will do the same as you.