With its breathtaking flowers, the clematis manages to outshine many flowers in the garden. And as if the flower itself wasn't impressive enough, it also delights every gardener with its long-lasting flowering phase. But sooner or later, of course, the flowers begin to wilt and dry up. Should you cut off spent flowers from your clematis or is that pointless and a waste of time? As you know, many plant species benefit from so-called preening because it can stimulate a second flowering phase. What does this climbing plant look like?
Cut clematis after the flowering phase or not?
It is not compulsory to cut off spent flowers. Yet many gardeners do it – why? Depending on the variety, removing the old inflorescences in a timely manner can stimulate more lush new blooms so that you can enjoy the splendor again in the summer. The purpose of cutting is to interrupt the normal fruit development process. They prevent the plant from investing unnecessary energy in producing fruit so that it can put them into new flowers.
But in which cases or for which clematis variety is it worth it and how exactly do you go about cutting it correctly?
Does cleaning make sense for every variety?
Not every clematis variety has the potential to develop a second flower. Which varieties of clematis can you choose?Cut the flower? However, twice-flowering varieties should definitely be pruned slightly. More precisely, these are those clematis that have their first flowering phase in spring. Once this is over, pruning can ensure that another one appears in late summer.
You can toobased on the cutting groupsif you want to cut off spent flowers from clematis. These were put together based on whether the plants created their flower buds the previous year or bloomed on the new shoots. Even though these groups are dedicated to the actual pruning, you can follow them when it comes to the wilted flowers.
- Section group IBlooms once, so removing the inflorescences is unnecessary. However, if it bothers you visually, you can cut them off. However, the plant then does not produce any fruit, which, however, also looks quite attractive.
- Cutting group IIincludes those varieties that bloom twice a year - once from June and again from the end of August. Here, too, you don't necessarily have to remove the inflorescences, because the plants will bloom again anyway. The advantage of cutting, however, is that the flowers will be significantly more lush if you prune.
- AtCutting group IIIIt's the same as with the first one: the varieties only bloom once and cleaning out the old flowers only serves aesthetic purposes, but not a more lush second flowering phase.
And this is how you should cut off spent flowers from Clematis:
Actually, cleaning out the clematis could also be described as light pruning. For most other flowering plants, the scissors are placed directly under the spent flower (see lilac cut). And how do you cut back clematis? In contrast, with this climbing plant you not only remove the wilted flower, but also the pair of leaves underneath. If you cut off spent clematis flowers from cutting groups I and II just to make the plant appear tidier, leave the pair of leaves on the plant and only remove the flower head.
Also read:Which fertilizer for clematis? Naturally healthy climbing plants
In any case, use sharp secateurs or a knife to cut off the wilted flowers. They are very difficult to cut off with your fingers and the risk of injuring the shoots is very high.
If fruit clusters have already developed here and there by now, cut these off too to interrupt seed formation and stimulate flower formation instead (applies to cutting group II, i.e. the twice-flowering varieties).
When do you cut back clematis?
As soon as the clematis has faded. It would be best if you always cut off the dead flowers straight away so that the plant doesn't put any energy into further development from the start. Of course, this doesn't mean that you have to check and clean out your clematis every day. However, you can remove the spent flower heads every few days. In any case, you shouldn't wait until the end of the flowering period, because then you would not only have a lot more work to do at once (you know howThis climbing plant blooms happilyis). In the meantime, the plant would have already developed fruit clusters on the first faded flowers.
Cut off spent flowers from clematis: What else is important
If you haven't kept up right away and some flowers have fallen off, you should remove them from the ground (at least as soon as you cut the clematis), especially if a few rainy days are expected. The moisture can cause mold to develop very quickly.
The actual pruning, which is a little more radical, is only carried out after the second flowering. This is usually autumn. However, the first cutting group will not receive the radical cut until May.
You can find out more about clematis carein this article.
