Clematis: Planting advise needed for Ramona and Nelly Moser, 0 by fancyvan

fancyvan wrote:
Hi Jane! Sorry I missed your thread earlier! Since you have picked a couple of Group 2's / B's the problem you will have is that the old wood will winter kill most likely. B's bloom on both old and new wood so with the winter kill which usually happens around here you will not have as long a bloom season. I normally never grow Group B but I did break down and get Niobe last week at Cdn Tire. Talking with some folks at plant share yesterday who also have Niobe and they basically treat it as a Group C and just prune it back every year.
When you plant assuming you have plants with lots of growth which we usually see in the garden centres here please put the plant in the ground a couple of inches below the pot level. (Raymond Evison says top of root ball 5 cms down)This ensures you have some growing shoots under the soil just in case anything happens to the top growth. And yes you really should trim it down but thats hard to do when you know they will flower this year! I never do but the plants will be stronger for it as it gives them the opportunity to grow great roots. Actually just checking Evison he says prune down to at least 30 cms first late winter after planting but he lives in the Channel Islands so I dont know what time he is planting and growing conditions somewhat different there!

And ( again assuming you have plants with a lot of top growth) dont remove the stick that the stems are attached to . YOu will have to pull out the staples from the side of the pot but keep that stick in place as it supports the stem. You can also place the plant at an angle towards the lattice or whatever on which it will grow

Heres a couple of drawings from a little Clematis book by Rayond Evison
illustrating his planting technique