I'm having trouble with my clematis and eryngium

I planted both of these items last spring and did not get any flowers out of either of them, despite my efforts. Now that spring is coming again, what is the best way to make these guys happy? the clematis is Niobe and Henrii.

They should bloom for you this year, usually the first year they don't do anything but get established. Sometimes it may take 2 years but usually just the one. I have 2 and it took them almost 2 years to bloom but boy when they did they were gorgeous. just be patient LOL

flowerfantasy is right. And make sure you follow the proper pruning instructions for the type you have. Last year I had surgery and couldn't do mine. They bloomed beautifully--all on the new growth at the tops, LOL.

Mine looked like a mistake for the first 2 years, but it grew by leaps and bounds and bloomed wonderfully the 3rd year. It takes a while with them...

I have got to get out and get mine trimmed b4 it starts warming up to much. We got to doing so much this fall, I didn't get around to trimming it back like I usually do.

Should you wait until they are blooming well before you prune? My new clematis only got about 18" tall last summer and I had not planned on pruning them. I had two blooms last summer.

I have always heard to prune them back and it will cause more to come up from the root and be fuller.

You need to figure out what pruning group your clematis is in so that you can decide when/how to prune it. The different groups have different pruning requirements, and if you don't follow the "rules" for your group you may end up not getting blooms.

Clematis seem to take about 3 years to really get established and put on a good show...at least that's been my experience.

I disregarded all the pruning "rules" last year and just left them alone and they did extremely well.

Marika, I have hope that if it takes two to three years for good growth and blooms then this might be my year! or next!... haha
Mine is Nellie Moser and I think I will not do any pruning yet.

Would you believe I don't know what group they would be in. I don't even know the names of them as I bought them at WM and had no names on them. I know I broke off all the dead stuff from them last year and didn't seem to bother them at the least.

Wow, thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the response.

For those of you who aren't sure what pruning group your clematis are in, this site should help. You may have to observe the bloom times this summer, but then you will be able to figure out the group so you can properly prune them the following year.

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/clematis/2002095824028038.html