Any clematis aficianados around please? ( photo inc.)

[waltzingparrot]

I have grown a texensis Duchess of Albany clematis up through this small bush. It has mainly spiralled around the lower half. I want to trim . the bush into more of a ball shape as it's getting a bit big and straggly for my small garden.

I will invariably cut through some of the clematis stems when I trim it. Will this damage it or prevent it flowering next year? Should I cut it back to stems below the leaf level of the bush? The clematis stems from ground level to leaf level (approx two and a half feet) look dried out and dead -there's no green or buds on this bit of stem (presume it's not dead though!). I am hoping that next year there will be more flowers on it.

It was planted May 2018 in the ground and it flowered for the first time beginning of this month. Any advice gratefully received.

Certainly not an expert. But yours is a group 3 clematis so prune hard back to 30cm above ground every February.
You could leave it to naturalise in the bush and not prune it at all but they can grow stringy and not flower as much.

You’ll have to pull out all the dead clematis stems from the shrub each year, bit of a job!

I think you could give the bush a trim without damaging the clematis, if you’re only lightly trimming it to shape. Then in February source the clematis stems and trim those as advised.

Thank you both. I have put it in my diary to prune in February.

I've got one of these and I cut it all back to around 9" every Feb. Been doing so for several years now and it always puts on very vigorous growth (and plenty of flowers) afterwards.