Any advice on trashed huge clematis

[Reluctantadult]

Hello! This is my clematis Montana. It hadnt been trimmed enough for years. It was/is a massive beast. The neighbours cut back their side, then it got weighed down by snow and completely lost its grip on the fence. I've cut loads back and am left with this mess. Should I leave it now, or take it back to the trunk? It's still kind of hanging away from the fence.

Montana is a Group 1, early flowering.
Let it flower and then cut back after that.

Ours is as tough as boots and doesn’t mind when it’s pruned. If you want to prune it now then you don’t have the leaves to get rid off. I’d be inclined to cut it back so it’s thinner against the fence and then tie it to the fence.

I honestly thought that was a picture of mine when I saw it 😂 just trim it a little thinner to the fence and it will put out its little spiral clingers on soon enough to reattach itself . ( can you tell I have no grading terminology)

I’m with @senua - let it flower, see what you’ve got thats worth keeping (if anything), cut it back massively after that.

I had one like this, cut it back to the root as it looked a mess.

Came right back.

clematis are thuggish, you can cut it a lot.
it will grow right back.
make sure there is no birds nesting.

Is it your fence? If so I would go in hard, cut it right down then fit some wire to the fence so that when it re grows you have something to tame it against.

if the fence isn’t yours I would still cut it right back, then think of some way of taming it as it grows back.

This clematis flowers on last year's wood, so the only flowers you'll get this year are on the old wood that's already there. In principle you should leave it to flower and then cut it back afterwards. However if it's so heavy that it's likely to fall and break, I'd be inclined to thin it out now, making sure to leave something to flower, and then finish pruning once it's flowered. I wouldn't worry about it though, once they get this established they're pretty robust in my experience, and even if you miss a year's flowering it will come back next year.

You'll need something to tie it in to if you don't want it forcing its way through your fence panels. Plastic mesh is easiest to put up but is actually a pig to manage once the clematis starts growing through it. I now prefer a few horizontal wires kept well away from the fence by extra long vine eyes. This gives you room to get in, around and behind it in a way that you can't with netting, and gives you at least an even chance of keeping it under control.

I’d chop it back to about 3’ even if that sacrifices this year’s flowers. Then train it properly on wires or trellis.

Ah thanks for all the great advice! I am tempted to put some temporary wire across the front to stop it falling, let it flower this year, then cut it right back to the trunk and start again.

They are practically indestructible so once it's flowered I'd do a really hard prune and put some supports in.

This, once it's in full growth and leafed up you will be able to see what dead old stuff to cut away.

I'd let it flower for pollinators, then cut back.