Young Clematis Montana already flowering - too late to prune?

[CheeseRadio]

I planted a young Clematis Montana Elizabeth last year that has been doing well and was preparing to prune it this (its first) spring, so that it wouldn’t get leggy in future.

But it’s already started to beautifully flower, so have I left it too late or should I just bite the bullet and prune now? I can see already that the flowers are predominantly towards the top of the growth.

Many thanks for any advice!

Clematis Montana should be pruned immediately after flowering.

It's too early, you prune them late spring/early summer after they've flowered.
You've done right not to prune it yet.

The flowers on many climbers are at the top of the growth - that's why ideally you often want to train them out sideways rather than letting them just go up.

Monty says " if it flowers before June, don't prune. Montana are inclined to die if pruned (ask me how I know)

Thank you for all the advice and for putting my mind at ease that I haven’t missed the pruning window!

I heavily pruned one of mine that was an out of control tangle the autumn before last and thought I'd killed it but it seems to be growing again now.