Home & Garden

Q: Can you give me some idea of which clematis can be cut back aggressively? My large clematis on a trellis is all black.

A: How and when to prune clematis depends on when it flowers.

The easiest kinds to prune are the ones that bloom on current-season growth all summer long. This would include the large purple flowering Clematis 'Jackmanii,' and the prolific viticella hybrids. Cut all of the vines down to the lowest two buds anytime after the foliage turns black in winter. If your Clematis blooms in spring such as the evergreen C. armandii, or the deciduous C. montana, or if it blooms in spring and then again in fall, such as C. 'Nelly Moser,' you have to live with the ugly vines all winter long.

These vines bloom on growth that occurred last season, and if you cut them back hard in winter you won't get any spring flowers. Prune these Clematis right after the spring blooms fade, by thinning out dead and crowded vines and cutting some of the remaining vines back by a third or more, while leaving others unpruned.

My experience with these kinds of Clematis is that no matter what you do, they inevitably end up looking like a rat's nest. If you can't stand it, cut the entire mess down to the lowest 2 buds after flowering is over in spring. You won't get any flowers for a year or two, but it will look much better for a while. Of course you'll have to do it about every 10 years to keep it looking decent. Replacing it with a Clematis that blooms on current season's growth seems like a good idea, doesn't it?

Q: Could you please write about Epimedium? When is the best time to cut it back to the ground?

A: Epimedium (bishop's cap) is one of my favorite ground covers. Hardy to about — 20 degrees, it's both slug and deer resistant, and it's one of the few plants that thrive in dry shade. Local nurseries carry a wide variety of Epimediums varying from ground huggers to upright forms that can grow to 3-foot tall, and all of them offer 4 seasons of color.

In spring, heart shaped leaves emerge tinted bronze, red or purple. In summer, depending on the variety, the dense foliage can be shiny green, heavily mottled or margined in red. In winter the leaves turn purple, crimson and scarlet, and on evergreen varieties add beauty all winter long. In spring, small but colorful spurred flowers that resemble tiny bishop's caps float airily above the foliage.

All varieties of Epimedium should be sheared to ground level in the first week of February before the new flower buds begin to appear. Removing the old foliage greatly improves the appearance of the plant by making way for fresh new leaves, and by allowing the unique flowers to show up unimpeded. If you wait until flower buds form, it's practically impossible to remove the old foliage without cutting off the entire flower display.

Q: I recently planted 'Little Giant' Blueberry plants. I need to know when and how much to prune them.

A: The best time to prune blueberries is in mid-February, just before new growth begins. As a general rule, newly planted blueberry bushes need very little pruning for the first few years. The one exception is if the plants were very bushy when you planted them. In that case, remove a few of the small spindly twigs at the base.

Eventually your blueberry bush will become crowded and will require pruning to improve air and light penetration and to improve productivity.

Old branches become unproductive so every year thin out a few of the oldest stems close to the ground, or if possible, head them back to just above where vigorous shoots have emerged lower on the stem.

Remember that the fruit is produced on second-year wood, so never cut the entire plant back hard. If you do, don't buy much ice cream for pie a la mode because you won't need it.

Ciscoe Morris: ciscoe@ciscoe.com; "Gardening with Ciscoe" airs at 10 a.m. Saturdays on KING-TV