Gardeners: Should I prune my Clematis?

[astrid]

It's on a trellis in the backyard, and since it's still basically winter here (CT) it's all woody and spindly, and it makes me think I should prune it. It's actually two plants: a Nelly Moser and another lavender-colored variety that rarely blooms; a neighbor gave it to me after moving it four times in her yard without a bloom. The Nelly Moser blooms beautifully, though.

So should I hack it down? Leave it alone?

[Ohio12]

Usually it is fine to leave it or trim it BUT..I think you should only trim it in the fall. Even though it still seems like winter, you aren't supposed to hack stuff when the "sap" is rising. I think it is too late in the year.

[Claire]

Pruning time for clematis depends on the type. Nelly Moser blooms on prior year vines. Right now you can remove any dead branches, but I would hold off pruning anything else until right after it blooms. I also wouldn't prune much, if at all, unless it is really overgrown. Here is a website (http://www.paghat.com/clematisnelly.html) with more info. Here is another (http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/694/).

The rarely-blooming clematis could be in a different class. Observe when it blooms. You may be able to identify it from the plantfiles in Dave's Garden website (http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/), a great resource for information about flowering plants. The GardenWeb forums are wonderful also. Here is a link to the clematis (http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/clematis/) forum, and here is a link to the threads I pulled up when I did a search on Nelly Moser (http://search.gardenweb.com/search/nph-ind.cgi?term=nelly+moser&forum=clematis&forum_name=Clematis).