Clematis pruning

[RobinOfTheHood]

I have a 'Mrs Cholmondley' and a 'Rouge Cardinal', and the labels that came with them say to prune both in March. However, they are already shooting, so would I be better off cutting them back now before they put on significant amounts of growth?


Ta.    :)

[RobinOfTheHood]

[Palustris]

Mrs. Cholmondley is a free choice one. You may prune it now back to about 30 cms above the gound and it will flower fron late July onwards, or you can leave it alone and it will flower much earlier.
Rouge Cardinal is pruned any time from now till the end of Feb. Again cut back to about 30 cms., but if there are new shoots coming from ground level, you may even cut the old stems back to the floor!

[RobinOfTheHood]

Assuming I leave the first one to its own will, is it likely to flower through the summer, or have a flush and stop early?

[Palustris]

What you normally get is a few flowers for most of the summer, rather than a lot, later on.