i've purchased clematis as second-year
plants as well as 'in-the-box', 'in-the-bag' and just this year got one as a bare-root.
the second-year
plant bloomed the first year i planted it. the one that was 'in-the-box' grew and bloomed the first year also (i got it early in the season - may - and the weather was just right).
the two that came in the package that were 'in-a-bag' grew a bit the first year (i got them in late june). altho neither did well (the weather wasn't too good) they did grow a bit, no blooms. they came back the following year and darned if i didn't pull them up thinking they were
weeds!! as soon as i did it, i realized they were the clematis...woulda kicked myself if i coulda! both came back the next year and darned if i didn't do it again! only one of them that time - caught myself just before i yanked the second one out...the third year only the one that i'd stopped from pulling out came back...didn't do much of anything and i haven't seen it since.
the bare-root one i just planted 2 weeks ago and the weather has been yucky. it had a tiny bit of growth on it and when i planted it, i made sure that the tip of the growth was just barely coverd with soil. it hasn't done anything. it might do something as the weather gets better (it's been chilly) this year, or not. i'd expect it to do something next year as it has a really good root system.
iow, they're pretty hardy as long as the root system is good.
blooming this season will depend most on the particular variety, if you've planted it in the correct spot and the weather as well as just when you
plant it.
blooming (and general growth) in future seasons depends greatly on how and when you prune. you really need to know what varieties you have so that you can care for them properly. (and learn from my mistake and MARK the spot where you've planted them so that you don't go pulling them up
)
here are two sites that have great info on the care of all the different types of clematis:
.org and
.com