All the discussion on clematis (old wood- new wood ), how do you know which ones you have? I am interested in covering a steel arbor and want the ones that will not need to be trimmed back to 12 inches each year. Can someone provide assistance?

Hi BF!

My understanding is if the flowers bloom on the current season's growth, it's one of the new-woods clematis. You want to prune these back hard so there is plenty of new growth for flowers. Clematis that bloom on previous years' growth are old-woods. You don't want to prune these ones hard, because if you do, flowers won't bud. Then there are those (like mine) which blooms first on old growth (spring), then again on new growth (summer). Someone way more experienced will be around soon to teach us both!