"Nel" wrote in message
news.net...
I have a clematis sprawled on a trellis which is massive now, amd looks
quite ugly at ground level. At the ends, it is still growing quite
healthily.

If I'm going to cut it down, I would like to get a few cuttings first to
try
and save it, but last year the cuttings that I took didn't take at all!

Please help!!

Best way is to layer some, dig a hole put a pot inside, fill pot with
compost or good soil, bend a good stem down into the compost and place a
stone on top to prevent it coming out, remember clematis root from the stems
not the nodes. should be well rooted by this time next year and the stem can
be severed and the pot full removed.
Clematis cuttings are easy from early February on when you are geared up for
them but tricking if you have no bottom heat (although you should achieve
about a 75% take in June July.) but layers produce a useable plant faster.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)