does it say why this is to be recommended, is it because he was a fan of the look of fluffy seedheads, or more to do with collected the seed? Can't see why whether they're grown in a container or not would matter?
Personally i'm with Pam, and when my early flowering varieties drop their flowers i'll be cutting back to get a second flush of flowers later in year, far more attractive than seedheads imo
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Originally Posted by Gandalf
Have just been to my bookshelf and The "Gardener's guide to growing Clematis by Raymond J. Evison" has this to say:
" Some clematis growers prefer to remove spent flowersheads to encourage further crops of flowers, especially with the early large-flowered single, double and semi-double clematis. Certainly, if the old flowers are removed with a length of stem with 2-3 node, new growth will appear and a further crop of flowers will be produced. When this is done, it is important to keep the clematis well watered and fed. The only drawback to this is that the attractive seedheads on this group of clematis will be lost. A compromise can be achevied by removing 50 per cent of the spent flowereheads,retaining the remainder to develop into the fluffy flowerheads which are also important. This is particularly to be recommended when clematis are cultivated in containers."
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