Pruning Clematis

Jenny1066

I have a clematis, medium white flowers, which seems to flower in summer.  It is in a shady position on a trellis under a tree.  It actually climbed into the tree last year but I cut all that back in late Autumn (rightly or wrongly) as it became a bit brown and untidy.  This month  there are more buds on it than last year but they are all amongst a mass of brown growth on the trellis.  I am loathe to prune it down thereby getting rid of all these buds.  Should I just leave it this time?  What is the best advice please?

K67

Possibly a group 2 clematis which you cut back to a pair of healthy buds, you can cut out whole stems if it's congested  they often have a second flush of flowers in Sept.
Group 1 are early flowering but they just require a bit of a tidy.
Group 3 you cut down to about 50cms or so in March but you can partially cut it down in autumn.
Feed and mulch after pruning.
Group 2 can be treated as a Group 3 it will just flower later

Jenny1066

Thank you.  The trouble is there is nothing on the whole of the bottom half of the stems so am a bit apprehensive! 

Obelixx

Cut it back to the highest healthy buds if you can and remove all the dead growth above then give the plant a generous feed of slow release fertiliser for clematis, roses or tomatoes.   This will encourage it to produce new stems from the roots and they will have buds and thus foliage and flowers lower down.   

Train in new stems as they grow or you'll end up with a horrid tangle.  Make sure it never goes thirsty in hot or dry spells in the growing season and, if necessary, plant something in front of it to hide the bare legs.

Jenny1066

Thank you so much for advice.