what do i do with my clematis

Last year someone bought me a snow valley clematis to grow in a container. i have lost the growing instructions and i do not know what to do with it now. because it was just a small shoot last year it didn't flower, so the shoot that is growing i wound around three small stakes in the pot. it as grown to quite a length now and i have put it in my unheated conservatory to protect it from the frost,. My questions are do i need to prune it? if so how? do i need to feed it? if so, i think i remember the instructions saying a tomato feed is this right? and how often should i do this?. i have looked all over the internet for the care of this plant and all i can find is the sellers saying instructions included but nothing else. Please help if you can, i would hate to lose it before i have seen it flower.

 

This is a form of Clematis cartmanii. It is described as a compact evergreen plant. which needs protection from frost. C. cartmanii types normally flower in early Spring. They need plenty of water in flower but less at other times. It should not need any pruning except to remove any dead leaves and finished flowers. They are gross feeders so you do need to feed with half strength Tomato feed fortnightly from say later Summer until flowering then I would give it a general feed instead. (Maxicrop or Baby Bio)

 

thanks, i will go out a buy tomato feed tomorrow.

 

I have one of these, and made the mistake of pruning it right back. It did recover but did not get very big or flower. I now only give it a slight trim and it seems to get loads of flowers.