Why don’t buds open on my winter-flowering clematis?

Oliver Burbidge, Towcester

Stefan says: You have two varieties, ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Winter Beauty’. ‘Jingle Bells’ has never had any buds. ‘Winter Beauty’ has plenty of buds but they never open. They’re both growing on a west-facing wall. ‘Jingle Bells’ is derived from the European species Clematis cirrhosa and is particularly vigorous for a winter-flowering variety. It should have pure white flowers opening from cream-coloured buds. ‘Winter Beauty’ is also white-flowered, less vigorous and is derived from the Chinese species Clematis urophylla.

I shall have to speculate and generalise because you don’t tell me the age of your plants or the nature of your soil, but my guess is that the situation they are in is not warm enough, perhaps windy and that the soil isn’t sufficiently free-draining. A heavy soil is always my first suspicion when buds won’t open. Neither variety needs pruning other than a general tidy.

Heavy soil could be at the root of your clematis problem