Clematis is a popular vine with showy flowers therefore there is an increasing interest in growing it for cut flowers. The results of trials – carried out for over a decade – on vase life of 54 clematis taxa are presented. Only 3 cultivars lasted as short as 3 days when kept in water (‘Krakowiak’, ‘Olgae’ and ‘Pink Flamingo’), 7 cultivars had the vase life of 11 – 12 days (‘Arabella’, ‘Bl ue Light’, ‘Nina’, ‘Proteus’, ‘Rooguchi’, ‘Silver Moon’ and ‘Solina’) while for most of taxa it ranged between 6 and 8 days. The efficiency of postharvest treatments depended on a taxon and a preservative. Generally, none of the solutions tested significan tly pro- longed flower vase life, though the standard preservative composed of 8 - HQC and sucrose markedly im- proved flower longevity in 10 cultivars. Clematis flowers should be harvested when fully open and the shoot length does not affect flower longevity. T hough the flowers of ‘Julka’ did not produce ethylene in de- tectable amounts they were sensitive to exogenous C 2 H 4 and 24 h conditioning with the inhibitors of eth- ylene action, STS or 1 - MCP, significantly prolonged their longevity. However, this treatment w as not com- pletely effective against ethylene as flowers pulsed in ethephon solutions had their vase life decreased rela- tive to flowers untreated with ethylene.