Gardening and Horticulture - Mint & ?

I am gardening challenged, so I'm gonna bother you all again. I have a bed of mint, which I really like. The only issue is that after time, it really looks scraggly, and gangly looking, from ?growing too tall? Are you supposed to cut mint back so that it keeps looking nice? Also, I have a creeping vine (it's not morning glory, but clematis). I have got it going up one of my trellis' nicely, but the other area it looks terrible. It seems to want to be more of a ground cover. Hate it. Any ideas on how to train it to go up the other trellis'? or does this stuff have a mind of it's own? The flower bed has been overtaken withn the stuff, and I don;t want to plant anything in there until I figure out what to do with the clematis. Anything else would get choked and die. Any helpful hints or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

You're right, the mint will benefit from being cut back. It will also take over the bed, in time.

Clematis needs shaded, mulched roots to resist the heat. Clematis does not have feet as ivy has, and produces nothing akin to the tendrils of yellow jasmine. You have to thread it into a trellis or other form for it to have a place to grow as a base for climbing. Otherwise, it will just spread on the ground.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info! I can work on this project this weekend, while my kitchen paint is drying.