Hi all you wonderful clematis lovers. I have a newbie question for you.

I live in north-central Massachusetts, zone 5b. I planted a small, young clematis last fall. The snow is only now disappearing, and I'm looking for new growth. But my clematis looks totally dead. The leaves and stems have died back all the way to the ground, and are not showing any signs of coming back. I do understand that this is a deciduous plant, but I'm wondering what new, emerging, spring growth looks like? Will it come straight up from the soil, or should it come from old wood, which there seems to be none of?

Thanks in advance. If anyone has any pictures of new, emerging growth, I'd love to see them.

When a clematis is new ( and roots are small), it will be slow to grow. It definitely follows the sleep, creep , leap rule. Likely , you will only see one or two shoots.
Give it some good quality compost and sprinkle some epsom salts to encourage root growth.
Keep us posted

canadanna said:
When a clematis is new ( and roots are small), it will be slow to grow. It definitely follows the sleep, creep , leap rule. Likely , you will only see one or two shoots.
Give it some good quality compost and sprinkle some epsom salts to encourage root growth.
Keep us posted

Sleep, creep, leap, I love that! I planted two very small plants in the fall. One is showing a tiny bit of green now, but the other....nothing. I'm afraid it's dead. Will update and thank you for the picture and encouragement!

Don't give up....some are slow

Update! Yaay! As someone said, sleep, creep, leap! So it appears that this one is entering the creep stage! Thank you to everyone for the support and encouragement! This is Clematis Josephine. Nice to meet you CJ!

Updating yet again. I think we're in the creep stage now.... I'm so happy to see it reaching upward, baby that it is!

What is the opinion on leaving the rocks around the root area? Should I remove them, or move them outward a bit?