Is my clematis montana dying?

SophieK

For about a week now, my Group 1 clematis montana "fragrant spring" seems to be dying. The stems are fine, and I cannot see wilt, what could it be? What can I do?
It's a fairly young specimen as I only planted it about a year ago.

Help please!

Lizzie27

Hello Sophie, it's normal for clematis to lose their leaves and look very tatty at this time of year so I wouldn't worry too much.

Fairygirl

I can't open those. Can you just drag the pix onto the post instead?
Montanas don't get wilt 

SophieK

I don’t know why the photos didn’t show properly on the first post 🤷‍♀️

Lyn

They do look dead in the winter and shoot out again next Spring.
I’d remove those pieces of slate so that it can get maximum rainfall. It’s a bit too close to the fence so you will need to water it. 

Fairygirl

I'd agree with Lyn. It's very near the fence, and unless you get a lot of very persistent rainfall in that direction, that will be a drier area. They need a lot of moisture until well established. 
The slate will just give slugs somewhere to hide too. 

SophieK

Thank you both for your feedback. Will water it asap and remove the slate and hopefully that will do the trick.
admittedly we’ve nit had rain for a while now, probably 2 weeks.

Valley Gardener

Mine looks just like that!😱  Clems tend to look awful come winter.

bertrand-mabel

Our clematis has started flowering again! Shows what strange weather we have been having.