More Clematis Wilt or just cold weather

ianwbaker

Hello fellow gardeners, do you think the photos of my Josephine evijohill Clematis are a sign of wilt in January or just cold weather? Following a wonderful display it seemed fine then over winter the stems and leaves have blackened. Today I decide to cut it back but its shooting on these blackened stems.  I should say that a Tangutica not 6 feet away wilted last summer, I cut that hard back, as yet no regrowth.
  So should I cutbback to below ground for both? Is there anything else I can do? Thanks in advance for you advice 

Fairygirl

Clematis always look rough in winter, apart from the evergreen ones. It's perfectly normal, and very few are prone to clematis wilt - certainly not your tangutica. It was probably dehydrated.
Josephine is a Group 2.  They don't normally get hard pruned - just a tidy up after flowering. Hard pruning them in late winter will mean later flowers. Again - wilting is often due to being dry, rather than clematis wilt, but you wouldn't see that at this time of year - it would be more likely in spring to summer. 

I should have added - you can tell if it's wilt, as the whole plant will suddenly die back from the top. Again - it would be when it's in full growth, ie summer. The larger flowered, later types are more prone than most others. It also doesn't mean the plant will die - it cna be cut back and will often come away again from below ground 

JennyJ

It looks normal for the time of year to me. The stems turn brown/black as they mature and become more woody. The new shoots look fine - let them grow and the new stems will be green. And don't worry about the dead leaves. You can snip them off if you like, but either they'll fall off in time or the new growth will hide them anyway.

Fairygirl

Oh b*gger off @tamaraloaignerno58
You're not even remotely good at spamming
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