On 16/06/2016 13:08, Nick Maclaren wrote:
My Clematis vitalba died last winter. Some older stems have died
at intervals since I planted it, but now it is completely dead.
Well, it was over 30 years old. Does anyone know if that species
is normally fairly short-lived? I am not grieving unduly, but am
curious.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


If it can naturally layer down, or if you regularly cut the stems to the
ground so it has to send up new ones then they will go on for hundreds
of years.

Most clematis have stems that are only good for a few years, they rot on
the inside and become hollow, eventually there is insufficient left to
support life and it dies back, if the stem is not too old then there
will be dormant buds at the base for it to try again, but if left too
long these die off and the plant is unable to grow a new stem.

montana often suddenly die on people at around 25 - 30 years especially
if they are on only one stem (hence the instruction to cut them back
hard when newly planted to get a multi stemmed plant)

--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
National collections of Clematis viticella & Lapageria rosea