Year before last my Clematis had numerous blossoms right almost up to
frost, (zone 5). Last year I tore off some of the dead looking vines,
and ended up with not one single blossom all season, but tons and I
mean TONS of leaves cascading down the vines. I kept watering and
feeding it because I thought that would bring on the flowers but it was
not to be.

So, wonder if I should not put much food on it since there must still
be a bunch in the soil from last year, plus it didn't help last year so
it makes me nervous to think of doing the same wrong thing again. I
took just a bit of vine off this year. Do they sometimes just not
perform well when they overproduced the year before. Or does putting
too much food tend to make them go into leaf overdrive? It was
SUPPOSED to be a bloom builder that I put on there!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Linda