The location gets about half sun during the day.

I only had a couple of years of experience with
clematises so take what I say with some healthy
skepticism thrown in. My best luck with them was
to have them in full sun, with the roots well
protected (a big blob of mulch seemed to do fine).

I'm also wondering if there's not a whole lot you
can do for it this year. If it's been crowded out
by the vine (both sunwise and rootwise), it *might*
just behave like a newly planted clematis, which
generally has very slow growth for the first couple
of years.

Other than that, I can't remember a whole lot about
whether foliage returns on the lower stems after it's
lost, for whatever reason. I'm tending to think that
it doesn't, but, again, apply that skepticism.

Tracey