"Jan" wrote Early last summer I bought a Clematis montana Wilsonii and
it put on
tremendous growth throughout the year. However, it is showing
absolutely no
signs of growth now. All my other clematis are showing green buds, but
nothing on my Wilsonii. I was looking forward to its gorgeous scent so
I'm
hoping it hasn't died.

Is it still a bit too early for this plant to be showing growth?

Not necessarily, Jan, and it does depend where you live. If you look
carefully you might just see the buds starting to swell, although on the
montanas they're nowhere near as plump or precocious as they are on most
other clematis.

As a general pointer, if the wood is looking glossy and plump (as opposed
to dull, dried-out and shrivelled), then it's a good bet that everything
is OK. Once you've seen dead wood at this time of year, you can spot it a
mile off. It "looks" dead.

I'd wait a couple of weeks more but, if you really want to be sure now,
you could snip the end 6" or so off one of the shoots and see if it's
alive. Less drastically, try bending a shoot. Give it a good go: If
it's springy and pliable, it's likely that it's alive.


- Tom.