Are you planting near a black walnut? I lost a lot of plants before I found out about juglone (emitted by the tree) toxicity. My tomatoes would grow beautifully, set small fruit, then just wither up and die...

There is also a disease called clematis wilt. Check out the clematis forum for more info.

my clematis is doing the same thing ... last yr. i tried cutting the *browned* part back ... big mistake ... the top of the vines were still green & flowering, but when i started cutting down the dead looking stems at the bottom, i ended up cutting down the whole darn plant! (not realizing the beautiful upper leaves were all attached to the brown ones!) ... duh!

tiffy, what do cornmeal & alfalfa pellets do? ... phyl

Phyl,

I read a lot of things on the Soil and Compost Forum as well as the Organic Forum and there has been much discussion on both corn meal and alfalfa as good food sources for plants as well as possible fungicides and making plants more disease resistant.

I don't profess that they are miracle workers. Our soil here was poor when we started gardening. Adding these two, along with our compost has made a significant difference in the overall health of the plants. One example is Hollyhocks. I used to have Hollyhock rust so bad that by this time of the year, I would be pulling them out. The rust would be all over the stems and not just on the leaves. Corn Meal is 'suppose' to inhibit rust, and thus far, I have seen good results. For the second year in a row, there has been a significant reduction in the rust affecting three particular Hollyhocks which I have. It's still there, but the amount has been greatly reduced.

Maybe it's just my imagination and what is actually reducing the rust is something else, but I don't dare take any factors out as for the first time in 6 years I will see Hollyhocks blooming in our gardens.

Large flowering clems group II are known to have wilt for first several years of their life. Sometimes it is not a wilt but because stems are so brittle any direct contact to them as to location, watering might accidentaly damage it. Many clems are known to have lower leaves yellowing and browning and eventually ugly looking lower part of plant.
If your clem flowered just fine but then some parts starting to die it is pretty much normal as many perennials start looking battered and ugly after they finish their bloom. Do not believe those ads which promise you continuous bloom from spring to fall- none of the clems will do that ;)
Anyway, carefully remove dead stem, you still can add gently fertilizer and some good compost to plant base and water well. If you planted your clem deep enough and soil was well prepared by next spring you will have lots of new strong growth.
I am pruning my all early blooming clems now- it does not hurt them and gives them chance to regrow new foliage before frost, and even possibly bloom later on. The only clem one should be careful with pruning are group one- early blooming macropetala and alpina- once they are several years old they will resent any disturbance. Cutting into old stems of well established clems presents a problem as well but by that time wilt is usually not a problem.