Cutting them back only delays flowering. It doesn't stop it or harm the plants. In fact, cutting them back makes them fuller and invigorates them. Better to cut them back than not. If you've got brown growth with new shoots cut all the brown growth back to the lowest buds even though they are dormant. It will sprount out more vines. All Clematis, no matter what variety they are should be hard pruned the first few years.

Oh dear, I hope it isn't too late. Dig them up and check the crowns. If they are mushy, you still might be able to save them. Dig out the mushy part, let them dry and dust the crowns with sulfur. Plant them a few days later and hope for the best. I have saved a few, but very few. The sooner you catch it, the better. The tell-tale signs for me is when you start seeing yellow or brown leaves in the central part of the plant, and not just on the outer leaves. I sure hope you can save your plants. It was very heart-breaking last year when I lost three seedlings that would have been registered this year. I can replace the registered ones, but cannot replace unique seedlings. Spraying with K-Phite in the past helped me to put a stop to crown rot. It crept up on me here in our new home, as I wasn't expecting it to happen again. Nancy

Sounds like they could be dead. You said they are just two pots of soil, but if there are branches sticking up, bend a branch to see if it is flexible or snaps. Snapping could be a sign it is dead, but look inside the branch then to see if you see green or brown. (Green=good, brown=bad.) If they literally are two pots of soil with no remaining plant parts above the soil, then I would suggest recycling all that potting soil into another pot with a new live plant in it!

Usually pulls are about 1/3 the length or width of the side where they are mounted. It doesn't have to be exact, so if want to stay with the same size pulls everywhere and itseems close to 1/3 but not exact, that's ok. But get samples and hold them up to see what looks right to you. If you have narrow drawers (hope not), you can use pulls there. also check out the kitchen forum. A search will turn up many posts on this topic. yo