Just make sure she is getting her needed drink of water and give her some rose food ..she should come back with a vengence

My Nelly to looks anemic. I got her last fall at the Middle TN Plant Swap so this is my first year with her. She is growing nicely but the leaves are very pale and almost have no, what I call green color to them. The leaves are almost greensh yellow, more yellow than green. She looks heathly but i'm not use to seeing the pale leaves on my clem's. I'll try the Epson Salt on her. I have been watering her with cow poo tea. She is in a large pot which will be getting full sun in the near future and after reading the post about her blooms fading I think i'll go ahead and move her to the north side of the house which will only getting very early morning sun and see how she like it over there. Sandy

I have a Hagley Hybrid thats at least 7 years old that never returned and shows no signs yet either. I am not digging it up, however, as I had a similar thing happen to a couple of other clematis a few years ago(Jackmanii that I thought they were dead) and then in late June they finally started growing. Of course they were a smaller version of themselves that year but within a couple of years they returned to their glorious self. I am only guessing but perhaps every few years part of the root died but part didn't? Either that or maybe the part that's below ground and readily sends up shoots in spring died out? Anyway, I wish you luck and hopefully mine will make an appearance too. It's my favorite clematis and in part shade so when I planted it as a small plant it took a while to get established. Almost debating buying a new one as a back up, but then I may have to find root for two. Oh, I also have a little duckling clematis (better known as Piilu) that appears dead. As it was it's first winter and the second Piilu I am trying, for that one I assume it just wasn't hardy enough. Glen

IME it's easier to get a trellis in before it's needed and you are quite close to needing it. So if it were me, I'd put it in ASAP. It's not hugely difficult to get a clematis to cling later, but it's more fiddly that I want to bother with, so I put them in at first signs of growth or even before. In places where I can, I leave trellises up year round. (Among other things they add winter interest.)