Clematis 'Madame Julie Correvon'

You seem to have the right touch with Clematis, Jess. I've never got a decent show out of one yet... I have Warsaw Nike which I just bought and it has stopped... it's just sitting on it's laurels... and I also have an unknown which I planted with the honeysuckle and it's just doing nothing as well... my greatest hope was Rosemoor...I thought the voles had eaten the roots to extinction but it came along well when I moved it. if a little slowly... now it is resting too!! arghhh!

Years ago I read about a "Millionaires Hole".
When planting them dig a hole much larger than the plant and fill with lots of yummy things like composted manure, chicken pellets, B,Fand B, and all those things. Plant the clematis a good inch deeper than the soil level in the pot and then add more manure at the beginning of each season after the chop. I also have a wormery and water them with worm wee (yuk!) during the growing season. Seems to have paid off even though all snails in Britain live in my garden!!!!.

Not quite the same as worm castings but I've used the water from my pond, especially the stuff at the very bottom that closely resembles gravy...that's what I call it, anyway. I have a pet rabbit now whose bedding, litter and droppings are enriching a very complete compost heap!!
What is B, F and B, pray? if you have snails you must have thrushes!
I never have to worry about chopping my clems back in spring...winterkill takes care of that... they usually disappear altogether until the roots send up the first shoots...I'm in zone 5b (N.A.) our winters are long and cold but the prime time to lose plants is the month of April...our weather is always chancy in April...and a lot depends on how much snow we have and how soon it goes away. If the ground is bare in March it's not a good omen for some of the tender perennials.

Sorry Lori. B, F and B = Blood, Fish and Bone.
Yes I do have thrushes, a whole family of them...and slow worms and frogs and toads and a resident hedgehog but even so I have so much chalk in my soil it is a snails paradise.
Must be difficult growing clematis there. Just as they are starting to grow (March/April) they get knocked.
5b is pretty chilly. I am equiv. to zone 9 I think.

Ah, Jess, lucky you, gardening in the sub-tropics!!lol.