If you did overwater it and that is what killed it, then make sure the plant needs water before you add it by sticking your finger in the soil and pushing down as far as you can go to determine if the soil requires water.

I am also not sure what exactly is going on with it. You said that the plant put up foliage this spring and then didn't do anything. Did the foliage that sprouted early on die back or what? If the plant still has foliage then how can the crown be dead? Did the original foliage die back sometime recently? If so, how are you determing that the crown is dead? Perhaps it died back due to wilt once again or it was cut back by animals and you just need to give it time to come back out.

Yellowing lower leaves is a sign of over watering. If it's in a large pot over watering might be an issue? In a small pot it's usually the other way around, wet, dry, wet, dry?

It never put out foliage. Thanks to my 2 year old, all the top growth from last year was, ummm, pruned. It put up 3 little reddish shoots, as my niobe and ramona later did (also "pruned" by my helper)and then stopped doing anything. So, there were no leaves to turn yellow, fall off, etc.

I figured it was dead when I started moving dirt away from where the vines from last year were sticking up (all 1/2 inch of them) to check things out. The roots were slimy, stringy, and blackish-gray.....not the nice fat yellow roots I was looking for. I scraped a bit at one of the bigger ones, and it didn't have anything in it that appeared to be remotely alive.

Chalk it up to experience I guess. I was really hoping for good things from it this year too! The blooms it put out last summer, though few, were really pretty.

Yep sounds like she rotted. Sounds like ya got a pretty good little helper there. Better luck next time.

I found out the hard way that if the clematis vine is yanked and rips and disturbs the root crown..the clematis is a goner..My lawn guys thought some of mine were weeds when they saw the vines and yanked them out..Fortunately all came back except one of my "Snow Queens"...Jeanne