I would wait and see if it revives.

If you have the room, you could move it to a nursery area to see if it will revive. However, I find Niobe always gets wilt, and mine is about 6 years old. It is the only one that I grow that gets wilt of more than 30.

Type 2 or B prune vines are more likely to get wilt than other pruning types, but I grow several other type 2s that never get wilt, including HF Young and Guernsey Cream. This is my second Niobe with wilt, so I think that it is just more prone to it. So the cycle on mine is to sprout, throw out a few flowers, wilt for the rest of the season. It's a good thing that the rose that grows a few feet away grows vigorously so that the Niobe's poor performance isn't too obvious.

There isn't a clear cause for clematis wilt as far as I know. I've seen that it might be disease or it might be that the roots can't grow fast enough to keep up with the top growth. You could try pruning it back earlier in the season next year to see if it would help, but you might want to just replace it. Consider planting a new clematis on the spot that is not in the early large-flowered group. Jackmanii Rubra or Viola might be possible substitutes. The Clematis on the Web search might help you find other possibilities.

All right, thanks for your answers. I already bought a new Niobe a few days ago, ironically because it was on the clematis for beginners list at http://www.clematisinternational.com/beglist.html

I think I will plant the new Niobe just beside the other o"wilted"one and see if the other revives next year. Luckily I have some 20 other species in my garden that so far (touch wood) did not wilt, incl some type 2's. The best of them all is Etoile Violette.

I've experienced wilt in my clematis before and pruning back the clematis works wonders. They always develop new healthy vines. Clematis are not hard to grow at all, just need lots of water and good soil. Each year I amend the area around the roots with new compost and gently work it in along the top layer of soil, careful not to upset the roots. I've messed up here and there and snagged a root, later that day noticing traditional wilt symptoms on certain vines. Trimmed them off and the wilt doesn't ever spread to other vines. This makes me suspect that wilt truly isn't a disease or fungus but a vascular problem that happens from damage along the roots or vine that gets bent or broken.