Potted plants are more susceptible to cold damage. The only thing you can do next time is bring them in the house overnight, if possible.

Sorry you lost your plants.

Don't give up. We had some late spring freezes here too and many plants are just now coming up.

I am sorry to read about your Clematis plants. I have never attempted to grow a Clematis, but want to - this is what has me in this forum, BUT I have protected a new Floribunda Iceberg Rose from the elements of Winter. My young Iceberg is in a large plastic container that sits in a wagon in my front yard. I had read that wrapping the container in bubble wrap would protect it from the cold. IT DID!!! I was so happy to see that it had survived after leaving it out in the yard through a particularly rough Winter.

I am hoping to keep a Clematis alive in the same manner, but I need to get it through Srping and Summer first. Wish me luck, eh?

I hope they are not goners.

If it is any consolation, a lot of mine haven't broken dormancy yet or appeared above ground. I don't get desperate enough to dig up the plant entirely or de-pot it to check for rotten roots until June. I have lost more to waterlogged roots than to cold.

Last Fall I planted some pots in large tub-like pots where the round was too difficult to dig or roots would have to compete with trees or shrubs. I put wire fencing around the pots or group of pots & stuffed with fallen tree leaves. Then I put cardboard boxes over the top to absorb some melting snow.

But after I uncovered the pots for the Spring we had a whopper of a snowstorm mid April.

Until this last week, only 2 of my above ground pots showed any life, And only about half of the inground ones.

I noticed that the garden soil I had topped the pots with was rather hard as it dried out, I scratched about half inch deep on the surface and a tad deeper if there was any old stem still left after the fierce winds we had this year. Found a few coming up this way and a few more appeared within a few days. I had learned from planting lilies in pots that they would be less likely to rot if the container was filled to the brim with soil than if any space was left for water to accumulated.

Yesterday I decided that the still no-shows might be strugling to get through the top layer, which was much tougher clay than I had thought. So I scratched deeper and removed the now broken up clay top layer and found a few more green new shoots, A few still weren't visable after digging down 4" or so, but I had freed them from the clay and will wait a week or so before trying the next strategy, whatever than might be.

I had noticed a few weeks ago that one, Avant Gard, had not had it's inground pot completely filled in and in the half inch of open space some snow melt was accumulated. I have a feeling that this one might have gotten root rot from this. Didn't think of putting more dry soil on top to try to absorb the moisture. Will have to wait & see.

Lesson learned - mix more compost in top layer when filling in the pots. Will do this for new ones and in returning soil to the late sleepers that I just uncovered.

Marie in ME

Give them time. In pots they should start growing once the air temps warm up since the soil in the pots will warm faster than the actual ground would.

In your zone, keeping clematis in pots outside over the winter is an iffy situation. If you had an unheated garage where they could be stored once the weather turned cold and stayed that way, they would be more likely to survive in pots.

I have not had any luck growing anything in pots with the exception of annuals. If your condo allows I would plant them in the ground. Otherwise, I'm afraid it is a gamble in your zone.