Your Dad's Clematis "Dr. Ruppel" is a pruning group 2..which means don't prune...only to keep in bounds or to remove dead vines...the part you said have died to the ground ..is most probably wilt..what you need to do is follow the wilted vines to the ground and prune flat to the ground and remove...this is common in the pruning group 2s especially the first couple of years but they seem to outgrow that in year three....or the vine might have been broken by the wind ..but do cut and remove...when you read about Pruning group 2s and they say to prune after their bloom period is over what they are saying is that "IF" you wish to prune to keep them in bounds or to shape..the BEST TIME would be after they bloom..but normally you don't prune..hope this helps Mike...Jeanne

Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis

Thanks for the info jeanne ,will pass it along.It was just alil confusing ,each web site I checked gave just alil different info,so i wasn't sure what to follow. One did say prune lightly. Maybe I'll give them a try myself once i get a handle on this pruning thing ,lol. I just didn't want too pass along the wrong info too them. thanks again

okay ,thinkin here ,jeanne. just to clarify something. The vine can be left standing yr. around,prune only lightly to clean up,and then if I'm understanding right Dr. ruppel blooms on old and new growth, so in spring it'll just reflush with new growth and set buds. just makin sure I had a handle on this. ..........thanks again Mike

Mike..yes..what will happen this winter is you will see just a brown vine hanging on your trellis or whatever you have it climbing on with brown leave..then come late winter/early Spring you will fertilize with some rose fertilizer or tomato fertilize and then you will see at the leaf axil ( the place that kinda looks like a Y where the vines come out of ) start having little green buds start..these will be the new vines..hence producing blooms later on..remember one thing!!..NEVER fertilize your clematis once you see it start to set buds because if you do that will Rush your bloom period..clematis can bloom for up to a month and you want to enjoy every bit of it...also...if you see any vine that doesn't put out green buds you can consider that vine dead from what I call winter kill and prune it to the ground..but make sure and give your vine alotta time to dictate which are viable!!..Some are very slow to start especially the pruning group 2s !!...Hope this helps...Jeanne

A big thanks to ya jeanne,didn't want to a pest ! the info is alot of help understanding these plants. It's a big help getting the right info from the right people. Once again thanks. ...............Mike