That is fairly normal for this time of year, especially if you have had a week or so of temps in the 80's & no rain.

A lot of my perennials, not just clems, do that with the lower leaves. It is not very attractive, so I just pick or snip off the yellowy, brown crispy leaves and hope that a new stemlet will start growing where the leaf had been.

If I have the space, as I do with the roadside plantings, I put a big pot of tall Sedum or Daylilies a few inches in front of the clem to help disguise the bare stems. In the inner parts of the garden, by now it looks like a jungle, so I don't have room for pots, unless it is a large tub for more clems.

Marie, whose bare legs don't look so great either

Marie, I'm chuckling out loud at your post. I thought you were referring to a clematis named "Marie" that was bare at the bottom portion until I realized what you were really saying. Thanks for the good laugh. If only I could prune mine so new ones would grow...LOL

It is very common for Clems to look like that this time of year in gardens and in nurseries.

If it were mine I'd cut it back.

Did you plant it deeper than in the nursery pot?

Yep, I did plant it deeper than the nursery pot. I should have included the top portion in the picture - the outgrowth looks nice. I just planted it so I wasn't sure if I should let it sit for a bit due to transplant shock, or prune, but I'll take your advice and prune.

I prune all of them when I plant them. Everyone doesn't, but I struggled with scraggly Clems for too long so I do.