Hi mzstitch! I usually try to let the experts chime in but since you haven't gotten any feedback yet I will share with you what knowledge I've gained the last couple of years :)

When we bought our house two summers ago my mother-in-law came over with a clematis as a housewarming gift. A little Nelly Moser clematis. I planted it at the base of a tree thinking it would grow up the tree on it's own because I didn't know how clematis climbed. Later in the summer, I thought it died and stopped watering it and completely forgot about it.

Last spring I was cleaning up in the yard and saw it coming back up from the roots. Knowing more about clematis and knowing it wasn't going to climb a tree on it's own, I ran out and got a trellis for it to climb and it did beautifully.

I've been told to cut down my clematis to 6-12" for the first few years if you want it to branch out. So if something ate the vine down, that may not be the worst thing in the world. From what I've seen so far, my clematis always bounce back. A pesky rabbit ate my Blue Light Clematis I planted last spring down to the ground twice before I put up chicken wire to protect it and it grew back up the obelisk and even bloomed for me.

I am in a colder zone than you, not sure when you should start seeing them in Zone 7. Good luck & I hope your clematis rewards you with the unplanned trimming it had!

Yours is a beauty Michaela! Thank you, fingers are still crossed that its' just taking its time after a cold winter. I didn't trim it down last year as it never got very big. I think a good part of the beginning of the year it was establishing its roots, then the plants around it grew larger and it wasn't getting the sunlight it needed to take off. It did bloom though, so it had to be somewhat happy! A lady at Lowe told me she dug hers up once because it wasn't growing only to later find it taking off in her compost pile! lol. So they have to be hardy! Fingers crossed, thanks for your reply!