What kind of clematis is it (general type) and how thick is the base stem? If a well established vine with a base stem more than an inch in diameter, it will have a pretty darn big root system and digging it up and replanting may be a lot more than you bargained for :-) And some varieties will not take kindly to having what has essentially become a trunk being buried. It will just rot, as opposed to developing properly had this been attempted much earlier in the vine's life.

Thank you gardengal. Happy to see you're still on here :) I was on here back in the day...the era of Chalk Hill Nursery going out of business. I sold my home & gave all my clems to my Mom & Sister. Unfortunately only a few has made it out of 62 I had :( I moved to FL & wasn't around to see what was happening.

It's been in the ground 2 or 3 years now. The main vine is the size of a pencil. The cultivar is Avant Garde.

That makes a difference :-) Only 2-3 years inground and with a relatively thin base stem will make things infinitely easier! I doubt I would bury the entire bare length of stem but a couple of inches underground will not hurt at all. I would wait to do this when the vine was dormant or very nearly so.....so wait until later in the fall.

Alternatively, you can just cut the vine back hard this winter and apply some alfalfa meal to root zone in spring. That should encourage more basal caning.

Personally, I would just whack it back and give it alfalfa pellets and mulch rather than trying to dig it up and replant.

Good to see you around as well buyorsell :P Thanks for your input. I think we'll just leave it alone than. I'll keep you posted on how it does.