"If I remember correctly, this spring, everything above ground was dead. So that, in effect, was pruning to the ground."

Exactly!! Clematis recta is a fully herbaceous (die to the ground) perennial. It is not treated like any of the vining clematis. Try considering it more like garden phlox and cutting back just as severely as you would that plant and at the same time :-))

btw, it is not a group 2 clematis......it is not (or should not be) included in any "formal" clematis pruning group. And the darkest foliage color is typically with the new growth in spring. The purple coloration develops into more of greenish bronze as the season progresses.

Thank you both! This explains a lot. I thought that maybe it was not healthy if the above ground part totally died, and it didn't bloom.

I've seen that before time and time again. I never do that unless maybe it gets sick. I leave it all there and it just grows right back up again. Silly. I figure do what you want - it's your plant, some people actually mow over their raspberry plants each year - I don't. I just check it for brown stems or leave it alone. Each to their own. I never will cease to be amazed how difficult people make things. Plants have been growing without our help for trillions of years. They really do okay if we don't interfere, and I use rocks for mulch or wood chips. Hardly ever water, seems ok.

Starchild, many plants will grow fine without our help but some will look tidier or fruit more or bloom better or have fewer diseases if cared for as recommended. So I water my tomato plants if it's too dry (though it rarely is here, but might be different if I wanted tomatoes in NM), remove old peony and phlox stems in the fall to reduce the following year's diseases, and I hard prune certain clematis so I have flowers at eye level rather than only at the top of a 10' plant and to avoid looking at a tangle of dead stems all winter. However, in the case of this particular plant, Clematis Serious Black, it is just a matter of removing last year's dead stems for tidiness. They are one clematis that grows totally new stems and foliage each season and what beautiful new growth it is!

Thank you! I am really looking forward to this taking off this year.

FWIW, I pruned my other established clematis last year "to the book". And wow, did they bloom! My Mother's Day gift from 10+ years ago, Duchess of Edinburgh, had at least 3 times the number of flowers. Same with Polish Spirit and Huldine. I had always pruned selectively and too late in the spring.