Most of the many varieties of clematis that populated my old garden were wilt survivors. In fact, that is how I acquired them......I worked at a nursery at the time and these were customer returns ("help....my clematis died!"). Once cut back and planted, they all came back strong the next season.

Couple of thoughts :-) It may not be fungal wilt (IME, it rarely is). Clematis grow so fast that their root systems, especially with younger plants, cannot keep up with all that topgrowth in terms of water and nutrient support so they wilt. One of the reasons one is recommended to plant them deep and cut them back hard their first coupe of seasons in the ground......so the root system has time to develop fully.

Second, also IME, they seldom get repeat episodes - once and done! It is also rarely ever fatal and younger plants DO grow out of it. Rare for it to happen after year 5. And it is not contagious. If you have concerns, plant wilt resistant varieties. Pruning group 1 clems and the type 3's with lots of viticella parentage almost never get wilt.

Outside of planting resistant varieties, your best defense against wilt is to make sure you dig an adequately sized and enriched planting hole, plant at least 4" deeper than in the nursery pot and cut back hard the first two seasons in the ground regardless of pruning group. And make sure the planting area stays consistently moist....do not let it dry put completely.

Thank you very much! i only recently found out about planting them deeper from you tube videos. This one is not planted deep, and my 2 new ones i probably only have them about 2 inches or so deeper than the nursery pot. i just planted them a few days ago, should i dig them up and plant a bit deeper?

should i dig up the one that wilts and plant it deeper now or wait till fall or early next spring? you are probably right about it not being actual wilt, since it does grow very tall, very quickly in the spring, unfortunately thats what i love about her and she gets many flowers. Tho, as she grows the vines do get thinner I do try to keep her consistently wet, but there are times the soil does get quite dry.

I will try to find the tag to see what variety she is. Is there a list that shows wilt resistant varietys?

I’m in zone 5 (Pennsylvania)

No need to dig them up....just mound soil or compost around the base of the vine to the proper depth. A good thick layer of mulch will help to keep soil moisture more consistent as well.

Thank you, i will addmore soil/compost to the new ones and also the one that wilts. i will also cut back hard, like to the soil the wilting one. They all do have a thick layer of mulch and have a bit of shade in front of them.

Thank you!