Clematis: And I thought it was dead..., 0 by wgnkiwi

wgnkiwi wrote:
Here is a picture of my "Niobe" just starting to take off. This is the second year it's been in the ground and I was hoping for a bit more growth than last year. It has one dead looking stick poking out of the ground which is attached to a bamboo cane just in-case it needs a little support you know ;-) Two weeks ago I found my pesky cats had been playing around in the garden and broken that dead-looking stick off at the ground. It was attached by the merest thread of bark. I propped it back up and re-secured it to the bamboo and today I found some new growth. Woo-hoo I'm excited. I can't wait to see what else these amazing little plants can do!

Question though: is the white fuzzy bit in the middle of the leaves a flower bud and should I pinch it off?