Clematis: Clematis has never bloomed, 1 by jcoakley

jcoakley wrote:
And here's a leaf close-up.

Jeanne, I have only used composted manure to fertilize around this plant, with the exception of a little Miracle Gro here and there when I've had annuals planted around it (but not this year). I have never pruned it, as this is the first year it has ever shown any kind of significant growth. As I mentioned in my previous post, I am a relative newbie, and when I first planted it, I tried to use an old piece of wooden fencing as a trellis without realizing the slats were much too wide; the poor thing was unable to climb anywhere. The black trellis you see pictured is new this year and is quite obviously better suited. But still no blooms. And when I was out taking the picture, I noticed that several stems down near the ground looked kind of brown and dead; maybe that's why it's not full? I hadn't noticed this before because there were daisies in front of it that I only recently cut back.