From reading all these threads..I see I am clematis stoopid...lol I just buy them, put them in the ground...they kept coming back every year. The nly place that was a challenge was here in SC..zone7. I have had to transplant the ones to cooler spots in the yard. But, they are doing fine right noe, on the north side of the garage, in the shade. I have never overwintered anything, by digging them up and keping them indoors....even while I was in kansas.
Clematis fer dummies...me ...... :D
I'd never challenge success!
That's kinda what I was thinking...lol