starter Nelly Moser question

Hi -

I've heard that clematis can be quite slow the first year. I bought a small Nelly Moser that had several flowers, although the plant itself was less than a foot tall. I planted it and have kept it quite well-watered and mulched, and also provided a little food. Anyhow, it did NOTHING (although it was clearly alive) for a several weeks, and finally it has a single fast-growing shoot. I was wondering if this is normal, or whether I did something wrong so it doesn't have multiple shoots? (maybe I can expect some more over the next few weeks?) I also have read all sorts of things about pruning them but frankly there probably isn't going to be anything to prune ... if anyone has some helpful hints for this young plant that would be great!!!

Also, we have a previously-planted clematis (no-ID) that grew up out of the ground from nowhere! It seems to be doing well, but has some lower leaves (down on the stems-only part) that got brown and fell off (all the flowers are up on the top of the trellis with the newest part of the plant). Plant seems otherwise healthy but wanted to make sure this wasn't something alarming. If I have no idea what type of clematis this is, can I just do something like prune back a third of it?

Thank you!

Scubadoobie.."Brown-out" as I call it on clematis is very common ..especially when the hot summer comes...quite a few of mine have those ugly brown leaves..that is why some people plant something noninvasive in front of their clematis to hide this...I wouldn't prune it back..it might be a pruning group 2 and you'll have more flowers later on in the late summer/early fall..if you post a pic we can try and identify it for you..mind you pruning never hurts a clematis..especially when they are young helps them to establish a stronger rootsystem
As far as your clematis "Nelly Moser"..don't fret its not appearing to be doing anything...clematis, as you probably know are the sleep,creep and then leap plant. Being a baby it is sleeping and focusing on getting it's roots stronger and giving you a vine that shot up tells you that it is doing just that...don't prune back..just let it grow and enjoy the one or two flowers you might get and then you can prune it back...I would hard prune your "NM" late winter/early spring of '08 and fertilize..you'll be amazed at how much it will grow next year...Jeanne