Will My Clematis Recover? One Plant's Story Says Don't Give Up Yet
A documented recovery timeline after unexpected pest damage
By Diane & Larry | Scroll Trellis Garden Journal
Every gardener knows the feeling.
You walk outside looking forward to seeing your plants, and something immediately catches your eye.
Not because it's beautiful.
Because something is wrong.
That was my experience one morning with my Morning Star clematis.
Only a few days earlier, the vine had been growing vigorously. Healthy leaves surrounded a developing flower bud, and everything looked exactly as it should.
Then, over the next several days, I began noticing something I couldn't quite explain. Leaves that had surrounded the developing flower were slowly disappearing.
At first, I didn't realize what I was seeing.
Looking back through my photographs later, I discovered the damage had actually started days before I recognized it.
My first thought wasn't about plant biology.
It was much simpler.
Would the flower still bloom?
Looking back, I realize I was asking only part of the question.
The flower eventually became only part of the story.
The real story was how the plant responded after it was damaged.
Before Anything Went Wrong
One reason this Garden Journal is a little different is that I happened to photograph the vine before anything changed.
Without realizing it at the time, I was creating the beginning of a recovery timeline.
Over several weeks, my Morning Star clematis was growing normally on a Scroll Trellis.
New shoots were climbing.
Leaves were healthy.
Flower buds were developing, and I was anticipating flowers soon!
Several weeks before I noticed any damage, the vine was growing normally and producing healthy new growth.
Over the next couple of weeks, I continued photographing the same vine.
At the time, I simply thought I was documenting another flower getting ready to bloom.
Looking back, these photographs became something much more valuable.
They established a baseline.
They showed exactly what the plant looked like before the damage became obvious.
The flower bud was developing normally while the surrounding foliage still appeared healthy.
A second photograph from that same day captured another important detail.
- Healthy leaves surrounded the developing flower.
- The stem was actively growing.
- Everything suggested a healthy, vigorous vine.
- The leaves were grabbing the mesh, all looked great.
Until it didn't...
Another view of the healthy foliage surrounding the developing flower just before the damage became apparent.
Looking Back, the Story Had Already Started
When I first reviewed these photographs, I assumed the damage had appeared suddenly.
Then I looked more closely. One image from July 22 revealed something I had completely overlooked:
- The flower bud still looked healthy.
- The upper portion of the vine looked normal.
- But leaves lower on the stem were already missing.
Because my attention had been focused on the flower, I hadn't noticed those first signs of defoliation.
That changed the timeline.
Rather than documenting a single moment of damage, these photographs show that the damage had already begun several days before I fully recognized it.
It's a good reminder of why photographs are so valuable in the garden.
They often reveal details we miss in the moment.
When I first took this photograph, I was focused on the developing flower. Only later did I notice that leaves lower on the stem (lower right) had already disappeared. This became the earliest photograph documenting the beginning of the defoliation.
By the end of July, the damage had become much more obvious.
The question was no longer whether something had happened. The question was what the plant would do next.
I was hooked and begin to almost daily, stalk my plant!
The Recovery I Wasn't Expecting
By the end of July, the damage had become impossible to ignore.
Looking back, I now know the defoliation had already begun at least a week earlier. But by July 26, much of the foliage surrounding the developing flower had disappeared.
There was no longer any doubt that something had been feeding on the vine.
The flower bud was still attached.
The stem was still alive.
My attention was still focused on one question:
Would the flower continue developing?
Rather than making assumptions, I decided to let the plant answer that question.
Over the next week, I photographed the same stem from nearly the same angle every day.
Those photographs became the heart of this episode of the Garden Journal.
By July 26, much of the surrounding foliage had disappeared. The flower bud remained attached, but I had no idea whether it would continue developing.
July 31
When I checked the vine the following day, I expected more bad news.
Instead, I found the flower still developing.
That alone surprised me. After losing so much nearby foliage, I expected the flower to struggle. And not only was the flower bud developing; tiny new leaves were beginning to emerge lower on the stem. That hinted that recovery was in the works!
The flower continued developing, but another change was beginning. Small new shoots had started growing beneath the damaged section of the stem.
August 1
- By the next day, the changes were easier to see.
- The flower continued progressing toward bloom.
- The new shoots continued growing.
For the first time, I found myself paying as much attention to the new leaves as I was to the flower.
The recovery seemed to be happening in two directions at once.
One part of the stem was finishing something it had already started.
Another part was beginning something entirely new.
One day later, both the flower and the new vegetative growth had advanced noticeably.
August 2
- The pattern continued.
- The flower kept developing.
- The replacement growth kept expanding.
So I was relieved at the what looked like recovery, but one thing kept bother me: Photographs can document what happened. They can't explain why it happened.
The flower continued developing while the new vegetative growth became larger and more obvious.
August 3
The flower finally opened.
Just a few days earlier, I wasn't sure it ever would. But by the time it opened, the flower had become almost anticlimactic compared with what was happening elsewhere on the vine.
New growth was appearing below it.
Despite losing much of its surrounding foliage, the flower still opened.
And Then It Kept Going
I thought I had probably reached the end of this recovery story.
Then I kept watching. By August 6, the small shoots I had been photographing were no longer so small. New leaves had expanded into substantial growth beneath the flower
Recovery in progress!
By August 6, new leafy growth had expanded substantially around the previously damaged stem.
August 8: The Recovery Was Becoming Hard to Miss
And that brings us to the present!
Multiple areas of new growth were now visible along the vine. What had started as tiny shoots had developed into leaves and extending stems. And the original flower was still hanging on.
In one photograph, I could suddenly see almost the entire story I had been documenting for weeks: the older stem, the areas where foliage had disappeared, the new growth developing from the vine, and the flower that had somehow continued through all of it.
By August 8, the recovery was unmistakable. New shoots and leaves had developed along the vine while the original flower remained attached.
A closer view showed some of that new growth was emerging from the places where leaves and stems meet. (the left node)
I didn't understand the significance of that when I first started photographing the plant. I do now.
Looking closer revealed where some of the new growth was emerging from the vine. Those small junctions would eventually become one of the most interesting parts of this story.
Looking Back at the Recovery
Sorting through nearly a month of photographs, the sequence became remarkably clear.
| Date | Observation |
|---|---|
| July 10–21 | Healthy vine, healthy foliage, developing flower bud |
| July 22 | Earliest visible signs of foliage loss appear in photographs |
| July 30 | Significant foliage loss surrounds the developing flower |
| July 31 | Flower continues developing while new shoots become noticeable |
| August 1 | New vegetative growth expands |
| August 2 | Recovery continues |
| August 3 | Flower opens successfully |
| August 6 | Replacement growth continues expanding |
| August 8 | Multiple new shoots and leaves make the plant's recovery unmistakable |
What began as a question about a damaged clematis had turned into something much more interesting.
The plant hadn't simply survived. It was actively replacing some of what had been lost.And if you've found your own clematis with missing leaves, chewed stems, or a section that suddenly looks bare, that's the part of this story I hope you'll remember.
Don't decide too quickly that the plant is finished.
Watch the stems. Look closely at the places where leaves meet them. Give the plant some time. There may be more happening than you can see at first.
Frequently Asked Questions About Clematis Leaf Damage
What happened to my clematis? The leaves disappeared.
If leaves seem to disappear from a clematis over a short period of time, look closely for signs that something has been feeding on the plant. In my case, the damage happened gradually enough that I didn't recognize it immediately. Looking back through my photographs, I could see the foliage disappearing over several days.
Check the remaining leaves and stems carefully. Chewed leaf edges, partially eaten leaves, bare sections of stem, and droppings can all be clues that an insect or other pest has been feeding on the plant.
Damaged leaves can be an early clue that something is feeding on a clematis, even before large sections of foliage disappear.
I found little droppings near my clematis. Could they be from whatever is eating the leaves?
Possibly. In my case, droppings were another clue that something had been feeding on the plant.
If you find droppings along with fresh chewing damage, inspect the plant carefully, including the undersides of leaves, stems, nearby supports, and places where a pest could be hiding. The droppings themselves don't necessarily identify the culprit, but they can be an important sign that the missing foliage isn't simply the result of a disease or environmental problem.
I noticed these droppings before I found the culprit. Combined with the disappearing foliage, they were an important clue that something was feeding on the plant.
I can't find what's eating my clematis. Should I keep looking?
Yes. A feeding pest can be surprisingly difficult to spot, especially when it blends into the plant or feeds when you aren't watching.
I didn't immediately know what was causing the damage either. The photographs helped me recognize that the foliage loss was progressing, and eventually I found the culprit.
Eventually I found the culprit. By then, photographs had already documented the progression of damage to the vine.
My clematis lost a lot of leaves. Is it going to die?
Not necessarily.
That was exactly what I wondered as I watched foliage disappear from this clematis. But instead of continuing to decline, the plant began producing new growth.
Over the following days, new shoots and leaves appeared at several points along the vine. By August 8, the recovery was unmistakable.
That doesn't mean every damaged clematis will recover. The outcome depends on the extent and type of damage and the overall condition of the plant. But a clematis that has lost leaves is not automatically a dead clematis.
No additional image needed here. Your August 8 recovery photograph immediately above this section has already made the point visually.
Should I cut my clematis down if most of the leaves have been eaten?
I wouldn't automatically cut a damaged clematis to the ground simply because much of its foliage is gone.
First, look closely at what remains. If stems are still alive and you begin seeing new growth, the plant may already be responding to the damage.
In my case, leaving the surviving vine in place allowed me to watch new shoots emerge and expand from points along the existing stems.
This is also why I think photographing a damaged plant before making major changes can be useful. A picture taken today gives you something to compare with several days from now.
How long should I wait to see if my clematis grows back?
There isn't one timetable that will apply to every clematis, but don't assume nothing is happening simply because you don't see an immediate response.
In this plant, the photographs captured changes over a matter of days. Small new shoots became increasingly obvious as the recovery progressed.
If the stems remain alive, watch the points where leaves join the stem especially closely. That's exactly where something interesting began happening on mine.
And stop there. Don't explain the nodes or dormant axillary buds yet. That last sentence is our bridge.
And there was one question I still couldn't answer just by looking at the photographs:
How did the clematis know where to start growing again?
That's where this story gets even more interesting, because the answer is hidden in the biology of the vine itself.
To be continued in Part 2: What actually happens inside a clematis after it is damaged, and why those tiny points along the stem matter so much. (coming soon)