Good photos,Marko. You do not need to start a new thread to post a second photo. Bring up the first posting and add the new photo in the message box below. It would be helpful to post your second photo in this thread as well. Then you can edit the second thread and delete the photo and message and put "deleted by poster". You may need to change the Subject of Posting title slightly if GW won't accept the second posting.

You mention it is very hot there which may be why the bottom leaves are drying up. Some clematis varieties are more apt to have browning lower stems than others. Keeping the soil moist lessens the browning but might not stop it. If the there are plenty of green leaves higher up and it is putting out new growth there might not be anymore to do. That is why many grow other plants in front of clematis to help hide the bare lower stems.

In Minnesota we call it "bare legs". ;-)

See how I changed the subject posting?

Thanks Minnesota! We are having a roasting summer here, and I noticed that pouring a bucket of water onto the soil went straight into the ground in 3 seconds. The plant flowered, suddenly stopped growing, and the leaf yellowing has progressed higher up. Scraping into the 'soil' indicated very low water retention. I have increased the water volumemto 2 buckets a day, but I will also replace the surrounding topsoil with potting mix to improve structure and retention. We had earthquakes here a few years that were so violent it changed the soil structure!