Clematis Wilt

I would be very interested in others experience of this annoying “ infection”.
I grow maybe 15 different Clematis, all have never suffered from Clematis Wilt other than my favourite, typical! Marie Boisselot.
I must have had this Clematis for 10 odd years and every year until last year the damn thing would grow up covered in buds and then collapse.
I tried all sorts of potions which were proported to work and none did. I was very close to digging the plant up and discarding it and stopped bothering to try more miracle cures or even cut the wilted stems down. I just left it unattended and not pruned. However, last year the plant decided to cooperate and not a sign of wilt, great. I wondered if it was a 1 off but no this year all is good too with the plant looking incredibly healthy all be it a bit of a tangle of stems.
I read somewhere? that Clematis Wilt improves with mature plants, something to do with the width of the stems which obviously get a bit wider on mature specimens. I would be interested to have others views as to whether it is the case that this Clematis just grew out of it as I believe nobody really knows what causes wilt in the first place.

 

I've never had much luck with clematis, I did keep one for about 20 yrs but they are either rampant or too weak for me.