climbing plants

CurlyGirlyGirl

We have two pergolas in our backyard that DH just painted white.  I would love to have a climbing plant become tall enough to cover the top of the pergola to make it gorgeous!  Any suggestions?

 We already planted a pink jasmine near one since they smell so good, but they're not always pretty looking...

scatterbrainliz

Depends on how much sun you get in the area but here are some suggestions:

Clematis
Wisteria (can get invasive)
Morning glories
Confederate jasmine (all over the South)
There are others but I can't think of them at the moment.

elviebird

Carolina Jasmine is the native version of Confederate Jasmine (in the southeast, at least).  It has yellow flowers in the spring and is evergreen.  There's also passion vine which has the most insane purple flowers.  You'll get spiky orange caterpillars eating it, but they turn into pretty gulf frittilary butterflies.  There's also a native wisteria that's not nearly as invasive as the japanese version.  All three need full sun.

kastle

elviebird:

  There's also a native wisteria that's not nearly as invasive as the japanese version.  All three need full sun.

If you must plant wisteria, do not plant the chinese or japanese ones.  They would take down your lovely pergola unless you chopped them back several times in the growing season.

CurlyGirlyGirl

Thanks for all of the ideas!  I'm tempted to try the morning glory - I've always thought they were beautiful but I've never had one for myself!

prop_tart

We're going to plant hops on ours (once we build it!).  The good thing about hops is that they die back to the roots every year, so you don't have to worry about them doing eventual damage to the pergola/going crazy all over your yard like wisteria.