I'm in the pnw so the bloom of ceanothus would be different here - they are very long blooming here - about a month or more, but I would check at your local nursery to see what they can tell you. I have a pic of Dark Star saved as one of my faves, but it may be more upright than what you want (altho the pic I have does have a fountain form). That's why I posted the one above, altho I haven't seen that groundcover ceanothus in person.

Personally, my experience with Perle d'Azur is that it takes it longer than most clematis to get established and really get growing. In a growth race between a Betty Corning and P d'A of the same size planted at the same time, Betty would win hands down and eat poor P d'A for supper. The fragrance of BC is another feather in her hat in my opinion. I like Huldine quite a bit since the back side of the petals have nice pink down the midribs. Having it hang over a railing would give you great exposure to see this backside coloration, however it's growth rate is not anything like BC in my experience. Plus when you can get fragrance at the same time, BC wins hands down. As far as bloom time, BC wins again in my book both for number and length of bloom period. If you want a white viticella, another choice is Alba luxurians. I personally like the green tipped ends on the white flowers. The one in my garden is only a year old and has done well. A friend in California said that hers has gotten quite large over the years. How many of any of the clematis in question you plant really depends on how long you want to wait to get the area filled in and which one you choose.

I appreciate the kudos, but the recipes I posted in that linked thread are no longer what I use. Also, "Peters top soil" was really "Scotts top soil" -- I remembered the name wrong. While I did get great growth from that recipe, all those roses were planted in the ground just a few months later. Keeping roses in pots longer required a "fluffier" mix. I came to find that I get more growth from a modified "Mel's Mix" from Square Foot Gardening. My formula for potting up bands now is: 3 gallons peat moss 1 gallon perlite 1 gallon vermiculite 1 gallon Bovung dehydrated manure 3 cups Espoma Garden Tone (or any other similar organic dry fertilizer) This year, I couldn't find Bovung and substituted Black Kow composted manure. But since that has half the N-P-K as Bovung, I doubled the quantity of it, and reduced the peat moss component to 2 gallons. The goal was maintaining a 1/3 inorganic "fluffy yet moisture-retentive" base, made up by the perlite and vermiculite, respectively. This is all mixed in a wheelbarrow. Before adding to a container, I line the bottom with a used coffee filter or two from my Starbucks coffee grounds hauls. This slows the drainage for a while, until the filters break down. And that allows for the containers to stay a bit extra moist in the beginning as the bands grow more roots. I pot the bands in 1- or 2-gal nursery liners, about an inch or two deeper than they were in their original containers. I finish with a 1/2" or so of used coffee grounds, still leaving an inch of space from the rim to allow room for watering and rainfall. The coffee grounds were the most recent addition. If anything, I think they help to keep the earthworms happy -- they always seem to find their way into my pots sitting on the ground. And I happily recommend hitting up your local Starbucks for coffee grounds. While I've been on hiatus from my pickups since I started a different job and have been working a lot, I had a regular system going for quite a while. I bought two heavy duty indoor garbage cans, left one there, and returned the next day to swap them out. I'd dump the cans into a leaky wheelbarrow, which allowed any liquid to drain out. Coffee filters were in there as well, so I started by pulling them out as I found them, reserving them for composting or whatever else I could do with them. The grounds I'd scoop into a bucket, then carry to where I wanted a fresh layer. Even if you go once or twice a week, you'll still get a lot for your garden. Start out spreading it thinly and see what happens as you gradually increase the depth. Or just fling it by the trowel-full into your beds. It's free nutrient-rich organic matter that would otherwise end up in a landfill -- and it already looks rather like soil, so it blends in. :-) ~Christopher P.S. I found some links mentioning my "magic mix". http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3426379/keep-weak-roses-potted-longer?n=21 http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4005123/salet-is-in-bud http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3533090/bands-doing-great-irish-cream-has-a-bud

I feel guilty that I"ve actually been having a mostly relaxing day while dh is slaving in the kitchen ALL day. He went to the grocery store early and while he was gone, I made marinara sauce for the ravioli mentioned above. I failed to mention that *his* tradition every year is to make chocolate chip pumpkin bread (old Ghirardelli recipe) for all our friends/neighbors/coworkers. He sometimes makes 40 loaves. Well, I thought he was done but nope, got home from the store and made two more batches. Then he started in on the filling for the ravioli. He made the meat ravioli first, finally took a break for dinner, and is now working on the cheese ravioli. Our 13 y/o has been a great helper. The other day, he decided that he wanted to bring pumpkin cheesecake to my parents' house for Christmas. My mom is already making dessert but he decided he wanted this as well so she didn't have to make an additional dessert. I warned him the cheesecake needs to be made ahead. He said he was going to make it tonight. Well, he's already said he will do it tomorrow. Yet I just realized now, at 9:30pm, that he still hasn't made the tiramisu for Christmas Eve dessert. His response - "I got it, I didn't forget. I'm making both tomorrow." Every year he does this. He takes on too much and then complains after the fact about how exhausted he is. I happily would have bought the tiramisu in Little Italy where it is fabulous. Nope, he needs to make it from scratch. I wouldn't care but he makes a disaster out of the kitchen for days on end b/c he doesn't clean up until the very end. I cannot STAND clutter so it makes me nuts that my kitchen is a mess with no end in sight. I couldn't even make dinner tonight b/c there was no room! We had to get take out. I suppose I shouldn't complain - it is nice that he loves to cook. I do as well, but I am much better at planning and timing (and cleaning up and starting fresh each day). I mentioned next year doing a sort of buffet spread of heavy appetizers instead of Christmas dinner (someone else here mentioned doing that this year, and since my mom has decided this is her last year of hosting, I thought that idea sounded good for next year). Of course, he made a face. But we host a sit-down dinner on Christmas Eve! And seriously, I'd like to actually enjoy Christmas not spend two days in a row feeding a formal sit down dinner to my family when HE is the only one who cares. My kids would happily graze all day.