Cameron, I am certainly no expert but do have two growing over shrubs. One is a texensis, Julia Correvon, growing over an Alba rose. The rose blooms early spring and the clem is still blooming. I don't know about the eg clems since I can't grow them in my zone 6.

The montanas grow quite tall and could work with your climbing rose.

Hopefully, more experts will chime in here. I wouldn't want to cover a rose that blooms all summer unless it was a wispy clematis.
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Cameron I'm no expert either but I purposely plant clematis with my roses. I have the Countess of Lovelace with Constance Spry, I have Ramona with Abraham Darby, Mrs. P.T. James with America and I have a little species clemie clambering through Albertine. I'm just going to plant Kew Rambler with montana Freda on the back fence. Kew rambler is very vigorous and I'm hoping it goes over the fence on the highway side or our yard.
In the front I took the clemie Firecracker down off a trellis and have started it wandering through a Mock Orange.
Mrs P.T. is actually intertwined with another Clemie Guernsey Cream, the rose America, the neighbors honeysuckle and winter jasmine which have spilled over onto our side of the fence. This has turned our old stockade type fence into a tapestry of greenery, with flowers at certain times of the year.
Annette

Forgot to mention, I have the evergreen clematis Armandii, it's a touchy grower for me. It either is to wet or too cold in my garden but others in town grow it to perfection, A real beauty with a haunting hawthorn like fragrance when in bloom. I'm taking another stab at growing it, this time inside my pool room on the back wall/fence. It made it through last winter but still doesn't look like much. I have another Clematis planted in the pool room that stays green and flowers through the winter, cirrhosa 'Freckles' this one is slightly scented. Talking about scent the clematis 'Fair Rosamond' is very pale in color but has a subtle scent, smells like violets.
Annette

I have Duchess of Albany (Texensis Hybrid) climbing through an old Peace rose and up a mock orange. Gives some colour to the mock orange when it's out of flower.

Libby

Ok...I keep seeing and hearing about these beautiful clematis vines. I've bought three or four different types, but all I get is a little short vine that eventually teases me with two or three blooms and then just sits there. So what am I doing wrong? How do I get a clematis to grow and spread and BLOOM like I see pictures of? Does clematis grow well in the hot, humid southeast?

My concern with sharing space would be when it comes time to prune. Guess that's determined by which clematis you're growing. I had one ... this year I added another. Both are in Group 3, so they get pruned the same.

Bama, it takes a few years for clematis to do their thing. What's the saying ... "First year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap."

Don't know if it has been mentioned on this forum yet, but Chalk Hill is closing and all their clematis are half off. It is an online supplier : http://www.chalkhillclematis.com/nursery_shop/nurserystore.htm
wig

Wig, I just read that on Gardenbuddies. Guess it's time to order a couple more.

Here is Madame Julia Correvon growing over an arborvitae.

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I haven't grown a clematis over a shrub, but I have had good success with the C. armandii. I had it on a north wall and it did fantastic. Soil was not great, stayed somewhat moist. It climbed to the top of an 8-10' cedar trellis in 2 yrs. These were 1 gal plants from HD too!
While visiting the UK, I saw loads of clematis growing over shrubs, lovely.

This is the Lady Banks that I want to use for the clematis. For a few weeks in April, it looks like this, then it's just a lot of green. I have blue Brookside geraniums and platycoden edging the path on the right. There are some tall deep pink garden phlox and a Starfighter lily in among some pink Encore azaleas (bloom in April and in September). On the left side, there is an arborvitae, Hawthorns semi-circling the chimney with garden phlox in the middle of the semi-circle.

I do have to keep this LB shaped to fit the space and not cover the gate. That may be a problem unless the clematis emerges and grows after the LB has finished blooming.

I'm asking about the evergreen to grow up the side of a deck with east exposure at the back of the house.

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Cameron, that Lady Banks is beautiful! How fast does it grow? And how much ground space does it need?

-Sharon (who's brain is whirling trying to think of a place to add that beauty!)

My clematis have rambled through a couple of azaleas, lorapetaleum and a huge rosemary with no problems to any of the plants. I had read in my Southern Living gardening book that it was a neat way to get more interest from shrubs and rambling roses that only bloom once. Since I bought so many a couple weeks ago I am going to plant one to ramble through my New Dawn......

Lynne

Cameron, the lady banks rose (thornless :o)), I tried growing it but our winters did it in, this has the scent of violets if I remember correctly would look nice with one of the small flowered clemies growing through it, keep it more in scale with the leaves on the rose, just my opinion. Is there a particular color you're interested in or are you looking for a clemie the same color as the rose. The yellow tangutica blooms all summer for me, has these beautiful silver seed heads, this is one to cut back severely each year, blooms all summer. Warning: beautiful but it is a rampant grower which doesn't bother me, I grow this on a fence. I have another species with nodding dainty blue/purple flowers scrambling around in the rambler Albertine, not so aggressive but it does seed itself around a bit, not a problem I just pull them out.
Annette

I'm trying to absorb all this info! It's a crash course in clematis.

So, more naive questions...

Is there a way to get staggered blooms? Meaning, is it possible to plant 2 clematis together where one will bloom when another stops?

Will it be a problem that the clematis will basically have to start off shaded by the rose and the cherry tree outside the fence.

I have two Jackmanii purple that just finished blooming...gorgeous in the 3rd year. Will those rebloom? Do I need to cut them back?

Yellow, purple, blue and deep pink look good with the color of our house and stone, so I'm fine with any of those. I'll go look up the clematis mentioned here to see photos.

Thanks,
Cameron

Cameron for me the montanas are spring bloomers, bloom on second year wood, the odd flower in the fall. The jackmanii are summer bloomers for me, bloom on new growth so do yours not rebloom as they grow? Ones like Haku Ookan (one of my favs) blooms semi-double first then single flowers later the same goes for Proteus (dble) and Countess of Lovelace (semi dble) this one's a beauty. Bluebird has finished but does get the odd flower late summer. I wonder if you can grow the cirrhosas I have to give mine protection up here. I've given you a link to where most of my clemies come from.
Annette

Here is a link that might be useful: Clearview

The website 'Clematis on the Web' is a great resource and you can look up types for photos. Following is a blub that I found helpful about the different types of clematis:

Pruning

Each clematis listed on this website has been given a code which relates to one of the categories below. These codes are in widespread use. References to months of the year, both here and on the site proper, are for the central United Kingdom. Readers elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere may need to make a slight adjustment, readers in the Southern Hemisphere also need to add six months.

Group 1

This group contains some of the most vigorous clematis. When used to cover large areas, such as walls or fences, no pruning is required. If, however, space is limited some pruning may be necessary. If you do need to prune a Group 1 clematis this should be carried out as soon as flowering has finished. This allows the plant to produce some new growth which will supply the flowers for the following year.
Group 2

This group contains the early and mid-season large flowered hybrids which usually begin flowering before the end of June. Although no regular pruning is required, you may wish to remove any dead tips from the stems. This will keep the plant looking tidy. In late February or early March, working down from the tips, follow each stem until you come to a pair of live buds. Remove the end of the stem by pruning just above this point.
Group 3

This group contains all the late flowering species and hybrids. Although these varieties will flower if left unpruned, they will soon become bare at the base and flowers will be produced well above head-height. This is ideal when growing clematis into a tree, but for general use hard pruning is recommended. Each February, prune all stems back to approximately 30cm (12") from ground level, cutting just above an old leaf joint. New growth will soon appear, resulting in a plant which is green from top to bottom and with flowers at a more acceptable height.

I've got to go off and read all the wonderful information provided and decide which clematis to choose. I really appreciate all the helpful advice from everyone.

Cameron

If you wanted to stagger bloom times you could plant a Type II large flowered hybrid on one side of the arbor. It would bloom earlier. Then you could plant a Type 3 on the other side. You just don't want to plant the type 2s and 3s together because their pruning requirements are different. The Type 3s are pruned hard every spring so bloom a little later. Two of my very favorite Type 3s are Betty Corning and Polish Spirit. They are vigorous enough that they wouldn't get lost among your rose and they are very free-flowering and disease resistant.

Good luck --the rose is beautiful!

Cameron - got this newsletter from White Flower Farms in my e -mail the other day and thought of you immediately. Definitely relates to growing Clematis in shrubs, roses, ect.........

"Large-flowered Clematis usually grow about 6Â8 feet tall, making them ideal companions for Climbing Roses and many shrubs. The wiry vines will scramble through the branches without adding excessive weight to their hosts. Clematis like full to partial sun with a bit of shade on their roots, so this pairing works to the vine's advantage.

Clematis climb by means of grasping petioles -- the stem-like base of the leaves. When it meets a potential support, the petiole coils around it tightly. The best support is therefore rather narrow, such as the branch of a Rose or the crossbars of a wire or steel trellis. In the Reading Room section of Gardening Help on our Web site, you'll find Christopher Lloyd's article, The Virtue of Vines, with an illustration of how to lead Clematis vines up into shrubs using bamboo stakes.

Sweet Autumn Clematis is the exception for partnerships. This vigorous plant is likely to overwhelm most hosts. Instead, provide a sturdy support, such as an arbor or fence. Indeed, it is the perfect way to camouflage a chain-link fence.

Plant your new Clematis with the crown three to four inches below the soil level. This protects future buds, and allows the plant to re-sprout if its top growth is damaged.

The pruning of Clematis vines causes lots of trepidation, but it doesn't need to; the plants will keep growing after their haircut, and you will learn timing by experience. The general rule: prune out four-year-old stems after bloom, because flower production tends to decline. Varieties that bloom on new wood (including Sweet Autumn Clematis) can be cut back severely early every spring, if desired. Plants that bloom on old wood (last year's growth) can be pruned lightly right after bloom, if needed to control size. For plants that bloom twice, you may remove weak growth in spring, then prune lightly if needed after the first bloom. Our Clematis growing guide gives a list of varieties and their pruning groups to help you decide when and whether to wield your clippers. The Gardening Help section of our Web site contains an A-Z list of growing guides plus articles and tips on gardening and design, videos, and much more."

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Lynne

Lynne-- I got that email, too. WWF is expensive and I've only gotten plants (asclepias) from them with a free gift cerficate. However, I love their catalogs and emails!

Cameron