Great ideas, you guys....thanks! I have a Meyer Lemon in a pot, waiting to go in the ground, where hubby BBQ'd the original Meyer on Father's Day (don't ask!), and that will be next to the concrete border, with a companion lime. Leafy greens in the shade? Hmmm. ok. Was hoping for a permanent planting, as I am forbidden to put a bougainvillia there, it should still be pretty, and hopefully tall. The concrete wall is ugly grey blocks. I've had a cherimoya before, with fruit, and it wasn't hand-pollinated, but that is a tasty tree! Not too shady for it? Good choice. Kitazawa's site looked mighty tasty. I guess $21 isn't too steep to pay for those seeds. Now I need to figure out where all the banana pots should get planted.... thanks again.

If you go to your member page you can add your zone and something that tells where you are generally such as your state or "Cape Cod" or "Bay Area". That will help you get feedback. I am assuming that the fence is the solid wood fence with the lattice on top, not the cables around the deck. If so, do you have something for the clematis to climb? They climb by wrapping the leaf stems AKA petioles around things, so it needs relatively narrow things to wrap around, such as a narrow-barred trellis 3/8" diameter or less, wire fencing, etc. Is the whole area relatively bright and open or are there overhanging trees? Clematis need enough light to bloom and will take a long time to grow into the sun at the top of the fence if there is too much shade. I don't grow any of these specific clematis, but have some general thoughts as to planting. I don't think I would plant pairs in the same hole just because I think the stronger growing plant will out-compete the weaker. I would get rid of the grass along the fence, loosen the soil along the whole bed and mix in compost since clematis are fairly heavy feeders, and use a buried edging to keep the grass out. It is really difficult to manage grass around clematis stems without accidentally cutting the clematis stems. I'd plant each clem in its own hole as close as a foot or two apart so that each can get started without competition. To keep the soil moisture more even, I'd cover the whole bed with organic mulch such as wood chips except right against the clematis stems. The other potential issue is that you have different planting groups mixed together. The different groups each bloom best when pruned according to group. So for instance a hard prune group clem like Polish Spirit will only bloom near the top on new growth if not hard pruned over the winter. Nelly Moser is a group two which gets a light prune after the spring bloom. If you hard prune it with the type three's you lose the earliest blooms. If they are planted together it is difficult to prune them separately. In my case, since I live in a zone where group two clematis are usually winter killed back to near where I prune my group threes, it doesn't matter much since I only get the new wood bloom on my group twos, so depending on your goals, it may be fine to mix groups. I have linked below the search forum for Clematis on the Web which you can use to look up your planned clematis. When I look up with the name of the plant I only use one word of the name since this search engine doesn't like spaces, and there's no need to fill in any other field. There is also a pruning guide in the FAQ of this forum (look for the link above the list of threads on the clematis forum page.) Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis on the Web This post was edited by nhbabs on Fri, May 2, 14 at 19:10

There are lots of plants that would work depending on your budget & time commitment to care for them. A simple way is to use a base of groundcovers that trail. Then add a few colorful accents as desired whether annuals or seasonal perennials tucked in then planted out in the regular ground garden. If you combine plants that tolerate the same level of moisture & growing conditions it's easy. I've used these evergreen or semi-evergreen plants in part shade containers without much work at all after planting except for some slug control, cutting back after flowering, and watering. Now & then I tuck the trailers back into the planters to fill out more or just snip off & plant elsewhere. Around Christmas I tuck in conifer boughs without damaging the plants. Creeping groundcovers: vinca minor, purple-leaved ajuga, golden creeping jenny, wintercreeper euonymus (slow growing Emerald Gaiety & Emerald & Gold), and Lamiums (not the invasive yellow bloomers, but the other ones). Japanese pachysandra has a sweet fragrant spring flower, so in a container you can smell it without bending over. Not showy after that, but green all year. Palace Purple Heuchera gives great contrast & colors up fine for me in morning sun. Then the airy stalk of white blooms give it a totally different look in summer. Bergenia Winterglut has great bronze fall & winter color with spring flowers. If you need more height and also want to please the hummingbirds the very hardy upright fuchsias from the Northwest Fuchsia society's list on the website will establish & return year after year. Some even have golden or variegated foliage to give more contrast. I mulch them every year in outdoor containers to be sure they return. I've added hybrid columbines from seed or serbian bellflower for more colorful blooms. Sometimes, even fringecup our native Tellima grandiflora. When the height of the bloom stalks in late May/June tend to flop a bit, but you can cut them off if desired or leave until fall. I've used our native lady fern with a variegated groundcover Bishop's weed, but that all goes dormant in fall then I cover with windblown conifer branches until the Bishop's weed regrows in spring. I haven't used other native plants in planters, but enjoy them in the gardens. Corrine

How cool, Mad - thanks for that link! I knew the eclipse would be total here in Nebraska and we were planning to drive to the western part of the state, but it turns out it'll be complete here as well and after school hours no less (starting 4:30 pm). We were going to pull the kids out of school for this but won't have to. Watch for it - August 21, 2017! And yes, that was a rose detour. On the original topic, I have about 50 roses on the north side of my house plus maybe twice that many in part shade in various locations. It's trial and error to see which roses can do well in those conditions, and you'll want to make sure the rose you pick is at least a zone hardier than your actual zone, since I've found the north and east sides of my house are zone 4 pockets where normal zone 5 roses won't survive. That cuts out Penny Lane, since it won't survive my normal zone 5 winters, and makes Madame Alfred Carriere a bit iffy. Mine survives just fine, but it only blooms on surviving cane and that only happens sometimes (and I have mine in a zone 6 pocket of my yard to boot). Furthermore, I only get one bloom cycle from in in the years that it has bloomed, and I've heard the same from some other northern gardeners. In its 7 years, it has probably only bloomed in two of those years. Several of the hybrid musks would do well in that location - even though they're only rated to zone 6 officially the following hybrid musks in cream colors survive fine for me in a normal zone 5 spot: Cornelia, Bouquet Parfait, Ghislaine de Feligonde, Guirlande d'Amour, and the intrepid Darlow's Enigma have survived well. All of these have climbing tendencies (may not cover an arch but will get 6' or more with support), though Darlow's Enigma is not really a climber but a big free-standing bush, both broad and tall. Sally Holmes and Clytemnestra both didn't overwinter a few years ago, but I'm trying again. Buff Beauty would be a nice rose for you and survived several years before fading in a non-ideal spot. No idea which ones are fragrant since I can't smell most roses. Here's a shot of several of the hybrid musks all in bloom - they're a loose cluster of blooms in general rather than single blooms, though Buff Beauty is the closest to a cutting rose among these. Here's Guirlande d'Amour in specific: There are several yellow hardy climbers that have larger blooms that would survive Ok in this location. Golden Celebration really wants more sun among Austins, but I have Teasing Georgia in a mostly shaded situation and it blooms reasonably well. Not that often, but I can get several good flushes in a good year. A more reliable yellow bloomer that would look nice against your house is Lunar Mist. It's related to Colette and is rock solid hardy for me. I have mine towards the east side of my house in part shade and it blooms all season, more or less like this: Among those that I grow, I'd probably suggest Lunar Mist, Buff Beauty, Darlow's Enigman, or Guirlande d'Amour as the most frequent bloomers. Roses Unlimited sells all of these I think, though Buff Beauty is available several places. A lovely spot for a rose and lots of options. Just remember as Mad Gallica says, any rose will bloom less and less often in a partly shaded spot than in full sun, so be sure to temper your expectations of having season-round blooms around your front door. Cynthia