Armenian cucumbers will cover the trellis fast and you will get both flowers and cucumbers. This is perfect time to plant.

BEAUTIFUL pergola! I'm envious of it and your entire garden. Really nice!

I think you're smart to avoid lilac vine--a lot of them really struggle in full hot sun in summer. A couple of other fun choices to consider are butterfly vine, sometimes called yellow orchid vine (Callaeum macropterum). It's a very vigorous, twining evergreen vine with nice yellow flowers and seed pods that sort of look like butterflies. VERY heat and sun tolerant. The DBG has several of them planted in full, hot sun, and they're also trying to get it to cover the neat iron pergola at the main garden entrance.

Queen's wreath could be fun, although it gets cut back from frosts in chilly winters and THAT's kind of a mess. I'm in love with 'Tangerine Beauty' cross vine. I've been growing it for years on a hot south facing wall. It's evergreen, unmolested by our heat, sun and "cold", and has two huge flushes of bloom (spring and autumn) with random flowers all year. I'll add a link below to it.

I like Japanese honeysuckle too. It's evergreen, tolerates anything our weather can give it, and makes fragrant blooms several times a year. I've got some on a tall iron arbor and love it.

One thing to keep an eye on is hot metal if your pergola is metal. That can cook the tips of many vines in summer (the DBG has been struggling for years to get their full sun pergola covered, and they're finally almost there with the yellow orchid vine).

Let us know what you select, and how it works out.
Happy gardening!
Grant

Here is a link that might be useful: Tangerine Beauty cross vine

I just put in a Tangerine Crossvine and love it. It is growing pretty quickly also.

Hi Grant, how is your H. mutabilis (Confederate Rose) doing? I ask because I'm starting to shade my new plant because I noticed it looking very droopy one day, but that might have been due to lack of water.

For some reason I thought this was a climber until I saw pictures of it.

Great looking pergola.

Thanks for the recommendations. Does that crops vine come in any other colors like blue.

"butterfly vine, sometimes called yellow orchid vine (Callaeum macropterum). It's a very vigorous, twining evergreen vine with nice yellow flowers and seed pods that sort of look like butterflies. VERY heat and sun tolerant."

"Queen's wreath could be fun, although it gets cut back from frosts in chilly winters and THAT's kind of a mess."

"'Tangerine Beauty' cross vine".

All of the above ... my Queen's wreath has reached the top of the arbor wire and starting to spread across the top. We'll have good shade in a couple more weeks, because it's accelerating the growth as it gets hotter. (Arbor has two strips of remesh wire for vines. One across the side, starting about 4 feet off the ground and one across the top that leaves a foot or so gap along both sides.)

You could do an annual, the Armenian Cucumber, for this summer and as the permanent vine grows, leave out the cucumbers.

Blues are scarce in vines ... except wisteria and they are slow to grow and blossom here. And water hogs.

iAndy, I ripped my confederate roses (Hibiscus mutabilis) out this past winter. I love the foliage and the flowers, but the plants just got too big and only bloomed for a month or so in autumn to be worth the hassle and water. Out they went, LOL. The foliage looked great in summer with water three times a week. Not sure how often you're watering yours.

Keep us posted on what you select for your fantastic pergola, pkpdjh.

Happy gardening all,
Grant

Has anyone tried Sun Parasol Mandevilla in deep red. I just saw it at HD. Beautiful but don't know if it would do well here.

If you can find it and donot require any fruits/veggies AND IF CAN FIND it Vernonia elaeagnifolia - Curtain Creeper.The unique thing is that the even growth of the branches creates a beaded curtain effect. If you want beauty, Rangoon creeper would not be a bad idea

Is this poisonous or toxic to animals? (Rabbits)