What is your home made of?

Clematis, passion vine and others are very light weight. I would however keep them cut back from roofs and gutters. You can easily train them on wires thought, so that they grow ALONG the wire and not really like the gutters. This takes effort, and a tall ladder!

GGG

Emmie, I can give you no encouraging words on this subject but just wanted you to know that I can commiserate with you. My DH is so insistent about the integrity of the structure that I actually have to go around with the pruners making sure that NOTHING is touching the siding. I do it though because other than that he lets me plant what I want, where I want it! I say move on to another battle. You can always put trellis' of vines within your flower beds.

MeMo

There are plants that physically damage the structure, and plants that do not. However, any plant that is on the house provides a pathway for termites. What you can do is put a trellis about 18" away from the wall, brace it, and grow your plants on that. This gives you three added advantages. It gets your plants out of the "rain shadow" of the roof. It improves air circulation, reducing disease of the plants. Finally, it allows you to get to the plants from all sides for pruning and other care. It is what I have done at my house, and I am very pleased with it.

Rosefolly

What Rose said! I don't plant anything within at least a foot of the house. If termites are a possibility where you live you're crazy to take a chance and give them an easy passageway to your house.

I wish I had a picture of what a trumpet vine did to my 6' wooden fence! It managed to grow through the miniscule space between planks and actually weaken the structure of the fence.

It's been my experience that vines will easily grow into and entwine in any gap or weakness it finds. IMO, it would be much safer to position your trellis a respectable distance from any structure and even then you may find your vine reaching towards your house.

Also be sure and research your vine selection first because, depending on how they cling to a structure, some are worse than others in that respect.

Marilyn

Thanks, everyone! The trellis 18" from the house may be my best bet, if I put something climbing in that corner.

GGG, the house is covered in vinyl siding. Here's a picture of what it looks like at the moment:

See that little shed to the left? That's the bulkhead. I'd love to "soften" it a little with something climbing over it. But, Rose's comments about termites has me shaking in my sofa cushions over here. THAT is not an issue I want to deal with!

I could go for something on a trellis, but I think I might be better keeping to a lilac tree, or some shrubs that will will be easier to control. I have to look for mockorange, I think, and after that I'm not sure what.

Thanks, everybody, for your advice! Any ideas are welcome, I am off to research fragrant shrubs :-)

Emmie

Emmie, my first impulse would be to create a half moon shaped bed from the edge of the bulkhead concrete slab to the corner of your house or the sidewalk. Put an obelisk in there for the vine you want. Hang some garden "art" on the sides of the bulkhead to dress it up.

And maybe paint the "bulkhead" door or replace it with a Dutch door (the kind you can open on top). I'd probably add a couple of containers on either side of the door - something really welcoming.

I like Natal's thoughts but I'd probably make the bed more of a double crescent, extending further forward away from the house along the walkway there so more would be visible from that window.

See, one reason why I appreciate all of you so much is that my brain doesn't bend like that! I think in squares. Curves never occur to me for some reason. But I like the idea!

A crescent, huh? Hmmm.... I'm trying to see it, and what I am picturing is something flush with the foundation of the house, extending along the side of the walk and along the bulkhead. Curving in the center in a concave shape, towards the house. Is that what you meant? I wish I was good with Paintshop, I may have to try it when I get home this evening and post something. I like the obelisk idea a lot!

I should note one change that will happen before too long. D'ya see the section on the right, where the bucket is and you can see the hose and the trash barrel behind it? That area is about to become a wall. We are expanding the kitchen, and the wall you see in the background will come out to be flush with the corner of the house. I forgot to mention that before, I'm sorry. I'm in construction mode, and since the GC is having trouble getting an electrician to commit to the job (long story), I am preserving my sanity by dreaming of flower gardens.

Thanks again,
Emmie