What about Virginia Creeper in a large pot? I doubt you want to have to keep it under control in your shade garden so putting it in a pot will keep it under your control. In fall it is crimson red.

Barb

Hi Barb,
Great suggestion about using a container for control. I never thought about doing that for vines. I may just try potting up a few and see how it goes! :)

Love your kitty! I suggest you plant a clematis in the ground, very deeply. Expect little or no flowering the first year, but lots the second year. Go to the clematis forum and read, read, read! You will fall in love with the lovely, colorful blossoms that return every year, larger and much more floriferous. Maybe a Polish Spirit to get you going or a Nelly Moser, or a Rupert. Good luck

Most shade-tolerant vines will outgrow the height of even this obelisk within a couple of years. Perhaps you could put the obelisk where a tree branch is just above it, and it could be an on-ramp up into a tree (and into more sun) for one of the really energetic clematises that will go to that height. Many of those clematises are fragrant, as a bonus.

Akebia will grow quite assertively, and will bloom in a lot of shade, but the wretched thing is prone to sprawl 'n'crawl, and whatever it does decide to climb up it twines around, and thus chokes. The vigorous clematises are better because they grow by tendrils, which I think the tree can overpower if it needs to.