Wisteria is a nice choice. Make sure you have a very strong support if you choose wisteria.

Kiwi might also be a good one, especially if you like kiwi fruit - http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/796/

I'm interested in seeing more recommendations since I am in the process of building a large arbor. I'm looking for a shading effect without messy dropping. I'm not sure if kiwi over a door or patio would cause a mess.

Bignonia capreolata (crossvine) would also be a good choice. It's evergreen or semi-evergreen (depending on the cultivar and conditions) and has beautiful fragrant flowers. It will do great in full sun or partial shade. 'Atrosanguinea', 'Jekyll', 'Shalimar Red', and 'Tangerine Beauty' are some popular cultivars.

BTW, stay away from TyTy Nursery. They often advertise crossvine, but they are a huge con in case you aren't familiar with them. Garden watchdog can help you find a reliable supplier if you want to order by mail. Beaver Creek Nursery here in the Knoxville area has 'Tangerine Beauty' and 'AtrosanguineaÂ. They also have some other types of vines you might consider.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vines at Beaver Creek Nursery

I am going to do some research on the cross vine. May be just what I am looking for...since I have ruled out wisteria....read up and found out it has a strong root system and may have problems with the vine so close to the house.

Carolina jessamine is also a nice choice.

We had one last year called moonflower. I thought it was very nice but it's a annual. Pretty flowers and the aroma late in the evening was something else.
Norm

My local nursery recommended the Carolina Jasmine but the flowers are yellow and I was looking for something more white, pink, or purpleish....I am wondering if I should go with a clematis...plan on planting it on both sides of my front fence.

Avoid Chinese Wisteria, it is highly invasive. There is a nice native honeysuckle that is red. Has anyone heard of something called chocolate vine?

I also think the moonflower is beautiful. I've seen it do well in Middle TN.

It would help to know morre about the conditions you want this vine to grow under. Full sun? Partial shade? Do you want an annual(grows fast, flowers a lot, some re-seed, some you must start yourself each year) or a perennial (usually slower growth, might be evergreen, usually only flowers for a short period each year)?

Chocolate Vine is Akebia quinata. In my experience it likes part shade. It's vigorous vine, growing to 30 feet or more. Fragrant blooms in early-ish spring that are often partly hidden by foliage.

I can't think of a flowering vine that doesn't attract bees. After all, that's what the flowers are for :). Sadly, you see fewer and fewer honeybees each year, due to the thoracic mite plague that's been wiping them out. Mostly what is around my house is bumblebees, and you have to work really hard to get stung by a bumblebee, even if you're two years old. So bees might not be a major consideration, unless you've got a known honeybee hive in your neighborhood.

The suggestion of Cross Vine (Bignonia capreolata) is a very good one. The species and most types bloom in spring, but the variety 'Tangerine Beauty' is pretty much everblooming. Carolina Jessamine is an excellent choice that's smaller and more refined, and the variety 'Butterscotch' reblooms, unlike the species and most other named types. Both these vines are evergreen and are readily available.

American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) doesn't develop the building-destroying tonnage of the Chinese species. Flower clusters are smaller than Asian types, but the good news is that it blooms off and on for months, depending on light and moisture. The Asian types give you two weeks of fabulosity and then just terrorize the neighborhood with aggressive vinage for the rest of the season. 'Amethyst Falls' is a widely available cultivar of the native wisteria. And there's a closely related additional native wisteria, W. macrostachys (Kentucky Wisteria); 'Aunt Dee' is a good cultivar of that one. The two are so much alike that you could consider them interchangeable from a garden use standpoint.

If you're in a warmer part of TN (zone 7), you might consider Clematis armandii. Big, evergreen and spectacular in bloom.

Marty

Any reason why a climbing rose or more than one plant would be objectionable? There are thornless varieties available.

I've been a long-time fan of Jackson & Perkins "Simplicity" climbing roses, which for years were only available in white, yellow, and red. I couldn't decide. Then last year I saw that they have added to the "line" with a light lilac coloured climber - I forget the name - the fragrance was wonderful though! Now that I have decided on "the" climbing rose for a "big planting" - I just have to decide what type of structure and where I want to have them. I'm in love! LOL

One thing to bear in mind with vines/climbers, is the support system. If you go with a perennial, you need to insure that the support will be enough for the longterm and that the plant of choice isn't going to cause damage. If you go with annuals, you generally don't have damage as an issue and you can play around with one or more every year - changing the theme while you experiment - and over a period of time decide what does best for you.

I have a Lonicera (honeysuckle) that has made three moves/transplants or transferred via cuttings with me through the years. Unlike the naturalized yellow/white Japanese honeysuckle, this one is red - sorta. It keeps its foliage throughout the year for me and I have found it relatively easy to keep in check/maintain, without it becoming invasive. The name of the cultivar when I got it so many years ago was "Flaming Blaze". I'm going to *attempt* to link up some snapshots of that honeysuckle taken of a plant established via cutting from my original plant. This plant is not currently being trained (yet) as the focus is more to insure that it is well-established and hopefully does some layering on its own before I begin training it to climb. I just LOVE the gradient of colour that is in the blooms though.

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That's Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens -- "sempervirens" means "evergreen) and you're right, it's a great plant. Hummingbirds adore it.

I'm not familiar with the variety you mention, but there are plenty of nice varieties available, 'Alabama Crimson', 'Cedar Lane', 'Magnifica' and so on. One that looks very much like your pic is 'Blanche Sandman'. A yellow-flowered one is 'John Clayton'.

There are hybrid honeysuckles, too, with L. sempervirens as one of the parents. 'Dropmore Scarlet' is widely available, but to my eye it looks a whole lot like L. sempervirens but isn't as healthy and strong a plant, so I avoid it. One really nice pink and soft yellow hybrid is 'Heritage'.

Marty

I love my akebia vine, also called five finger vine. I is evergreen, the early spring blooms are very fragrant and the new green leaves contrast with the older leaves beautifully. It does have bees but only in the early spring when it's blooming.

Thanks Marty! Are you confident that the photo'd one is L. sempervirens? The reason I ask is because a) That wasn't what was on the tag when I originally got it b) I can't remember what species it was listed as, I've only ruled out some because of seeing the text and knowing it wasn't what it was labeled as (photographic memory is great - 80% of the time - the rest of the time I can't cite back what I read, only make comparisons with new text because the text in my head is perceived by my brain as a picture and fails to jump the language and glyph barrier for recall - old age sucks) c) I have had this particular Lonicera for at least 10 years. I originally got it when I was living in Virginia and I have desperately tried to find the cultivar name elsewhere, to no avail, so I'm not sure if it was mislabeled or simply no longer commercially available. I just know I love it and I'd hate to lose it. It's well for me in both blazing full sun and mostly shade. The mama-plant became so well established at my last residence that I never could get it up - subsequently cuttings and layering as I still have access to the mama-plant (unless the new residents at any given time kill it) within a day's drive of me. I hope to bring more of it "home" to me this year and take another stab at trying to dig up the main mama-plant. I'd very much like to get this one to naturalize and overtake the Japanese Honeysuckle that grows here. I like it and all, it smells great, but the JH is horrible about strangling trees to death (I lost a Dogwood to JH here). "Flaming Blaze" is much easier to work with!

Any tips on how to root the L. sempervirens??? I have the 'Blanch Sandeman' one and I'd love to propagate it.

If your "Blanch Sandeman" is anything like my "Flaming Blaze", then I can tell you I have had success rooting it in water (we're on spring water for the household, so I'd say spring or well or rain water, but steer clear of "city water") by nipping off leaves and exposing multiple nodes along a length of vine kept in a bottle, changing the water frequently/daily AND I've had luck rooting it by layering - nipping leaves off at nodes, laying the vine down, covering the nodes with a rich potting mix and staking it down or using a stone to hold the vine down, etc. and eventually roots form on their own and once enough roots, I sever from the mama-plant and dig it up for transplant elsewhere. I can't remember if I've just taken a cutting, nipped off leaves and used rooting hormone on exposed nodes and put it in a potting mix - I think I have, but not absolutely certain.

Akebia should be planted more: nice vine!

I want to plant it to run along the outside (front) of my wooden privacy fence.....would I need a support? There is a home in my neighborhood who has a BEAUTIFUL blue clematis are there varieties that grow nice and dense? I am looking for with a white/lavender/pink/blue family....any of those colors. and I have FULL sun, and clay soil...I hear what you guys are saying about the bees....I'll have to just make special care to explain to Vinnie to respect the bees and their purpose. how long does the clematis bloom? I was leaning toward something perrenial. I do have honeysuckle on my inside back fence and your right ....the hummingbrids LOVE it.....I get so many diffrent bird visitors. They love to perch on my rose trees

I also would recommend the coral honeysuckle. I have it growing on fences in several locations and the hummingbirds visit all of them.

If you are at all interested in an annual vine, Heavenly Blue and Flying Saucer morning glories make a striking display. We grow those, too.

Becky

Thank you marty and everyone, this has been such a help.(new to Tn.) I love evergreen,everblooming,and I am trying to find all that will withstand the cold. I am glad I did not move to Alaska as beautiful as they say it is. At my age, this is cold enough. Thank you again,Gail

I've been growing moon flowers - I. alba, not the datura variant - from seed this season and they're doing wonderfully. Ironically the entire set of Scarlet O'Hara morning glories I started with them all died when i tried to plant them in the same windowbox as the moon flowers. :shrug:

Either way, I'm still a big fan - and would highly recommend - planting some moon flower and morning glories together and letting them intertwine themselves into each other. The end result is an ever-blooming set of vines that have blooms opening up during sunrise and sunset every day.