Hello! I am having a patio installed on a sloping area behind my home and I am hoping some of you may have advice to share on setting this up for growing clematis (which I have only dreamed of doing to date). One edge of the patio ends with a wall about 3 feet off the ground to a walk way and driveway below. I am having 2 foot wide planting bed created along this side of the patio at the same height of the patio. So it will be like:

___Patio __planting bed___ wall___ then drops down to the walkway. Hope that makes sense. The wall part of the patio faces east, the patio west.

Along the bed I will have a lattice fence for privacy (and to keep folks on the patio). My plan for this bed is to have clematis growing up the lattice and perhaps some other plants mixed in with it. So for my questions...

- Will the 2 feet wide bed provide enough width for growing the clematis, and perhaps some other plants?

- The bed is about 16 feet long. The bed's base material so far (still under construction) is gravel and a drainage system needed for the retaining wall. At this point I think the contractors plan to put the original soil back in to fill up the 3 foot depth, but it is a combination of clay/sand and many small rocks. I thought I should screen the dirt to cut down on the rocks and then add some compost and peat moss. Any other recommendations for starting this bed?

- I asked the contractors to install some irrigation pipe under the patio so in a future funding phase I can install drip irrigation to ease the watering of these plants. In future less rain-intensive years (we are molding here in New England), should I be worried about them drying out because it is a planter?

- I am trying to decide where I should position the lattice panels and the plants. Since the plants should be visible from both sides, seen from the driveway/walkway and from the patio/sunroom overlooking patio... thinking perhaps the lattice should be in the middle (one foot of earth on either side). Then the vines can be planted on either side of lattice? Or should the clematis plants be positioned "under" the panel so they grow up on either side of the panel? How much "room" does each plant need width wise? If the clematis is planted on one side of the lattice, will the vines grow around and be seen from both sides?

Sorry for so many questions in my first post. The only clematis I have seen around here is growing on mailboxes, so I am not sure how to treat it on a trellis such as I have planned.