Sounds like a plan to me, but being the color freak that I am I would have suggested a clematis with more of a contrasting color to make the color of the clematis pop out more against the cream colored house. What colors would you prefer to be there and what colors are the other plants in the area in terms of their blooms? The color of any plant in your garden should suit your tastes and color preferences.

I'm going to have three ramblin' red roses in trellises on the garage wall next to the drain pipe.

Aside from that, I have other rose bushes in front of the wall in various colors. (pinks, whites, peach, yellow) I don't really have a color theme.

I'm pretty much open to anything.

(if needed I can take a picture later today and post it. they are blooming now. But my camera battery is dead so I have to charge it first.)

Sounds like you need some purple colored variety in there to me! There are tons of type III bluish purple ones including Polish Spirit, Blue Belle, Prince Charles (more on the blue side), Perle d'Azur, and more that I am sure to come to me as soon as I post this. Others who grow roses might offer their ideas too.

The camera charged enough to get a picture:

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Prince Charles would look nice with those roses, it is a soft lavender blue and not a huge aggressive grower.

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How funny. That was my reply to your post. I'm glad that you liked my suggestion.

I mentioned a white clematis because I think in the original post you had said something about wanting to hide it which led me to believe that you probably didn't want to add another feature color to the wall. There is enough foliage generally that you will see the white blooms against it but of course a color is nice as well.

Since you are in the Chicago area, I will give you the name of two nurseries that I like for their clematis selection. The first is Pesche's in Des Plaines. They are on the expensive side, but they are established plants and they have more than any other local place I have seen. It may be a good idea for you to see them yourself to choose a color. The second is Platt Hill in Bloomingdale.

You can also always look at Lowe's.

If you want to do some more research on a particular variety, the kind people on this site introduced me to the link you can click on below.

Be forwarned, clematis are addictive. I started with 3 and now I have 16 which is no where near the numbers others have on here but then again... I am putting up a new privacy fence and will have an entirely new canvas to work with :-)

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis on the Web

Hi Diana, I was wondering if I'd run into you here. The thing I liked about the white was that with the Ramblin' Reds on the three trellises, I didn't have to worry about the white looking ok with the red.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'd want a purple next to the red. I think the reds are going to pop out enough from the gray/white color of the garage brick.

Thanks for the Pesche's suggestion. I've heard of them (my sister buys her plants there) but have never been. We usually go to Knupper's. Or would it be easier to decide on what I want and just find it online instead of hoping the nurseries would carry it in stock?

I do have one clematis that I bought at Lowe's earlier this year. I have no idea what kind it is. I should probably figure that out. It is on the side of my house.

If you do buy at Lowe's, might want to make sure it is blooming as I saw a whole bunch mis-labeled at Lowe's yesterday.

Yes, I bought a Konigskind in bloom at Lowe's, in a bunch that were labeled Rosa Konigskind, and obviously weren't.

Yes, as the posters above have mentioned, Lowe's can be a good place as long as you can see an open bloom to verify they are labeled correctly.

I ordered my white Huldine (along with a few others) from Silver Star (link below) and it is a beautiful, healthy plant. I also have Snow Queen which is another white but pruning group 2 that is thriving in my yard although a slower grower than Huldine. Snow Queen came from Lowe's.

I was at Pesche's earlier in the week and I saw a white Henryi there which is also a popular one that I see mentioned a lot. Henryi is a Group 2 as well.

Hope that helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Silver Star