Tracey, I have clematis growing on a wide variety of supports. Check the link to my Photobucket account below for some ideas. I am always thinking of new ways to use clematis.

On decking you can use green vinyl coated fencing attached to the decking to grow clematis on. Also bird netting or fish pond netting can also be used.

Here is a link that might be useful: Miguel's clematis supports

Tracey,

Try planting around shrubs. I bought Linda Beutler's book "Gardening with Clematis." It showed me a whole new way of thinking about clematis. I am fairly new to clematis, and only grown them for a few years but now have 17.

Mary

My experience says that it depends on a couple of things. Some clematis are scramblers rather than climbers and won't cling to trellises or supports on their own, so you might want to check your varieties and see if you are expecting a scrambler to climb. The scramblers might need to be woven through your supports periodically, or can be used as ground covers, or as Mary suggested, grown where they can scramble through shrubs (just be sure to match the ultimate shrub and clematis size, and consider just using type 3 clematis that you can cut to near the ground so you aren't looking at dead vines in your shrubs all winter). For the climbers, the leaf petioles (stem that attaches the base of the leaf to the stem of the plant) are what actually twist around the supports, so a large or wide structural piece to your fence or trellis (like lattice, for example) may be too large for the clematis to reach around. (Many other types of vines the whole stem of the plant twines, and so large pieces to your support are just fine, but not clematis.) If this is the problem, hanging netting on your fence will work just fine as a support for the clematis to climb. If you get it in a matching color, it will be virtually invisible.

How can you find out whether a variety is a scrambler or a climber? I don't think that's something that's included when I've been looking at the descriptions of different varieties, unless I just haven't known where to look?

The name of the clematis will give you a clue as to whether it is a climber or scrambler. Generally speaking the heracleifolias are semishrubby plants that don't climb, the integrifolias generally don't climb although I have two that do semicling (Roguchi and Alionushka), all the type IIs to my knowledge climb as do all of the type Is that I am aware of. The type III are generally the group that includes clingers, sprawlers, and shrubby type clematis.

For specifics, ask questions and we will help you as needed.

I think someone once posted here a picture of an old brass headboard used in the garden as structure/climbing support. I thought it a really cool idea for a cottage garden.

Then this last weekend I saw literally a garden "bed". Someone had planted a raised bed of flowers inside of a rusted out headboard and footboard. Very cute. It thought to myself, that would be even neater if there was a clematis climbing on the headboard!